Denver Downs 2010

We have been pretty busy this fall and we weren't really sure when we were going to get to go to our beloved pumpkin patch. We had to squeeze it in on a Sunday afternoon. It is funny, every year, the kids want to do different things. This year, all James wanted to do was play hide and seek in the mazes:



The waterpumps for the duck races were working. Well, only 2 out of 4:



Andy was super excited by two things: the farm animals and the cow train. He rode the cow train several times.



James was really excited to see The Tiger there. Andy only waved at him from a distance:



Last year, James did the big slide, but only after thinking on it for a LONG time. This year, he went right down:



So did Andy:



They both rode the horsey swing:





The boys had a great time in the corn box...although I keep finding corn everywhere!



This year was the first year we attempted the corn maze. We didn't get far:



We left after about 2 hours...didn't even get a pumpkin! They need to have season passes!

2009
2008
2007

Tailgating

We live in a college town. That means, on football days, we have 80,000 guests who come into our little city. Mark and I would love to be able to get season tickets and go to all of the games, but it just hasn't worked out so far. We do try to at least go to campus and join in the festivities with the kids and everyone has a good time. We went this past saturday for the Maryland game and invited John et al. Mark was excited because he got to have a ham biscuit from Hardee's.

As with any good tailgate, there is lots of drinking and eating:





We got a good spot by the P&A. James and John had a great time running around and climbing trees:



We always try to go to the "90 min before kickoff concert". The boys decided this would be a "bad guy walk" with light sabers.



They liked the band once we got there.



The light sabers turned into instruments.



We plan on tailgating this weekend sans kids if anyone wants to meet up!

Fall Tour - stop 1

It is fall and that means it is time to skip church for our fall tour. Mark and I were recovering from strep throat, so heading up to the mountains really didn't sound all that fun, but we are busy the next 2 weeks, the weather was beautiful, so we went.

Unfortuately, we didn't have the energy to put any thought in it, so we just went to Whitewater Falls. Again. What a dump! ;)



In hopes of getting some different shots, Andy found this rock to climb on:



Then he wanted to pick it up:



So, Andy asked James for help:



James decided to try a different rock:



The boys were very impressed with the falls:



Mark and I both have our own cameras...which is a little much:



James did really great! He ran all the way up to the falls, walked down the stairs to the viewing platform, walked back up, ran all the way down. He wanted me to take a picture of him running SO FAST!



So did Andy:



Afterwards, we had a nice little picnic. Andy, of course, couldn't stand to sit down and eat.



Before we went home, we had a rousing game of frisbee. Good times!

The Spotted Jaguar Hippos

Isn't that a cute picture? Doesn't James look just like a soccer player? Awwwwww!

So, incase you haven't figured it out, we signed James up for soccer this season. Actually, James told me repeatedly this summer that he was going to play, so I made it happen. How it works here is you meet Tuesdays and Thursday evenings, sometimes you have practices and sometimes you have games. We had practices the past two weeks, and the first game was tonight. James was super excited! He had a jersey (he is number 2...THE DUECE!), soccer shorts, shin guards, soccer socks, he was ready to go.

Here is us warming up before the big game:



The big spotted jaguar hippo team cheer "roar!":



The start of the game. Um, James didn't start. :(



James coming in!



The mass of players chasing the ball:



Soooooo, right after this picture was taken, James realized that it wasn't going to be as easy to score as he thought it would be. Not only that, he also realized that the other team was also going to try to score (and might). That can only mean one thing. Meltdown. James did well, very enthusiastic, went for the ball, but I don't know, maybe he is just a little competitive. Here is the result:



For all intents and purposes, the game was over for James. Here is a picture of the post game handshake:



Don't get me wrong, there was another meltdown at this point when James realized he wasn't going to get to play anymore. (?)

Oh well, hopefully the next game will go better.

First Day of School (Finally)

James finally started his preschool recently! I thought this day would never come. Here he is running in.



This year he is a yellow bird!



Andy wants to stay...



...but he has his own school.



Andy finally has his own friends. In this picture he is literally saying, "where are my friends?"



Only 2, and 3 (maybe 4) more years until real school!

Apple Picking

For labor day, Ms. Juliet and I found both our husbands working on this holiay. We decided to take the kids apple picking. We went to Bryson's in Mountain Rest. It took like an hour to get there, but it was a nice drive.

Here are the kids gearing up (ie putting on hats). My kids only wore their hat for this picture.



They gave us big buckets and a very vague description of what we were suppose to do. With the kids, it probably wouldn't have mattered. They were going to do whatever they wanted to anyway:







Turns out, apple picking is not like blueberry picking. Apple picking is like shooting fish in a barrel for these kids. Our buckets were full in about 15 minutes. Now what?

We spent most of our time at the outhouse. You know about these boys...



And James liked to put rocks on his head:



We will probably go back later in the season!

It's game day!

The football games early in the season are not always the best to go to. It's hot, the time usually is inconvienent, and the game isn't always interesting. I think Clemson, knowing this and knowing that their first game was going to be on TV, wanted to make sure the stands were filled. They offered really cheap tickets. Cheap like $16 for adults and $10 for the kids. For our family of four it would cost only slightly more that for one adult to go to a different game. Since this is probably the one and only time we will ever go together, we decided to give it a try. James had been to a game last year, but he was still excited. Andy had never been and to be honest, I still do consider him to be too young, but again, cheap tickets.

We left our house about an hour and a half before kickoff. We still go primo spots by the P&A. We still bribed the kids into the stroller with a pop pop.



We kicked the stroller outside of Bracket and walked the rest of the way. Andy. Andy who does not sleep in the car. Andy who we would not have taken last year cause he needed the nap, but could do without it this year...fell asleep while we were walking up to the stadium, stayed asleep all the way to our seats, and dozed until pregame. Unbelievable.



I walked up this carrying a 34 pound dead weight two year old:



Good view once we got to the top. We were about 5 rows down.



It was hot, we did try to stay hydrated.





James kicked over 3 drinks in the stands. Two of them were ours.

They liked the band, they liked the clapping, Andy was a little horrified they just let all those balloons go, but before long, it was just hot. I took them to the top to walk around a bit. There was a breaze there.



We left not long after this picture was taken.

It was fun, but I am glad we didn't pay full price. We left the stands right after the first quarter. Oh well. There is always next year!