The Saint Louis Steidtmanns

First trip to the zoo and catch up on some pics. We will post vids from the zoo soon.

This morning I weighed Lauren and she was about 19.5 or 20 pounds…and you need to be 20 pounds to get a front-facing car seat. We decided she was ready, especially because she can only directly feel the car AC if she’s facing forward, and in the 100 degree heat in STL that’s becoming a priority.

She seems to love it on her first ride!

A pre-Father’s Day walk…pre, because Dad is still sleeping.

We talked to G&G Bagby on Skype tonight. Lauren went on a long rant - about what, we’re not sure - but it was with lots of hand gestures, feet off the ground, and lots of talking.

skypingwithgrandparents1

OK, this is the first iPhone video I’m attempting to post - we’ll see how it goes. It should play with QuickTime just like the rest.

I love her giggle when she drops the blanket.
Blanket Drop

We’ve already played with Max, been on a bike ride to the farmer’s market, played in the water (and therefore changed clothes), and took a nap. Now off to lunch.

D and I got new iPhones today so we’re taking pics and testing out the blog posting apps. The coolest thing about the new phones are the videos you can take…but we still need to figure out how to easily post those.

The last set of pics are from last weekend when we went in to wake LE up - she’s so sweet when waking up.

Do you think people noticed them more before our lives were consumed by running to the store for plant food and wasp spray?

So here’s the exciting thing about this summer. As most of you know, we planted a cherry tree to commemerate Lauren’s birth. The first year we concentrated on making sure it grew and flourished, but it didn’t produce any cherries. That’s typical for first year plantings; in fact, some new cherry tree plantings don’t produce any fruit for a few years.

But this year was different. This year, the tree produced several cherries. Some of you might remember pictures earlier this summer when the tree bloomed, and sure enough, those blooms turned into cherries.

New Cherries on Lauren's Tree

Eventually, they ripened (although a little sooner than I thought they might) and we decided that the losses to “burglar birds” was mounting uncontrollably, so we decided to pick them. Lauren, it turns out, is an an excellent cherry picker. And, she isn’t afraid to really reach for the hard to get ones. But perhaps my favorite video shows Lauren’s delicate cherry picking touch.delicate cherry picking touch.

But of course picking the cherries isn’t enough, you have to do something with them. We decided to make a pie:

Mom and I both loved the pie, and Lauren was happy to take a bite. I think the fresh tartness surprised her at first but, she soon finished her piece (with some contemplative observation I might add)