Where the Fish Live

Whoa. Our illness and a very fun weekend trip is making me feel very behind on my posts. The longer I wait, the less I remember and remembering is what the blog is all about, right?

A few days after the corn maze we met back up with the rest of the gang and went to the aquarium. I was rushing to meet up with them after a dentist appointment, so naturally I forgot my camera. Big thank you to Karen for sending these pics.

Someone always has to be making that face.

Shortly after the picture above was taken, I found the fish identification cards and each of the kids got one. Doesn't it look like Grady is REALLY into fish IDing in the picture below? Here we are on the slowly moving sidewalk in the shish tunnel.

We did do a little bit of tickling when we were bored with fish watching.

And Nana did get her much sought-after group photo.

And we all ooooh-ed and aaaawww-ed at the giant wall of fish.

And Grady near broke my back reaching for the water at the touch pool. He was having a good time, at least.

Sara, touching the rays with Rhett looking on.

Several of us took a ride down the Northern Right Whale slide. It's an endangered specie, you know. Sara is waiting on Grady to finish here.

While we all waited for Cole to come down the slide. He wouldn't. "EESS DARK!" he said.

We tried to coax him down. No luck. I went up and came down with him, and I'm happy to report that adults do fit down the whale's alimentary canal.

More tunnel exploration.

And faux ship steering.

And then, home for naps. Pretty much the story of our lives. Activity, followed by naps. Though if I remember correctly my two did not nap, but instead pulled out every musical instrument we own and played "Band" on their beds for an hour.

Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch

I'm going to skip right over the pleasantries to tell you to go ahead and feel sorry for us.  I think we have a night terrror-having baby on our hands. I don't even want to talk about it, between that and the boys --all three of them--'s illness the last few nights I'm low on the energy it would take to explain carefully and in a way that didn't make me want drink heavily.

Let's think back to more pleasant times. Like, two weekends ago when we went to the pumpkin patch and corn maze with Nana, BellyMomma and the three cousins. Ahhh. Those were fun times.

So, you see, it was a lovely Saturday morning and we were loaded into our car. we were all in good spirits. No one was sick, no one was screaming for no reason.

 And in the car behind us, was BellyMomma, driving Nana and the three little ones. We were headed to Uncle Something-Or-The-Other. Uncle Bob, Fred, Jimbo, or something similar. Can't remember. Looking at this picture you can tell Nana is busy telling Karen something that Nana is not sure about, because she's playing with her hair. What was stressing you out, Nana? Were you worried Keith's GPS would lead us into a dead-end road? Hehehehe.

Despite the GPS's attempts, we made it to Uncle's, paid our way in and got our hands stamped. Some of us were enamored with the hand stamps. Others adamantly refused. 

We explored the pumpkin area.

Checked out the animals.

And where the eggs are kept. While the boys ran off a nice lady from the local 4H club told me all about the hens and their egg laying ability. I tried to pay attention, but spent the entire time wondering where the boys had run off to next.

I bid her adieu and found the kids. Or one of mine, and two of Karen's, at least .

And then we headed into the corn maze! Aunt Karen led the way.

Rhett is so mischievous. He hid in a sidepath, but Uncle Keith's eagle eyes spotted him.

Cole and I brought up the rear, mostly because we had to stop and examine every piece of fallen corn.

About half-way into the maze Grady got smart and hitched a ride.

And even later, we all went for a hayride. It was also snacktime, as you can see. I tried to get pictures of Karen and her three on the hayride, but she was sitting to my left, and it was just too close for flattering pictures.

And during the hayride we determined that it was very close to naptime. We let the boys pick their own little pun'kins, and we got outta there.

And headed to Nana's to tickle Oora on the couch.

More later.

Atta Bir'tay to youuuuuuu

Happy birthday, Dada! Our love and adoration for you has no end, and we love having an excuse to pamper you for a day. Or a weekend. 

Growing up, Nana always gave us and Oupa breakfast in bed on our birthdays. The tradition continues...two years ago, birthday breakfast in bed. 

Last year, birthday breakfast on couch because the helper birthday elves were not interested in sitting on the bed...

 

Updated: This year we started in the bed. 

 But moved to the couch. And I've learned to make extra breakfast so the birthday boy can have two eater-helpers.

 This was a group effort, in eating, card reading, and gift enjoying.

 They have an "ooooh" when he opened the gift, though I got the idea that they weren't sure why Dada would get so excited about new shoes.

Neighbors

Have I shared these pictures before? Aunt Karen and her gang have new neighbors, and the neighbors have large pets.

I would write more, but will be sitting at my desk thinking of excuses to use when Sara, Greg and Rhett want to know why Aunt Trudi wont be going near the horses. Surely I can think of better things than "those animals scare the hell out of me"?

Top of the Morning to Ya

Good morning, peoples. Hope all is well with you. Things are good with our little tribe. We had a great weekend of seeing Nana, Oupa, Callie (the dog, the boys would not omit her), our BellyMomma, Greg, Sarah and Rhett. Or, Geg, Sawah and WET! Which is kinda funny since Rhett thought Cole's name was Cold for the longest time.

I digress, I've not had coffee yet. Naturally I plan on sharing details, but am waiting for Karen to email me Aquarium pictures....ahem....so instead I'll share a bunch of random.

1. Potty training with boys is a process. We have had several great, GREAT weeks, and Monday afternoon we had one terrible, terrible afternoon. We've recovered, we've moved on, and we're investing in OxyClean to soak poopy clothes.

2. I really am glad I painted the pantry door with chalkboard paint. If you ever want to do this, you should know two things: first, the roll-on stuff is much better than the spray. And it's worth doing at least 2 good coats. Secondly, the paint now comes in all sorts of fun colors. As we like to say in our house, maybe we'll try that in the next house. See how much we love the chalk door?

I should also note that I'm tired of the green color on my kitchen walls. I'd repaint it, but Keith would not stand for that. In the next house, I guess.



3. Somebody's birthday is coming up! Whooooooooooo.  This certain birthday to me signals the beginning of holiday season, and that just warms the heart. And makes me want to run a few extra miles each night 'cause I do love to eat my way through the holidays.

4. I love the fall weather we are finally having! That means lots and lots of soups at our house. Currently in rotation is Grammie's french onion soup, and we owe a big thank you to Sessy for introducing us to this deliciousness, we eat this at least once every two weeks during the winter, -we add a little goat cheese and red pepper flakes. Hmmmm.

Back at you with more tomorrow.