Fulton County Fair

One sure sign that summer will be ending soon is the annual fair.  There is nothing quite as good as the chocolate milkshakes at the fair.  yum yum yum!!

Seems we started a new tradition of the kids going on the bungee jumpers.  No one has mastered a jump yet - maybe next year Sydney will.

We didn't buy an unlimited ride pass, but we did let the kids go one ride.   They chose the fun house. 

Later we went to look at the tractors and farming equipment.  It was a fun day.  We certainly look forward to this trip every year.

East Harbor camping trip

We took a camping trip over to East Harbor state park. Our main reason for that campground was it's close location to a fun place - Mystery Hill & Prehistoric Forest. Alan had visited Mystery Hill as a kid, and when he heard this location was going to be closing after this season, we needed to go check it out! It was pretty funny - just looking at the house on Mystery Hill was making Alan and I woozy!! As you can see - water runs uphill!!

It was really hard to walk around in the building - the kids witnessed this "force of nature" when they saw a ball roll uphill! :)

This chair appeared to be floating as I sat on it....

After tumbling around in the house for a bit, we headed outside to the Prehistoric Forest. The kids got to dig for fossils.

Here's a good one!!

Wow, look at the size of those snakes!! Zack can hardly believe it...

I don't know, were the dinosaurs really this orange color?? who knows, maybe...

Watch out kids, you'll be eaten alive!

Our next stop was the African Safari Wildlife park. It is a drive through park where we encountered all sorts of hungry animals. They gave us a big cup of dry food to feed the animals, but the animals were getting spoiled by the bags of carrots that some people were feeding them, so our dry food lasted quite a long time.

The animals certainly were not shy - they just stick their heads in the windows looking for a snack.

"Hello????"



I didn't mind most of the animals - well, at least after I got over my initial fear! - but then a huge, stinky buffalo put his head in the window. Ewww! He was a little too large for my liking - and we closed the windows everytime they came near us on the rest of the adventure!!

The animals roamed all over their habitat - the babies were so cute!

Although Zack didn't want to partipate, Sydney enjoyed getting a little close to the animals.

At the very end we finally decided to buy a bag of carrots too, hoping to get a giraffe to have a snack. However, every car in front of us must have had the same idea because the giraffe's wouldn't even look at us. Instead the zebra's got our carrots, which was OK too.

The park also had some nice exhibits - and even a pony ride.

One of the main attractions was pig races. I believe we were rooting for Pig Daddy. They were all pretty darn quick, but our guy didn't win.

Back at camp, we had beautiful weather. It was a perfect camping weekend. One of the best parts for the kids was that Sydney got a reward for having a perfect spelling test - Alan bought her the Doodle Jump game for his iPhone and they got to play it. So happy!

Our campsite wasn't super private, but it was nice anyways.

And to end our trip we got to see a beautiful sunset. A perfect ending to a perfect trip!

Sydney's new look...

So Sydney started begging me to get bangs cut in her hair, just about the same time the her friend got them. At first I was very sceptical and against the idea. I do like her hair long, and one length, although I am the first to admit that most times it looks like it needs a brushing - 30 seconds after she claims she "brushed" it. So when she brought up the topic, I resisted. Then I asked her to show me a picture from her school yearbook of the hairstyle she was looking for. She found several kids with bangs, but they all looked pretty dorky to me. I finally caved in, and agreed to trim some longer, "whispy" bangs to one side of her hair. I figured that would be the least destructive :)
I started trimming, and when I was finished Sydney ran to the mirror to take a look. I was surprised when she came out saying "I don't like them!!", and then she cried... and cried some more :( oh man, that was a bummer. She continued to say it, as if I could just glue the hair back on where it used to be! In an effort to regain happiness, I explained how they will grow out eventually and she can wear headbands and clips until they do. Luckily she found that to be a good way to hide them, and finally calmed down. Sadly, that won't be the last time she gets a hairdo that she doesn't like!

I think it looks pretty good in this "after" picture - granted it was all straighted out this morning, and nicely "fluffed".

Back to school! (First day of Kindergarten!!)

It's back to school time!! I can't believe school is starting already, since it's only August 19th. But the kids are excited about it, and ready to go. We now have two offical "school age" kids - Zack is heading off to kindergarten this year!

Nice backpack selections...

Zack was super excited about going to Kindergarten. He kept asking "how many more days...?".

Waiting at the bus stop for Sydney's bus to come.

There she goes !!

Zack headed off to his kindergaren class. Here is his desk - at the "green" table.

Miss Katie is his teacher.

Bird Lake

We had the very great opportunity of going up to a cottage on Bird Lake that is owned by Jacob & Kendall's grandparents.  Well, we kind of invited ourselves to go along, but I think Jennifer was happy to have us there :)  I thought it would be a great way to enjoy one of the few remaining days of summer before school begins.  The lake was a quick hour or so drive away, and the kids kept entertained by communicating by walkie talkie the whole ride there (between separate cars).

The kids had a lot of fun playing on the beach area and wading in the water around the docks. 

We got to take a trip around the lake in the paddleboat.  It was a beautiful day, really sunny and warm.

Jennifer made some super yummy brownies.  They were chocolately and gooey!  Delicious!!

After lunch Jacob show Sydney and Zack the finer points of jumping off the docks.

Block Party

I think today was the hottest day of the entire year.  Seriously!!  Way hot!!  And of course it was the day of our block party.  In the middle of the day.  ugghhh  Even so, we loaded up the plate of treats, grabbed the lawn chairs and headed over to the street of the party.
We had the honor of having the new Walleye (hockey team) mascot visiting our party.

The kids had a bike parade to start out the party.

There was some seriously yummy food at the party.  Even Zack found something he liked (shocking!!  haha)

The fire department visited also and showed off their fire truck and equipment.

We even had a clown to entertain the crowd.  He did great job and also made balloon animals for everyone.

Although we had fun, I was ready to head inside to get out of the sun!!  whew, I was whipped by the end of the party.