Beach to Battleship

Jason took on his second half-Ironman down in Wilmington. He went down the night before with his friend, and I drove down with the kids to cheer him on the day of the race. If I was smart, I'd post these pictures and just say something about how cool the battleship was to tour. The truth is, I was completely off my game that day, I guess, because it was one of the top 3 worst days of parenting I've ever had. I did manage to hold it together (no screaming at the kids or crying on my part), but really, it was a lousy day. I miscalculated SEVERAL things, like how long it would take us to get to the island, how much food would be available, what kind of supplies (diapers, change of clothes, etc) I would need. Jason finished the race and headed pretty quickly to the medical tent to deal with horrible nausea and possible dehydration. I took the kids up the battleship, which Ethan had been begging to see. It was hot and the kids were hungry and tired, but you would never know it from these pictures. It was such a lousy experience I failed to get a single picture of Jason racing or afterwards. We didn't feed the kids until around 9:00 that night, and Colin stood up on his chair in the middle of the restaurant and the entire chair went over backwards. It seemed like a fitting ending to a terrible day. But we all survived!

Field Trip

I went with Colin's class on a nature hike field trip. The setting was gorgeous, the day was gorgeous, and we had a great time.

It was so nice I took the kids back later that week after school.

Madeline was convinced she could throw this rock in the water. She's spunky.

Sandbox

The kids are still loving the sandbox their Dad built them, and I am loving weather cool enough to enjoy it! I don't know if you can tell, but Madeline is dumping shovels of sand on her brother's head. I have no clue why.

Halloween

We decided to go with a family theme this year (the Skywalker family, to be exact). Ethan was Luke, Madeline was Leia (Luke's twin sister), although she refused to wear the cute bun/ears wig, and Colin was their father, Anakin, aka Darth Vader. Madeline's interest in trick-or-treating did not extend beyond the very first piece of candy. Once she got that, she was focused on eating it, and once she finished it, she went to bed. The kids had a great time decorating the car, carving pumpkins, and handing out candy at the trunk or treat the church organized the day before Halloween. Kids make holidays fun.

Fun at the Farm

We made our annual fall visit to a local "farm," which is more like a giant, expensive playground. We always have a great time. We went mid-week towards the end of the day, towards the end of the season, and practically had the place to ourselves. I loved that. The boys made their way through the maze.

And climbed on tires.

And jumped in the bounce house.

We raced little plastic ducks.

And slid down the slide.

We rode the train, where Ethan looked so grown up.

Then took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch, which was pretty picked over by that point.

The kids got to pretend to drive the tractor.

And I failed to get one good shot of the three of them.

We managed to pick out some sad looking pumpkins, which Jason had to lug to the car all by himself.

Ethan played in the corn-filled gazebo, which the other two didn't like.

We fed the fish and animals. Which was about the time the sky changed colors and I assumed a big storm was headed for us. But the kids still managed some time with the sand toys. All in all, it was really fun. We'll definitely be back next year!