Luke Austin Windels

We stopped at the Memphis Fire Museum on the trip down.

Is it just me, or does he look like part of the exhibit here?

Luke and Abby gear up for Luke's birthday party.

Luke loved his Curious George cake.

And he got so many great presents!

Then he got to meet Santa at Teri's Office Christmas party.

He was hamming it up for everyone there.

Salt and pepper = endless entertainment.

He helped Bella and Cappy decorate their Christmas tree.

And played a little backyard baseball with Grandpa, Nana, Gary and Steven.

We headed to the coast for the day.

And Luke played at the beach.

We were glad to have warm weather.

Plus, Luke loved getting to see all of his family.

Including his cousins.

I think he likes it in New Orleans.

Les Miles clapping

To get ready, we carved a pumpkin. Luke wouldn't touch the insides, but he was happy to look.

Coach Miles is excited to go to the Halloween Parade.

And he was very excited about the whistle.

I am sure the neighbors loved us for that.

Here's Coach Miles running drills with Daddy.

After several pictures, he was ready to go trick or treating.

Oddly, he was less scared of this guy than he was of a giant "Elmo" he saw at the parade the day before.

After trick or treating, Abby and Luke helped us pass out candy.

Luke practices his hook 'em horns in preparation for this weekend's Texas/OU game. Thanks to Sue for passing along Dan's baby rocking chair. All it needed was a fresh coat of burnt orange.

Luke and Rylie power down the cul de sac

Trystan is not too happy to be left behind.

But soon enough, he gets his turn as the boys go cruisin'

Later on...a jam session breaks out.

One week later, we met up at the apple farm. There was lots of great stuff for the kids.

Luke kept telling us the tires on the playground tractor were stuck!

Inside, they sold apple cider doughnuts and apple cider...yummmmmmm.

Luke loved the pony. When he got off, a little girl got on. He said, "Hey, what dat little girl doing on Luke's pony?" Apparently, he and the pony bonded.

Tongue out = concentration

Luke sees if the car remote works on Daddy.

This cute outfit might be the best thing about the Cubs' season.

Luke sported some Tiger pride this summer as well.

We made a pilgrimage out to the leaning tower of Skokie.

A scaled down version of a more famous leaning tower.

In late August, we had a neighborhood block party.

Luke liked the bouncy castle.

He was pretty brave in there.

The party also featured a balloon toss.

And a movie for all the kids.

As fall rolled in, LSU and Oregon played each other in the season opener. Luke was a kid divided.

Hello College Football.

Here he shows us the zoomed out view of messy hair.

And here he shows us just what those staples look like.

Luke plays with his Southwest airplane as we "fly in the sky."

He loved the moving walkways at the airport.

In Portland, Luke splashes in the fountain.

This was his first chance to really play with his buddy and Aggie fan, Kyle.

We got to hang with cousins Heidi, Gary, Anne and Doug while they visited Portland from Seattle.

When Luke saw the duck, he shouted, "I love my Ducks!" (Non-Oregon fans...Google it)

Luke chases chickens...yes chickens...at the Grossnicklaus "urban farm."

And plays at the park with Maddie and Sutton.

Then we spent some quality time with Grammy Jen and Grandpa Lar.

And threw some rocks in the river.

While in Portland, we must drink beer. But we found places that catered to the kiddos.Note the magnetic letters on the beer cooler.

On a rainy day, Kyle and Luke put on their coats and boots and went on an adventure in the yard.

We also spent some time seeing the sights. Like Multnomah Falls.

The Falls were pretty magnificent.

After the falls, Luke took a nap and woke up to see snow at Timberline Lodge. People were still snowboarding there...then again, the elevation is over 6000 feet.

Later that week, we visited with Martin and Zach.

A little boy in the tall trees.

At the amusement park, we started tame with the motorcycle.

But we quickly moved up to the roller coaster. That's us in the third car.

We traveled to the coast with the Farnstroms...and forgot our Longhorn hat.

It was a little colder than the Gulf Coast, but we had a blast at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach.

Overall, it was a great trip!