Analise and I were just enjoying some “floor time”. She’s so good at playing on her own. Just recently she’s started stacking blocks, and I was quite impressed with her creation (with my hand to steady as she was making it higher).

For those of you checking in regularly and wondering what’s happening at the Toone household, it’s been pretty quiet. Analise and I have been laying low lately. This weekend was really cool, lovely weather. Not like y’all up North, but for Alabama, it was wonderful. We went to a Fall Festival in the small neighborhood of Rocky Ridge, for free food and some fun browsing on Saturday. Then we had some family pictures with Brian’s family. We were finally back at church for the first Sunday in 4 weeks, followed by the usual family lunch of baked beans and hot dogs with Brian’s mom and brother. That was about it for our weekend, and today’s been just as quiet. I’m feeling highly unmotivated lately, and trying to get things done one at a time. A “to do” list is seeming too overwhelming.

Oh – Analise has started trying to say a few more words. Last night, she was saying “flur” while we were outside by the flowers. Today we asked her what a kitty cat says, and she responded with “mew-mew” (not to be confused with “moo-moo” which will come soon!). She also said “ball” tonight. All this is a bit reassuring because her 15 month appointment was today, and I was feeling a bit worried that she doesn’t have more words in her vocabulary. They’ll come… and she definitely understands and follows commands very well.

Ok, I hope the 3rd time’s the charm. I’ve tried to post this blog 2 times already, and lost it somewhere in Toone Times Twilight land.

In early September, Analise was sick with a urinary tract infection (UTI) that quickly cleared up with a course of antibiotics. Though I was under the impression that most UTI’s are caused by hygiene issues (ie, wiping wrong), while in fact, research has shown that the majority of UTI’s in young children are caused by something called urinary reflux, where urine backs up toward the kidneys, causing infection. Just to be on the safe side, Dr. Stone wanted us to follow-up with a few tests (a renal ultrasound and a VCUG) at Children’s Hospital today. Hopefully, they won’t be more than just a little uncomfortable, and my easy-going girl will manage just fine. The worst of it may be that she can’t eat or drink from 7am until after the tests at about 1pm. How can I manage to keep her happy and quiet without her favorite graham crackers? We’ll keep you posted…

My favorite season is the fall. And my favorite place to be in the fall is the Midwest. Either Minnesota or Wisconsin will do, though if I had my choice, I’d be in Door County, Wisconsin, munching on fresh, homemade carmel apples. But the trees are intensely colored, all shades of red, yellow, orange and brown, the air is cool, the nights are crisp, and its just beautiful. My sweet friend Robyn picked a perfect time and place (Canon Falls and Welch, Minnesota) for a wedding.

Analise and I flew up by ourselves on Thursday because Brian had things to get done that afternoon. I wondered about traveling with Analise by myself, but we had a direct flight and it was so smooth. Analise slept for an hour, and then enjoyed watching Einstein on our borrowed (from grandpa) DVD player. She was perfectly entertained, and I’ll fly with her on my own any time… as long as we have a direct flight. My mom picked us up, and we had dinner at a fun buffet restaurant and wandered around the mega-store Ikea for a while. Man, I wish I lived near Ikea!

Brian was to arrive at 1pm on Friday, but he managed an earlier flight so we were to pick him up at 11. We spent a bit of time at REI, which was home to some statues of Charlie Brown and Lucy, created for an event honoring Charles Schultz. We wandered around the Mall of America for a time, and then had a great lunch at Chevy’s – a favorite of ours from California.

Oh yes… the wedding! That’s what I was posting about:) Robyn was on the cross-country ski team with me at UWGB, and we both fondly remember meeting as we were running at our first practice, my senior year and her freshman year. We were excited to find that we were both christians, a bit of a rarity on our team. We kept each other sane and became great friends through skiing and our work with Athletes in Actions/Campus Crusade. I’m very very blessed that God sent her into my life! She’s waited most patiently to meet the man with whom she would spend her life, and I can tell Scott is a wonderful man of God and makes her very happy. I only wish we were closer so we could know them better as a couple.

It was a beautiful wedding. They put so much work into all the little details of the weekend, and everything was wonderful. Scott surprised Robyn with a song he had WRITTEN just for her at the end of the wedding. The flowers were beautiful fall boquets, probably the most beautiful I’ve seen (though I love almost every wedding boquet!). The reception was at Welch Village downhill ski area, which was in the middle of nowhere (similar to our reception!), but in the prettiest area we were privelaged to see. Robyn and Scott were waiting at the turn into the parking lot with a “Thank You” sign for all their guests. I wish we had a few more pictures that captured the beauty of the wedding, but Brian had his hands full with Analise! We were so glad to share this weekend with them. And what a treat to see my parents and Kat for our brief time. I’m so lucky!

Yes, I do know how to spell Minnesota, but I wanted to put it phonetically the way its pronounced locally. We are having a blast up here. Analise and I got to go for a swim in the pool at our hotel this morning. Last night, I got to walk around the beautiful town of Cannon Falls while Kristine was in the dress rehearsal for Robyn and Scott’s wedding. Analise enjoyed playing with the rocks out in front of the church. We walked downtown, enjoyed the beautiful fall colors, and saw this butterfly/moth on a pretty purple flower. Enjoy the pictures!

Well, it’s a few minutes past midnight, and I’ve just finally got all three of my exams posted for my students to take online over the weekend … (I like giving take-home tests so that I don’t have to waste class time giving exams). I spent a long day at Samford working on the exams. I finally had to leave because it was starting to get dark, and I still had to bike home.

Tonight, Samford had a home football game against Southern Missouri. The game was going to be televised on ESPN-U. As I was biking up and over Shades Mountain, I caught a glimpse of the football stadium with all the Samford fans ready to cheer on the Bulldogs! I think I could actually here the band or something from about 1.5 miles away where I took this picture.

I came home to an empty house; no beautiful wife to kiss and no smiling baby to say “Daddy” and run over and expectantly hand me a Baby Einstein DVD. I sure miss my family tonight, but I’ll see them tomorrow up in Minnesota for Robyn’s wedding. I can’t wait!

Last Tuesday was Beverly’s (Brian’s mom) birthday, so Analise and I invited her to join us for a Babes in the Zoo class. There were about 15 kids from 6 months to 2 years old in a little classroom. A zoo person brought out different animals and gave the kids a chance to see them up close and touch them, if they wanted.

Analise wasn’t too keen on touching, but she did try to lean in and kiss several of the animals. (That’s what she likes to do to her stuffed animals, too.) We saw a chicken, a milk snake, a guinea pig, a fancy rat, and a llama.

Analise was most impressed with the tank of turtles, though. She preferred to stand and watch them, pointing and saying “OOOOooo!!! OOooo!” After our short class, we wandered around showing Grandma our favorite exhibits. It was fun!! We’re going to do another class in December, I think.

Today we moved to a new level of dexterity. Analise spent 5 minutes turning the TV on and off, now that she’s learned that the power botton is within her reach. It was quite fun to watch her learn the cause and effect of her pushing the button and the TV going off. This afternoon, she begged and cried to push buttons on the phone, so I let her while holding the phone to make sure she didn’t dial 9-1-1. Though that’ll be sometthing we want to teach her eventually!

My Einstien
My girl is a genius… that or a Baby Einstein addict. The other day we borrowed 2 new Einstien videos from the library. One was still in the VCR, though ejected. Analise had watched it earlier, but had been begging (by bringing me all her DVDs, one at a time) to watch another one. When Brian came home, she was over by the tV, handing him DVDs and videos, one at a time, and reaching up to the lower part of the tV. Then she reached up and pushed the video into the VCR, causing it to turn the TV on and start playing the movie. She was so excited, and we were so surprised, we couldn’t bear to dampen her fun by turning it off. So now, my little girl can turn on her own movies. Hmm. Not sure what I think of that…

Let me tell you about Brian’s unforgettable morning. He bikes 10 miles each way into work, and usually gets to class school by 7:30 in time to clean-up and change for his 8am class. This morning, though, he was running late. We’ve had one experiene, though, where he arrived at school, to find that he didn’t have pants. I got a frantic call to come quick, and I arrived with 5 minutes to spare so he was able to teach fully-clothed and on time. Now, he makes sure he has pants with him or a pair in his office.

This morning, he intentionally remembered that he’d left a pair of dress pants last friday in his office, so he didn’t need to take any. He left home a bit late and arrived at school at 8:00. While in the elevator, he startlingly realized he didn’t have keys to his office and the secretary – with the only other key to his office – doesn’t start her day until 8:30. He got off the elevator in full spandex bike clothes to find his 3 students waiting for him. He apologized for being late, and said, “It gets worse… I don’t have keys to my office, so I’m going to have to teach like this.”

Brian’s learned 2 lessons… leave earlier and double check both pants and keys:) I’m sure it was a memorable day for both Brian and his students. To top it all off, he’s overdue for a haircut, and so he had major bike helmet head with his hair all sticking up from the wind and helmet. What a day… I personally think it probably endeared his students to him even more:)

Well, we made it down here to Orange Beach, Alabama – and it was quite an interesting trip once we made it to the coast. VERY strong winds and blowing sand and heavy, heavy downpours. I’ve uploaded a video here of our drive east from Gulf Shores to Orange Beach on Alabama Hwy 182.

Watch our drive in a hurricane or Watch the heavy wind and rain

The picture below is the latest satellite (11:00PM). We are in the very bottomost part of Alabama on the Gulf Coast on the border with Florida as indicated in the picture. When we arrived a couple hours ago, I believe the last of the strong outer bands were blowing through.

Here is a view of a heavy downpour from our condo window. The wind was blowing the rain sideways at times, and it was coming down quite hard.