The reason for our visit to Cheektowaga, NY!

After spending a fun week in Cheektowaga, playing, resting and visiting, we are left with wonderful memories of our Wagner family. Although we wish we could still be there, we hold our memories in our hearts as precious. It was SO WONDERFUL to hug these folks and see Grandpa home from the hospital, in remission!!!! Here are three generations of Wagner men. Andy, Grandpa (dad, Ray), Charlie and Tom. 

 Nicole won many points with Charlie for coloring with him. Aunt Debbie did as well, however I didn't catch them with the camera. Much laughter was had during coloring time. Now, when Charlie looks at this picture he says: "her bike." After coloring we all went outside to say goodbye to Nicole as she rode off on her new bike. Charlie certainly liked that bike!

 We often had a two-man band at the Wagner house. Charlie and Grandpa would switch off instruments. Either the "trumpet" or the piano.

 Several of Grandpa's siblings came to visit. This is Mary and Millie. Charlie slept through most of the visit, but woke up in time to say hello.

 Aunt Debbie had to teach during the week. However, she took us to the Farmer's Market on the weekend. Charlie ate the entire apple while we were there and held tightly to the dog balloon aunt Debbie got for him.

 Grandpa is working on getting his strength back. One of the assignments he has been given by Physical Therapy is to walk 30 minutes a day. He had a route that he would walk around the house. Most times that Grandpa walked, Charlie walked with him, either leading or following. If you look closely, you will see Charlie is leading this time.

 Charlie seems to have a little crush on both his Grandpa and his Uncle Andy. It was really fun as a parent to watch him in connection to these two men.

Now, the only person who is missing from these pictures in Rachael. Rachael is a typical teenager, out and about with friends or working. Somehow, when she was around I missed grabbing my camera and getting a picture. Bummer!

Niagra Falls, NY

One outing that Tom knew he wanted to take with Charlie was to Niagra Falls. Charlie started out a little frightened, but then warmed up to the mist, noise and boats. He really wanted to ride Maid of the Mist, but that will have to wait for a future visit. You may be able to see why there is a height limit from this picture. 

 Here is Charlie climbing with the American Falls in the background.

 Three Wagner's posing for the camera. Grandma and Tom look a little more excited than the small guy in this shot.

 I finally get in a picture!

 Something is quite fascinating down below. Probably a boat or two.

 A small boy can't just walk by a digger. He MUST drive the digger!

Buffalo Zoo

This is Charlie's second visit to the Buffalo Zoo. The little guy was funny this time. He would look for a short while at the animals and then say "more animals please." We kept zipping around the zoo and actually saw most of the zoo at Charlie's pace. The photo below is of the boys looking at the bears. 

 On the bridge in the Amazon/rainforest exhibit.

 This polar bear really put on a show for us in his pool. He was having a good time that day.

Delaware Park, New York

One morning, we took an outing to Delaware Park to find some swings and a slide. Not only did we find what we were looking for, but a beautiful lake as well. This park is quite close to where Tom attended college. He also likes to talk fondly of the many foot races he ran in Delaware Park.

 In the past, Charlie hasn't been real fond of swings. However, here he stayed on for a long time and kept asking to be pushed higher and higher. Although I didn't capture his smiles in photo, he certainly smiled lots on the swing.

 Charlie became a climber at Delaware Park. This is a child version of a rock wall. He may have some rock climbing in his future.

 Here is boys being boys, throwing rocks in the water.

 This car could sure bounce. Too bad we didn't try it until right before we left.

Buffalo Marina

Uncle Andy and Grandma were able to go on several outings with us while we visited. One of these was down to the water front. Charlie heard we were going to a "park", so kept asking where the slide and swings were. Instead, we bought tickets and toured the USS Sullivan. It was a little scary at times trying to get down the stairs, but we all survived. Charlie still talks about the man that was sick. We went into the sick bay and found a wounded soldier laying in the bed. There is no good way of explaining to a two year-old that he isn't real. Below is the gang of travelers, minus mom (Anna). 

 As you can see, Charlie is ready to fire the guns with his blankets and milk. Can't fire guns without milk and blankets.

This picture is included because Charlie really enjoys looking at this one. He says with a huge grin: "I'm driving and turning the wheel."

 This was a pretty cool thing to watch. The tug boat was a highlight that day.

Cheektowaga Fire Hall

We recently returned from a week-long trip to Cheektowaga, NY to visit the Wagner clan. One of the highlights from the week for Charlie was a tour of the fire hall that Andy volunteers and is highly involved. I include this first photo for its oddness. Tom is taking my picture through the front glass of the truck. A little creepy. 

 The trucks were so high that it was difficult to get a picture of Charlie driving the truck. He LOVED sitting in the driver's seat. I think this is him waving out the window.

 This was the last truck Charlie sat in. Andy was his trusty side kick each time. In this truck, Charlie surprised us all when he turned on not only the lights, but the siren. Boy, it was really, really loud in that small space.

Late Summer

 Charlie had lots of fun on a short play date with his cousins Maddy and Ella when we visited Spokane. Ella and Maddy set up their wagon with a towel and pulled him in front of the house. He is so funny with them as he lets them do whatever they want to him and with him.
On this trip, dad had to stay home and mom participated in a cousin weekend at Newman Lake. So, Charlie stayed in town with Nonnie and Boppa for almost two days. They tired him out!

 This summer GG (Grandma Great) gave Charlie a keyboard. You see, she couldn't let a child who loved piano not have a piano of his own. He has had a great time with this. It is too bad I didn't post the video of him singing and playing before our camera was stolen. Hopefully, I can get another repeat performance when we get another camera.

 We were able to be in Spokane on Grammy's 91st birthday. Charlie was the only male allowed at lunch that day. He certainly loves his GG.

 Do you think Charlie enjoyed being in this company? Look at that grin.

 The Wagner family finally made it to Newman lake together over Labor Day weekend. Charlie loved playing in the sandbox, jumping into the lake and taking canoe rides (both in the lake and on the sand). This is a picture of the boys coming back towards the dock.

I caught a pose. Not sure if this is a grin or what.

Times are a changing...

We now have a little boy who is wearing pull-ups. This transition has been really, really wonderful both for Charlie and his parents. We are no longer in battles over putting on a diaper. Before the pull-ups, he was wanting to lay out his diaper just right, sit on it and hook the straps - all by himself. This wasn't an easy or quick process. Now, with pull-ups he is loving getting them on himself and being a big boy. We also bought him his first package of big-boy underwear today. We are well on our way to having a potty trained boy before baby number two comes along. YES!

If you couldn't guess from the previous comments, we have a very strong-willed child, who all our parents say we deserve, in some form or another. Apparently, Tom and I are stubborn and strong-willed??? Who knew. The favorite saying now around here is "my do it." or even "I do it." This takes a bit more patience from us, but we are attempting to take this in stride.

The last bit of news from our home is why we haven't had a blog post in a while. Back on August 23rd, Tom arrived home from work to find our home broken into and all our electronics, some jewelry and a few other odds and ends stolen. Needless to say, that has been a big pain in terms of details as well as some sadness over losing all of our baby and toddler videos. You see, they even stole the back-up (external hard drive). So, we are slowly getting back up and running and getting a blog post up.

Blessings to you all.