Happy Halloween

In our house, we paint pumpkins.  That way, the kids can have creative free reign and also we can cook up and eat the pumpkin later.

 So we painted...

 Grace had a great time and did a wonderful job.

 We painted some more...

 Glen did a great job, but in the picture he was crying because he wanted to play with the mailbox.

Happy Halloween from my very cute bat and giraffe.

Apple Orchard

Two years ago Matt and I met up with our friends Vitaly and Violetta at an apple orchard near Winchester.  We had so much fun, and we see those friends so seldom, that we decided to do it again.

 Grace naturally ran to the play ground to have some time on the pirate ship.  It had rained right before we got to the orchard, but the weather ended up being wonderful while we were there.

 My little apple dumpling, as an apple...who knew!

 Vitaly got a work out.  It seemed that all of the best apples were at the very top, and only the kids could get them.  Or maybe he was trying to recreate some pictures from two years ago.  Or maybe he just likes hoisting large amounts of weight over his head....I am not sure :)

 But the kids enjoyed it!

 I have no idea how many apples Grace ate while we were in the orchard.  She loved them.

 Glen just liked running up and down the grassy paths.

 Matt also got into the weight lifting...oh sorry, child lifting.

 They both had a great time.  Matt and I had a great time seeing Vitaly and Violetta again.  A great time was had all around!

 More fun on the playground.  And yes, Glen found the tractor...he seems to gravitate toward those things.

We will be back, in a year or two.

Safari Park

In the fall Mom, Amy, Mike, Austin, Adam, Jason, Matt, Grace, Glen, and I went to visit the Safari Park that is located about an hour from our home.

 We all (minus Glen and Jason) had gone about two years ago.  It was fun so we wanted to go again.

 Glen was loving to watch all of the animals.

 We went on the wagon ride (rather than driving our car through the safari part).  We fed llamas, camels, ostriches, and so many more animals.  Some had large scary horns, and other liked to steal the feed buckets, it was an adventure that was very fun!

 Part of the reason for this trip was my kids, so that they could experience the animals.  Another reason for this trip was Jason, so that we could give him another experience that he might not have at his home in China.

 The kids had so much fun, they wore themselves out completely!

Another great trip.

A Trip To The Farm

Mike and Amy have a Chinese exchange student so they are desiring to give him as many experiences that are new to him in Virginia that he would not get in the big city of Beijing. 

 We have a distant cousin who owns and runs a dairy farm.  She lives a few miles away from my mom and dad's house.  So one Sunday afternoon we decided to visit her to see the process of milking.

 Glen just loved the cats (and there were plenty of kittens to go around).  He would say "I pet this a-kitty,  Now I pet this a-kitty.  Now I pet this a-kitty..."  you get the idea.  He had so many a-kittys to pet!

 Grace got to bottle feed some very eager and hungry calves.

 Glen found a tractor and he decided that he must sit in it.

 Grace did not want to be left out.  So she sat in it too.

 Glen stood beside the huge tractor saying "tractor, I drive."  Yeah, maybe in a few years buddy!

It was a fun day on the farm.  Thank you Vonda!

Play in the rain...YES!

Why should rain hinder play?  It does not at mamaw's house.

You just need a bucket bath before you come into the house.

 But my, it is fun while you can be covered in mud!

Camping Trip

In August we went camping at Lewis Mountain in Skyline Drive.

 We were lucky enough to get a great campsite that had a trail to a field behind it.  Not only that, but the field had three HUGE downed trees that the kids used as a playground.

 Climbing over, climbing on, crawling over, they had so much fun.

 We arrived early Saturday and left early Sunday but it was a nice relaxing time and it showed us that our kids adapted well, and loved camping.

 I brought along some sidewalk chalk.  One of the activities that we did was Grace helped me collect rocks and we drew pictures on them with chalk.

 Glen helped us collect some sticks, that is until he got distracted by how tall trees are.

 This is one of the three downed trees.  So glad that we had it for the kids to play on.

 SMORES!

 Grace was trying to be so very careful around the fire.  I am not even sure her marshmallow got warm.

 Glen was content to play with the leaves.

 Then he decided that a fun activity would be to crawl this parking block over and over and over.

 Story time in the tent, then off to bed.  What a great trip!