Family Tour

We just returned from a whirlwind tour to meet a lot o' family, thus the lack of posting. We started out in Sawyer, Michigan at the Taylor family reunion. The Taylor family is . . . um . . . large, and we were curious to see how Tate would handle it. He was a perfect traveler, sleeping in the car and at night and at nap time, and met so many people, he nailed down his waving technique. He also learned to clap his hands, which he now does anytime he is bored or wants to impress someone. Here he is with a picture of Grandma with the Great-grandchildren who were present on Friday. He is over on the far right.

Tate also experienced the beach for the first time in his life. He was a trooper about it, even when a large wave knocked him over in the sand. He lay there and looked like he was thinking, "hmmm...that was a new experience."
At one point he was so covered in sand that he looked like a giant cinnamon-sugar doughnut, but we unfortunately did not have the camera.
Tate did great with most adults. The exception being with Grandma Taylor's live-in helper, Tsige. She is an Ethiopian young woman and we told her to speak Amharic to Tate to see what he would do. He flipped out. He screamed, panicked, and searched the room for me. It was rather sad. I guess he is not at all interested in changing languages again. After a brief afternoon visit with a couple of college roommates, we headed over to Pardeeville, Wisconsin to meet my clan.

Farms are great places for kids and Tate found lots to entertain himself with. We visited my uncle's farm, where my aunts, cousins, and grandparents still work.

My grandparent's house is rather romantic to me, mostly because I have no part in taking care of it. My grandfather was born in this house and has lived here ever since.
Since retiring, my Dad has taken over the old grainery as a shop. He recently made some improvements and named it "Redneck Workshop."
Grandma and Grandpa are having fun with Tate. He even convinced them to put on bathing suits and jump in our neighbor's pool.
Joseph got some quality bonding time with the boy, which they both enjoyed.
We set Tate in the lake the first night we were home. Grandma held on to a little rope and he swam like a fish.
We also took a trip to the Madison zoo, where Tate had the most fun touching the glass on the tiger cage. The tiger walked right in front of him several times and he just watched it pace back and forth. For meeting over 125 people in one week, Tate's doing really, really well. He is even getting his top teeth, which he barely lets us know about. Tonight we're leaving him with Aunt Michal for a few hours so Mommy and Daddy can go on their first date since we brought him home. Yippeee!

This boy is great and we love him more and more all the time. I'm beginning to be sad about how much he's growing up already! He made his first climb up steps at my parents' house!