Hating Goodbyes

It is with great sadness that I share with you that Great-Grandpa Bud passed away this week. Grandpa's nickname, Bud, says it all. He was a great buddy and he will be sadly missed. I enjoyed drinking coffee with Grandpa (yes, he did let me drink coffee with him) and I loved playing with his wheelchair. These past six months have been extra difficult since this was Daddy's last living grandfather. We have many fond memories to cherish in our hearts. When Mommy thinks of Grandpa Bud, she describes him as a man with quiet strength and unconditional love for his family. He truly was the rock of the family (Daddy's side~ Grammy's Dad). He was a little flirt with Mommy telling her how pretty she was :) They enjoyed talking about gardening together. Daddy loved visiting with Grandpa to hear about his time in the service during WWII. He received a purple heart and was one of the few who lived to tell their experience of storming the beach of Normandy. Daddy has a fascination of WWII and enjoys reading about this era, thanks to Great-Grandpa's interesting experiences and tales.

We feel blessed that Cooper was able to meet Grandpa Bud. This picture shows how much love Grandpa has for his 33 great-grandchildren. He didn't seem bothered by Cooper's screaming as they snuggled in together. We wish Cooper would have had time to share some smiles and coffee with Grandpa Bud. The title of the blog sums this up... I hate to say goodbye.

We also had to say goodbye to Papa and Grandma Sharon as they leave MN and head to IN for 3 months. Grandma Sharon is from IN and when Papa and Grandma Sharon married two years ago, they kept her house. She lives in the outskirts of Indianapolis and she enjoys raising horses on her property. Papa enjoys pretending to be a farmer by riding John Deere and talking to the neighbor's goats. I can't really picture this, but I sure think it is probably pretty funny! Papa and Sharon will return for a few weeks around Christmas and then they will head to FL for the winter. We plan on Skyping in their absence so they can keep up with the family. I am not in any of the pictures with Papa and Sharon below, b/c I was a busy boy in the pool during Mommy's "photo shoot."

Papa and Cooper

A great photo of Cooper with Papa and Grandma Sharon

I love to swim in Great-Grandpa's pool. We had a picnic and pool party with Mommy's side of the family to mark the end of summer and to give Papa and Sharon a little farewell send-off. It was a beautiful day with many fun cousins and family members around.

Before we went to Great-Grandpa's house, we watched my cousin Lexi play soccer. Lexi is now in 3rd grade! She is the player above getting ready to kick the ball. Lexi's coach is auntie Stefanie. Mommy thinks it is so fun to see Lexi play soccer b/c it is the sport that she and auntie Stefanie grew up playing together. Mommy hopes that I will be a soccer player someday too.

Cooper had lots of cuddle time with cousins Kelly and Abby during the game

I had fun watching the game for approx 0.2 seconds. I was then off to see who would share snacks, water and field corn with me. Yes, field corn. A little boy ran into the nearby cornfields to pick corn and pile it by his Mom. My parents caught me biting into the hard corn (sure didn't taste right) and they quickly apologized to the crabby lady who I took it from. We still can't figure out what she was going to do with it anyhow. I had a twenty pound diaper after all of the water I drank in one hour!

On Friday, the Sports Center started their Fun Zone. We met Heather and Finley, Melissa and Elle, and Briana and boys at the center for a playdate. They have a new slide that I was really excited to go on. I almost can scale this wall to get to the top of the slide. Mommy thinks within a few more visits, I should be up the wall and ready to slide down the other side. Once I can do that, I am sure I will have at least a zillion turns going down it.

Finley and I did some major teamwork in order to get this piece of junk truck to go. You can see that the truck above is a major hit at the sports center. It always boggles Mommy mind that I have an interest in this truck at the sports center considering I have the same thing at home. Go figure.

I was interested in the parachute for approx. 10 seconds before I was ready to move on. Finley's attention span was about as long as mine.

I became interested again when I noticed that the parachute became a tent and people were having fun underneath it. Instead of joining in, I just decided to lay on the turf and pick up the parachute as my way of participating. I think this was pretty good problem-solving on my part.

To Mommy's surprise, she caught me riding my zebra bareback as they call it. I am naked approx. 75% of the day since I am working really hard on eating as much chocolate in a day as possible. I am awarded with M&M's and Tootsie Rolls when I go potty in the toilet. I mostly just pretend with waterfall sound effects from my mouth. Mommy is catching on and is becoming very stingy with the candy lately. I didn't realize that Mommy had her camera, otherwise I am certain I would have covered up. These pictures are going to haunt me someday.

We had our last "goodbye" summer event by going to Carson Park for their last day of train rides. I am intrigued by trains and love when I see or hear them. I was super excited to ride the train in the woods on a little track. The ride was 5 minutes but it was probably one of the most exciting things I have done all summer.

This is the most focused my parents have seen me since I turned two. I now ask to ride the train on a daily basis and can't wait for next summer when the train rides return to the park.

The picture below is one of Mommy's favorite pictures of me. She describes it as innocent wonder and awe. I was ecstatic when I heard the train whistle and Mommy just so happened to have snapped the picture just in time to show my excitement. It is a good reminder to slow down and enjoy the small moments. Life goes so fast and I am sure that Grandpa Bud would want us all to take time to stop and smell the roses.