He found a box of Cheez-Its in the living room that had been left out the night before. He decided to help himself while I was in the kitchen fixing breakfast. He was quite proud of himself and didn't spill any!
So much for a clean kitchen. Almost every morning he pulls all the Tupperware lids out of the cabinet. I think he just likes to make messes. Fortunately he is getting old enough to help me put them away.
In the midst of playing with the lids he realized that the cat was hiding in the laundry hamper. Poor cat didn't see Aiden coming and ends up cornered, but not for long.
The cat managed to escape and thankfully neither baby nor feline were harmed during the encounter! So then he just had an empty hamper to play with which was just as much fun.
Caught climbing! He has figured out how to climb up on anything that's low. Now that he can climb on the toy box he will do it anytime the door to the office has been left open.
He is a little less eager to get back down off things however.
It's the little things in life that mean the most. God has blessed us with the best little thing ever!
There were so many animals! I was really impressed! After the drive through part there was an extensive petting zoo. Aiden was enthralled with the baby goats and tried hugging them all. He wanted to touch the chickens but they weren't so cooperative!
The lemur just relaxed in the shade while everyone petted him. He was too cute!
The sweet baby tigers were down for a nap so we couldn't pet them. :(
Mr. Peacock struttin' his stuff!
What else did we get to pet? Bunnies, monkeys, turtles, donkeys, mama goats, a baby porcupine, and so much more! What a fun day!
Aiden, as always, loved being outside and running around. Monty got some good shots of him that are so precious (just too big for Blogger).
We try and get a Christmas ornament each time we go on a trip. This family photo will go in the ornament we bought at Mt. Rushmore. Every December when we decorate the tree we remember the fun places we've visited together. We love to travel and have enjoyed seeing lots of new places! This trip we went to 4 new states (IA, SD, WY, and MN), 2 National Parks, 3 National Monuments/Memorials, and 1 National Historical Site. 
We drove as far as Council Bluffs, IA (right near Omaha, NE). Not a bad drive considering it was all interstate. After checking into the hotel we ate dinner at Cracker Barrel, went to Walmart to pick up a few forgotten items, and then crashed for the night.
The visitor center wasn't open but we were able to let Aiden get out and run around for a while. We arrived in Mitchell, SD at about 2:00 and found a hotel that had an indoor pool! Aiden had a blast in the kiddie pool. 
That day we toured the 
Aiden got to get out and run around and we enjoyed delicious ice cream! 
The visitor center in Wall had lots of "stuffed" animals and Aiden was in awe of them all. He kept walking around pointing to everything saying, "ooh, oooh!!". 
When we got to Keystone we set up the tent and then went to 
Aiden fell asleep as soon as we got in the car and slept for two hours! It was about a 20 minute drive to the Memorial. We parked and Monty got out and took pics while I stayed in the car to let Aiden sleep. 
I got a lot of reading done on the latest series, 
The campground had covered picnic tables, so we moved a table out of the way and parked under the canopy. I think we played in the car for an hour while the storm continued. When it appeared to be dying down, we headed into town for lunch. Unfortunately we ran right back into rain and hail AGAIN! It continued all afternoon. It finally did end and after a run to Walmart to get groceries we headed back to camp. This is what we found:
Not only was the tent blown down, but some of the poles were broken! That meant moving into a cabin for the next four nights. Fortunately there were vacant cabins and we only had to pay the difference between the price of the campsite and the price of the cabin. It ended up being a blessing for several reasons:
We chose not to do any cave tours b/c they were long you had to walk down 300+ steps. Not something I wanted to attempt while carrying a wiggly one year old. We did take a short tour at JC. It was about 20 minutes which was about all Aiden could take. I carried him in the 
We hiked the trail around the base of the tower but didn't make it all the way around as Aiden's allergies were getting worse. 
Here is a shot of the prairie dogs on the way in:
On our way back to camp we bought a travel humidifier and some baby vapo-rub hoping that would help make him more comfortable. Someone really needs to come up with an OTC allergy medicine that kids under 2 can take!