Denver Snow Fun

Day at the (Blizzard) Beach

After Alabama, we took the kids down to Orlando for more family visits.  We also took them to their first water park.  Disney's Blizzard Beach is a great place for swimmers and splashers of every age to have a great time.  We recognize they are both strong swimmers, and as much as I enjoy the water, and as much as Sarah enjoys the sun, we jumped at the opportunity to share both with these kids in the temperate climate of Florida's fall.

After hitting the wave pool, the family raft slide like 4 times, once around in the lazy river, and having lunch, we finally made it over to the kid zone.  There Grace and Sam were able to pretty much play unattended. 

After a day of that much fun, it took mere minutes for them to drop into snooze mode on the way home.  

  

The South

We recently made a trip south to Alabama to visit family.  Mimi loves doting on her great grandchildren and we all love enjoying warm hospitality, family gatherings, and roving farmlands and forests. 

Just down the road is Tannehill Inronworks Historical State Park.  I visited there many times as a child and looked forward to showing the kids a few places.  One in particular was the Grist Mill.  My aunt took a great photo of me in front of the mill when I was just a few years older than Grace and it still hangs in Mimi's house.  Someday I might put a copy of that up for Throwback Thursday.

 

We also hit a geocache or two!!!

The Farm...

We take the kids to zoos all the time, but the closest we get to domesticated animals is generally the petting zoo at the Puyallup Fair.   Getting up close to live large animals while you are in the same fenced area is not a regular occurence for Sam or Grace, and the cows and week old calf held their attention for some time.  Thanks again to their Great Aunt for giving us the keys to the Polaris.  We even gave the kids some driving lessons the same way their Grandmuhie learned; an open field and no traffic, sans clutch these days of course. 

And then, the Polaris turned into a jungle jim...  Kids.  

 Later folks.

Leaf Diving

I don't have those classic memories of diving into piles of leaves when I was a child.  That's probably because the leaves in Florida just don't lend themselves to large fluffy piles like the crinkly collections of Maple leaves I raked together this past weekend.  Standing there with rake in hand and garbage can ready to receive the fallen fauna, I was struck with childish inspiration.  I coerced both children outside to dance in the wonderful enjoyment of making a huge mess.

       

 

It took some time to get Sam to realize how much fun we were having, but he quickly caught up on the fun.   

 Then he helped me stop to make more room in the can.  

Over the Rainbow

Halloween this year was special.  It was the first time we dressed in costume as a family.  I'll admit, only a few years ago I would have rolled my eyes at families whose costumes were themed together, but having kids of my own unleaded my inner child - and I think we pretty much rocked it with our thrift store costumes.  (Sam even got some polar bear ear muffs!)

Of course, the Frozen phenomena was in Grace's mind when we were trying to decide what to be this year.  So, one evening when Sarah was working, I had a pizza picnic in the basement with the kids and we watched The Wizard of Oz.   Getting Grace to buy-in on something other than Ana or Elsa was tough, but once she saw Glenda the Good Witch of the North, with sparkling crown and star wand, I knew I had convinced her to flip. 

We carved pumpkins,

...got dressed, and hit the town.   Our awesome neighbor Jesse helped complete the theme and was our Scarecrow. 

The week prior, we participated in a fun run organized by Metro Parks Tacoma called the Black Cat Fun Run and had a few photos captured by the event photographer.  The run was 2.5 miles, and as it turns out, both our kids ran about half the course.  Sarah and I were both pleasantly surprised.  Looks like we can start signing these kids up for their own races!

Dahlia Garden Kid Shoot '14

We just barely got our annual garden picture taking done before the weather turned. A quick walk down memory lane:

2011

2012 

2013

2014

It is actually quite a debacle trying to get photos of these kiddos. Well, ones where they both look at the camera and smile, that is. For anyone with young children, this is not a surprise or revelation. For those without young children or experience with them...let me try and give you a running commentary to illustrate.

Okay kids, smile and look at the camera...oh, yeah, I guess doing both at the same time is asking too much.

Lets try it again, SMILE! Sam...Sam...SAM!

Alright, lets try a new spot. Can you two hug? Good job Samuel. Grace can you hug your brother?

Uhhh, easy, easy. I don't think he likes that Grace.

Yeah, he didn't like that.

Dad, can you help me out here?! Okay kids. Smile! Oh well, maybe a little too much.

Phew. This will have to do.

As irritated as I get trying to get that "perfect shot" I realize the ones we end up liking the most are the silly ones and those that capture our kids personalities. Here's to getting my camera out more for the moments they are not looking at the camera.

Fall Fun 2014

I'm writing this post on a foggy fall day, as it is pouring rain outside. On my list of things to do today is find the pumpkin carving paraphernalia, as tonight might be the night we tackle that project. Needless to say we are embracing the fall season. We have already made a trip to the annual Scarecrow festival in Gig Harbor and visited the pumpkin patch, both of which the kiddos enjoyed thoroughly. 
If you asked the kids what their favorite part of the Scarecrow Festival was, I believe they would have said either the pony rides or the out of this world, enormous hot dog they got to split, not sure which one!

Grandma and Papa were in town for our trip to the Spooner Farms' Pumpkin Patch. We had so much fun and the weather was perfect. This year we went on a Monday, which was a huge change from the craziness last year when we went on the weekend.

Can never have too much fun with the pumpkin cutouts

Taking a break in the kids barn to color

The best part about Spooner Farms was the corn maze. We didn't go last year but we decided to participate this time as the kids are a bit older and I couldn't believe how cool it was! Over 3 miles of interwoven paths make up this maze, which this year (yes, it is different ever year apparently) was in the shape of a dinosaur scene. There were dino themed activities spread out throughout the maze and hidden dino picture "checkpoints" that you checked off on your "scratch off" cards. We spent an hour or so wandering around playing and way too long trying to figure out how to get out. It was great fun. I kept thinking how Scott and I will have to go back just by ourselves next year and spend half the day exploring. Totally something we'd do. At the end of the maze we all got huge dinosaur shaped gummy candies for finishing. The kids couldn't have been happier, or stickier if your name is Samuel.

Checking out the dinosaur tracks

Digging for dinosaur bones

We found a dinosaur!

 As I was uploading the photos I realized Scott was working on both occasions and missed out on all the fun. Maybe the kids and I shouldn't do the pumpkin carving tonight as he is out of town on a trip with the Air Force. I'll save it for later this week, when he can participate, and help with the messy clean up! We hope everyone is enjoying this fall season. Next up, Halloween pictures.