Fairies

I saw a few fairies flying through the yard last week!  They were the cutest fairies EVER!

Johnny Appleseed Festival

It was a beautiful weekend to get out and enjoy the weather.  A local apple farm holds a Johnny Appleseed festival every year.  This was a first time!

They had a restaurant, store, bakery and tons of kids stuff set up to do outside.

Our favorite thing to do was the jumping platform.  It's a huge jumpy mat that the girls couldn't stop doing.  As the other kids were jumping, they were bouncing the girls off the mat....they loved it!

I heard some great laughs!

The farm had many things to climb on.  These were huge tires that lead up to a fun slide.  All this climbing wiped out the kids by the end of the day!

Here's the slide the tires led up to.....FUN!

There were many farm animals to pet and look at.  The girls were talking to them in this picture.  I'm not quite sure what they were talking about?

A little shopping....

A cool tepee....

And the piggy ride.  All of us took a ride on the piggies being pulled by a tractor.  Probably our favorite part!

At the end, we hit a few corn mazes (which were easy because I don't really like them).  The girls had fun stopping and doing some hand shakes and claps they do at recess.  Thanks for inviting us to spend the day with you Julia!

Fall Hiking Spree

The Fall Hiking Spree has arrived.  The Metroparks kicks off a hiking spree each fall from Sept. to Nov.  The object of the spree is to complete 8 hikes out of a list of about 12.  They range in distance from 1 mile to a little over 3 miles.

 We started off today with a 1.2 mile hike to see an old quarry.  It was a little warm and humid but, a great day for a hike.

When we complete our 8 hikes, Dawson will be awarded a hiking stick.   My mom says I got my stick when I was 4.  I will get a medal to pound on mine this year.  I wonder where that stick is of mine?

 

 Notice how green everything is.....this is going to change quickly in the next few weeks!

And we ended our hike with some nice cold water!!!

A "Pixar" Night at the Orchestra

Last night we enjoyed some fabulous music from the Cleveland Orchestra.  We sat outside, had a picnic and enjoyed an amazing concert with friends.  This year's theme was a night of "Pixar."  The orchestra played music from Pixar's greatest movies such as Toy Story, The Incredibles and Up.

Holiday concerts are usually busy but, this year it was packed!  Our blankets were all touching and there was not a single space to move around in!  It's difficult to see the many video screens in this picture that were used to show stunning movie clips from the songs being played by the orchestra.  

 My music loving girl sat and watched the entire 2 hour show...she was mesmerized.  There was also a lot of dancing and movement going on throughout the concert.

 Even daddy and Teddy enjoyed the night!

 One of the highlights of the night were the glowsticks.  It was fun to see all of the lawn light up with glowsticks as the sky turned dark.

All three girls working hard on some glowstick creations!   We are already looking forward to next year's concert.  Each year is a different theme!  

CLASS of 2025

Can you believe it....the class of 2025 is starting first grade!  This year is the year the uniforms kick in.  I must say I LOVE the idea of uniforms.  Believe or not, 

Dawson does too!  

Our picture as we walked out the door and headed to our first day of first grade!

One more picture...I grabbed a quick Iphone photo as they lined up in morning care.  She was all smiles as she headed off to her new classroom.  We are off to a great start!

Annual Movie Night

Movie night....perfect weather, 10 kids, parents and a viewing of the Little Mermaid = tons of fun!

Everyone laid out their blankets and got ready for the movie.  I can't even tell you how excited everyone was to watch a movie outside.  Some friends have done this with us before and others were new!

We had a small, free concession stand which included: pizza, popcorn, candy and juice boxes.  It was quite busy all night long.   Dawson even requested a short intermission so all the kids could stock up on the snacks!  

As you can see, the kids didn't sit through the whole movie....some were watching from the swing set and others from inside the jumpy house.  They were all over the place!

At the end of the movie, the big girls loaded YOUTUBE videos and our night became a dance party.  These two decided to be the D.J.'s for the night!

Tubing Anyone?

 We have had a lot of rain and cooler weather this summer but, between all the clouds, we jumped in the car, grabbed a few friends and ventured down to the lake.  No one ever said you had to have sun to go tubing!

We tied this big floating raft to the dock and the kids played on it for hours.  The water is about 6 feet deep at our dock so no one could touch.  It makes jumping off the dock a ton of fun!!!

They got on it and off it all day long in between tubing!

 At times, they just sat and rested.

Other times, they played king of the inner tube.    

 These two were ready to go tubing just about every minute of the day.   I did take a break driving the boat to get a bottle of water and one of the kids said "is 15 minutes a long enough break for you?"   That made me laugh.   

 The best part of being at a lake house is having your friends with you all day long!

 

 My fearless tuber!

 Dawson can not wait to get back to the lake to do some more tubing.  Maybe the sun will come out before school starts?