Day in the sun

We went to Aldrege orchards to hang out and with all the fun relaxing activities we spent the whole day there. The kids loved chasing down the cats and loving on them amazingly enough the cats were very tolerant of the extra love. (10/5/08)

One sweet ride

We were cleaning out the garage and found this old printer box and before long it turned into a magic car that provided days of excitment.

Hiking with daddy

Since I had a lot of work to do re-vamping the program that I teach Michael decided to take the kids for a hike to keep them out of my way for a few hours. Needless to say the kids had a blast in the forest behind our house. They crossed logs across the little stream and even used ropes to climb the hill on the other side. It was quite an adventure.

Pumpkin Patch fun with Gina

Another beautiful fall day in Missouri so we went to the pumpkin patch/apple orchard for a day of relaxing on the "farm" the kids had fun chasing chickens and petting goats. Colton loved the fresh air so much he fell asleep.

Visit from Gina & Colton

We were so excited when Gina and Colton got to come and visit us in September. It was so fun to be together again even if it was only for three days. The kids loved having Colton to play with. Gina and Isabella made a great fairy house.

Nature Walk

The weather was so great we went to the park to feed the geese and go on a nature walk through the woods. Dominic was very proud of the wooly-worm he found on the path...I don't think the worm was so happy about being found.

Little Red Wagon

We were cleaning out the garage today and the kids spotted the red wagon and decided to go in and get all their baby dolls and stuffed animals and take them for a ride. They thought it looked like so much fun they begged daddy to take them for a ride as well. It was a tight fit for all of them but they had fun. (10.1.08)

Parade Fun

Another big perk to Riverfest is the parade. It is always under an hour long and has tons of people throwing candy, which of course is a big hit with the kids. Besides where else would your kid get the chance to shake hands with Mr. Peanut?

Riverfest 2008

We love Riverfest and enjoying going to it every year. It is a blow-up carnival where all of the rides are FREE. Here are some pictures of the kids climbing and playing.

Ride 'em Cowboy

This is another fun free experience at Riverfest that the kids wanted to try out. The guy that runs the bull can make it go as fast or as slow as the person riding it. Unfortunately he seemed to think that he didn't do his job unless the person fell off. Isabella did really well, she probably made it 3 minutes before she fell off. Dominic made it about 5 seconds before he started screaming that he wanted ME to ride with him. I said that wasn't an option but the man running the show said "go ahead we will make an exception for you"
You would think the guy would take it easy on us since I had to hold on to Dominic and try to hold on to the bull.....but nooo. He felt compelled to make it interesting. I just kept thinking surely after a minute or two he will stop since it would be really dangerous if we both fell off. But that thought must not have entered his mind- I finally made a motion for the guy to stop and he did but man did my back and neck hurt for days. The tension I had to maintain to keep us on the bull was intense. I really don't recommend this to anyone over 18 years old. It was so not worth it even if Dominic had a blast.

Yet again...more apples

Picking apples is really just too much fun. We can't get enough of it. We are seriously going to have apples coming out of our ears by the end of the month. I am sure we will appreciate all the frozen apple products this winter.......unfortunately that means that the next few weeks are going to be spent making apples sauce, apple pie fill and anything else I can figure out to do with the bushels of apples we are taking home.

LIfe on the Farm

Everyone needs to experience the joys of jumping on large hay bales. What fun it is. The kids really felt big leaping from bale to bale. We only had one bad moment, when Isabella got stuck in between the bales, luckily there were people to help her escape. Unfortunately we found out later that night and the next day that Isabella must be allergic to hay. She had quite a time sneezing and coughing. No more bale jumping for her. Allergies stink!