GNO

It was so fun to have a Girl's Night Out with my friends Jaime and Marianne. We went to dinner and then talked and talked and talked and talked AND talked. (Sorry, that sorta turned into a familiar primary song.) I think it's so important that women/moms take time to "play" with their friends every once-in-a-while. Jaime and Marianne, thanks for being my play buddies! :o)

Unplugged

The week before school started up again, our family went "unplugged". This meant no tv, no movies, no video games, no radio/cd player and no computer. I thought it would be a good way to get our brains in gear for school. We'd done enough of being "plugged in" during the summer and we needed to go COLD TURKEY to break the cycle. :o)

I have to admit, this was mostly to prove to myself that I could do it. (I am a self-admitting t.v. addict. I just LOVE it!) I'd never done anything like it and wanted to experiment to see how I handled it, along with my family. We purposely planned a few family outings in the evenings and made a long list of things we could possibly do without being "plugging in". (This was for the times when I predicted the kids would say, "There's nothing to do.")

I'm happy to report that the week actually went quite well. No one cheated (that I am aware of), no one was badly hurt and we did a lot more reading and playing than normal. (I read 5 books myself... and I don't consider myself a big reader.) It went so well we're considering making it a tradition, doing it the week before school starts, each year.

Western Idaho FAIR

Last week, our family went to the Western Idaho State Fair. Growing up in the area, this was the fair I went to in my childhood. It was always exciting and fun and I always looked forward to it, even though it meant that school was just around the corner. Unlike my childhood, the first thing our agenda was riding some carnival rides. I think it would be hard for Jason to go to a fair, with rides, and NOT ride them. He's a big kid. :o)

First ride of the day.

The Wacky Worm was Abree's first ride of the day. It was kind of like a very mild little roller coaster. The first 2 times around I couldn't tell if she was having fun. The last few times around she was finally smiling.
I think Abree had fun "driving", but Treyson was kind of bored being the passenger.
Taylee is our adreniline (sp?) junky. She loves big rides that "scare" her. She chose to go on the "Crazy Train" by herself.
Rylee loved this ride, but Treyson wasn't too sure. When the ride started going backwards, he finally looked like he was having fun.
As we were checking out the animals, this little girl walked by with her sheep. She let us pet it. My kids loved feeling how soft and wooly it was.

Abree bravely going on the ride all by herself.
The last scary ride of the day. It went around and around and upside-down. Taylee considered bailing, but went and was totally thrilled she did. She LOVED it and is already making plans on going on it next year.
These are the African Acrobats. The kids and Jason watched several shows while I had to duck out for 2 hours to go to my old book group to discuss "Breaking Dawn". They also watched the monster truck 4x4's . When I returned we had treats and went to the hypnotist.

We stayed ALL day. It was a long, but very fun day.

FREE Lunch!

This summer we were consistant participants in the FREE lunch in the park. We went almost every day. It was so nice not to have to think about lunch, make lunch and then clean-up lunch every day. Also it forced me to get the kids out of the house and sometimes even play in the park for a while. After lunch was done being served they did a craft time. My kids LOVED this. They made macaroni necklaces/bracelets, little guitars, colored pictures, face painted, etc. Taylee especially lived for this. She loved creating something new each day. Yummy...chicken sandwiches.
It was Jason's "early day", so he got off work and was able to come with us.

The food was provided by the Idaho Food Bank. It wasn't top notch, but was edible. :o)

Take me out to the ball game...

The kids earned Boise Hawks baseball tickets for summer reading (another family outing sponsered by the library, yea!). Although the Hawks lost, we still had lots of fun. Highlight: funny costumes worn by a Hawks stadium employee to rally the crowd; including darth vader, dredlocks dude, and police officer. He would also hold up different signs for the crowd to yell, when the team made a nice play. He was funny. (I forgot to get a picture of him though.)

Are we having fun yet?

Humphery the Hawk came to our section and gave us all high-5's, knuckle bumps and handshakes. Abree was so excited to see him... until he got too close. She did eventually wave and say hi to him, but didn't really want to hug him like Treyson and Taylee.

Tea for Two

Last week, Jason decided he wanted to do different things with each of our kids... kind of like a daddy date. Rylee and Taylee chose to watch a movie past their bedtime (one that Treyson and Abree are too young for). Treyson chose to play Lego StarWars with dad, past his bed time. And Abree decided she wanted to dress up and have a tea party with dad. She got to help pick out both outfits and make the lemonade and chocolate chip cookies for the special event. Her turn came later in the week and she could barely stand waiting. She asked me every morning if it was her turn for the tea party. Finally the day came and she had SO much fun. Jason even brought home flowers for her. It was so cute! Thanks for being a great daddy Jason!