Law and Order: FVU

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In the criminal justice system, offenses against stuffed creatures are considered especially amusing.  In Central Illinois, the dedicated detectives who investigate these acts of silliness are members of the elite squad known as the Fuzzy Victims Unit.  This is one of their stories:

Tuesday, September 17

0631: Neighbor reported to her landlord sounds of a scuffle in Unit W.  Landlord acknowledged comments, but said, "That's just how that crazy tenant is.  Go back to bed."

0823: Upon making her rounds, maintenance manager noticed door to Unit W was slightly ajar.  From her position in the hall, she could see someone laying on the ground, rump up.  Proceeding with caution, she entered the unit and found Gus Guts unresponsive.  She immediately phoned 511.

Exhibit A

0834: Detectives arrived at Unit W, the household of Mr. Whit.  Upon entering, they were greeted by a hilarious scene - both of Mr. Guts' kidneys, as well as his pancreas, heart, liver, and one lung were seen scattered about the room.  Rowdy, Mr. Whit's Golden Retriever, was hovering over the body.  It was unclear whether he was happy or sad about what had become of his dear friend Gus because, well, he is a stuffed dog.

Exhibit B

0847: Thinking it was a cut and dry case of canine aggression, the detectives proceeded to leave the unit, but were unable to do so.  Mr. Whit blocked their exit and gleefully pointed to the doorknob around which he had twisted Mr. Guts' stomach and large and small intestines.  Mr. Whit admitted to the crime, and showed no remorse for his lack of boringness.

Final Hurrah

Before the long hours of harvest begin, we spent the weekend traveling to see friends and family.  First stop was Indiana Dunes to see my good friend Teresa and her family.

Bathing Beauty watched her big brother and dad build a village of sand castles fit for a mouse king. 

Quinn was very polite and reached out to shake hands with her new bud, Tyler.  They were fast friends. 

On our way back south, we had a great visit with Great-Grandma Jean.  She had not yet met Quinn, so it was awesome to finally introduce them to one another.  She held her for a couple of hours and also fed her, and Quinn sat with a happy grin, soaking in the love.  Definitely a fun and memorable time for all of us!

The family that paints together...

Whit has started a habit of the three of us painting together on random evenings.  He picks what animal we will do, and we each have our own masterpiece to create.  It did not occur to me that documenting this may be rather amusing down the road, but at least I have our latest endeavor.  My favorite part is that I think you can see each of our personalities in our respective renderings - a big ol' high-five to whoever is able to guess which picture belongs to whom.  Whit gets quite a kick out of it, and always insists that everyone's artwork be placed upon the honorable refrigerator.

3's Preschool 2013

A special happy face waffle and yogurt - the breakfast of first-day-of-school-champions.

Off to do some learnin'!

Meet Me in St. Louis

Having heard so many wonderful things to do with kids in St. Louis, we spent Labor Day weekend exploring the city!

First stop was the zoo.  Soon after we arrived, I parked Quinn near a fence so I could get all of our stuff situated.  I was busy fussing with her stroller when I heard a thud - this stealthy puma had jumped up on the concrete edge of her cage.  Apparently the surrounding flora and fauna were so convincing that I thought I was in the jungle and needed to protect my young, because my response was to jump like Michael Jordan and take a martial arts stance.  Way to remain cool, Joy.

Momma and baby Okapi.  The black "collar" around baby is mom's tongue giving her a bath.  I thought I was a clean freak, but she has me beat by a long shot.

"I like giraffes!"

Happy hippo indeed.

Next stop was Grant's Farm, an Anheuser-Busch property.  It has acres upon acres of land where a fine assortment of animals from around the globe roam free, and you get to take a tram through it to explore.  It was in the 90s all day, and I think Quinn was thankful for the fan I got for her stroller.

Goats eat anything, maybe even baby feet.  After the puma experience, Andy wasn't going to take a chance and parked her far from the fence while Whit and I went in to mingle with the farm animals.

The famed Budweiser Clydesdales.  Andy, Whit, and Carter had a moment of deep connection, as you can see.

For those of you with incredible eyesight, yes, that is a Cargill elevator across the river from the arch.  Hot stuff, Cargill.  Way to stamp your name on millions of tourist photos.

Our final stop was the Magic House Children's Museum.  AWESOME.  Probably the best we've been to.  Here our little dude found himself inside a giant bubble.

But the highlight was climbing the three-story beanstalk.  No giant at the top, thankfully.