Mini-Staycation

Earlier in the year, Danny and I talked about going to New York City in September.  We had a change of plans and decided to go to Chicago in July instead.  We kept our vacation time at work and stayed in Columbus and did stuff with the kids during the time we originally planned to go to New York.  

Both kids were in need of new shoes, so we spent an evening at Easton.  We shopped, had dinner, and walked around.  It's a really nice "mall" (if you can call it that) -- it's more like its own little town.  It's especially nice in the summer time to just "hang out".  It's pretty in the winter with all of the Christmas lights, but it can get pretty cold!  The kids love it there.  Their favorite part is all of the different types of fountains.  They found this phone booth and we had to explain to them what it was!

Cadence had "Fair Day" off from school -- I remember being so confused when I moved to Ohio.  I was like, "We get an actual day off from school because of the Delaware County Fair?  I'll take it!"  Since we had the day off, we decided to take the kids to the fair!  We checked out all of the animals, the kids played some games, and we had some fair food.  The kids weren't interested in any of the rides -- probably better that way, right?!

They thought the goats were hysterical. 

They loved riding the ponies most of all.

Milking a fake cow

They took turns riding in a tractor simulator.  

The kids have fishing poles that we'd never used, so we finally broke them in and took them fishing at Alum Creek Lake.  They had a ton of luck and both caught some little fish that we released back into the water.  There were a couple of guys that showed up and were fishing near us -- they either were after much larger fish or weren't having any luck; neither one of them caught a single thing while we were around!  I swear, Colin caught a fish not even 30 seconds after dropping his first line.

You can almost see the little fish -- it's blending in with the picnic table!

After our picnic lunch, we moved over to the dam where some guys were catching catfish!  We didn't have any luck so we took a walk instead!

I love it when they get along...

Cadence doesn't play dress up much; she surprised us the other day with her fairy costume.

I had to throw in some Grandma Friday pics!

The week before our vacation, we took the kids to the Alum Creek Dam to check it out for the first time.  It was a beautiful day.  There was even an archery competition going on there.  Colin loved all of the remote control airplanes that people were flying around.

Cadence has lost both of her top two-front teeth!

A week after our vacation, we participated in the first annual Children of the Fallen 5k.  Dad and Danny ran, while Mom and I walked with the kids.  A lot of the time, a 5k run is paired with a 1-mile walk -- not this one!  We cheated a bit because the kids were tired (and I didn't bring a stroller) but we all made it!  The kids even took turns riding on my back!  My mom was a good sport and carried the kids a little.  She's a beast! ;)  The money raised went to help the children of fallen Veterans.  We hope to support the cause next year!

Ending Summer with a Bang....Literally

A couple of weekends ago, we took the kids to a nearby trail so they could take their Jeeps for a spin.  They loved it.  Every day since then, on the way to daycare, Colin tells me, step-by-step, what we're going to do again: "on Saturday, we're going to put our Jeeps in Poppa's truck, we're going to park Poppa's truck right there, and ride our Jeeps, OK?"

As they were riding, a "real" Jeep drove by and gave the kids a thumbs up.  It was too perfect.

I had to include a random cute pic of the pup.

Way back when (it seems like over six months ago), we told Cadence that if she helped us potty-train Colin by giving him praise and support, that we would go to Build-A-Bear when he was finally potty-trained.  Well, the day finally arrived.  The Friday of Labor Day weekend, after school, we told the kids we had a surprise for them.  We headed to Easton and they were so confused.  Cadence finally saw the store as we walked through Easton and she was so excited.  Cadence picked a My Little Pony (Luna, to be exact) and Colin picked Rubble from Paw Patrol.  Yeah, they're not bears...most of the stuffed animals aren't anymore.  

Here they are helping "fill" their stuffed animals.

Colin loved all of the fountains at Easton.  He could probably play with them all day.

On Sunday, we were on our way to Hamilton to spend time with Danny's family.  That night we headed to Cincinnati for the WEBN Labor Day fireworks.  We had a blast!  We got there a couple of hours before the fireworks started.  They've added a lot of fun stuff around the stadiums and the kids had lots to keep them entertained.  There were a lot of people around; we stayed away from the huge crowds, but close enough to still get a good view of the fireworks.  Between Annie and I, we got some cute pictures from the evening.

Cadence and Gracie are usually joined at the hip when we're together.

Cousins!

We knew the kids (Colin in particular) wouldn't be a fan of the loudness of the fireworks, so we bought some noise cancelling headphones through Amazon.  I'm glad we did -- they worked out great.  They started setting off a few fireworks every 15 minutes during the hour leading up to 9:00, so our two kids were strolling around Cincy with headphones on.  They totally didn't care.

The next morning, the kids helped Papaw make pancakes for breakfast.

Lily snuggling with Colin.

That Tuesday, Colin moved up to the 3-4 year old room at daycare -- he's officially a pre-schooler now!  He calls it the big kid class.  I love it.  He's made new friends already.  

Cadence also started art classes at Hands On Art Barn in Galena.  She goes once a week after school.  She was starting to lose interest in gymnastics, so we wanted to find something for Cadence that was art or music based.  She's looking forward to painting her clay starfish next week!

.

Cadence swiped my phone one day while we were hanging out at the pool (I might've fallen asleep on the raft in the pool) and she got this cool pic of the sky.

Last week we took the kids to the Alum Creek Dam.  Unfortunately all of the playgrounds were under construction, but we still had fun.  There were people flying remote control planes and an archery competition was going on while we were there.  The weather was beautiful.

Cadence's other front tooth was holding on for dear life for at least two weeks.  It fell out while she was eating lunch at school.  She's going to look like a different kid when those two front teeth grow in!

I had to include this one from Grandma Friday last week -- he's just too much to handle.  Here's one of his signature poses.  It's either thumbs up or peace/deuces when we take his picture.  Sometimes his tongue is out.

First Grade

After years of daycare, pre-school, kindergarten, and now summer camp, Cadence is a pro when it comes to school.  The first day of school is a big deal every year, but this time there were a lot less nerves!  She got the teacher that she wanted for first grade, so that helped matters even more.  The first day of school was a little rainy, but we were able to get some pictures in.  Colin was sick in the middle of the night, so we let him sleep in that morning.  

FaceTime with Mamaw and Papaw while we waited for the bus.

I mentioned Colin was sick the night before, but he had no fever and was acting like himself when he woke up, so we brought him to daycare after we got Cadence on the bus so we could get to work.  By mid-day, we got the phone call that Colin was sick, so back home for Mommy!  

Luckily, he was feeling like himself later that day.  Cadence had a great first day of school and we feel she's going to have an awesome year.  There's an app that we downloaded called ClassDojo; Cadence's teacher uses it so we can see Cadence's daily report.  There are updates on her behavior (if she's on task, working hard, listening) and we can also see any warnings she may receive (goofing off, talking).  Her teacher also posts pictures so we can see what she does every day.  It's really cool!