Not so Random Cuteness

I thought the title to this post was good and appropriate though I did steal my sister in law's blog title...thanks for the idea Jennifer....:)

Saturday was the first day

in a LONG time that it was actually nice, not too windy or cold or rainy. So, rather than letting the kids play the computer or wii, we convinced them to go outside (Okay, the only one we had to convince was Caleb). Once outside, they played in the tree. We planted that tree the Spring after Caleb was born and now it is just right for them to climb...with much help. I really wish that we would have planted more trees at that time

because we need more shade.

Once Caleb got into the tree, he stayed there for at least 30 minutes

Chloe had fun in the tree, she was a little nervous being 5 feet off the ground, but she did great.

Keira takes her turn on the branch. She did great holding herself up.

Chloe is so strong, she also did great.

Thought I would end with this picture. I love it. Maybe one day I will be really good at photoshop and be able to really edit my pictures, although, my camera takes them pretty good so not much editing is needed.

My amazing husband

Let me start this post by saying how awesome God is. We had planned to drive down to Austin with bike in tote, but somehow brilliantly the thought crossed my mind to let Paul take Josh's bike on the back of his car (their rack is much more sturdy and reliable than ours). Ironically enough, we got rear ended on the way down to Austin. The damage is pretty good to our car, and here is the damage to his car...he couldn't drive away - his airbag went off. Everyone was fine and no one was too sore the next day..

We went to pick up the race packet on Saturday and they had some activities for the kids. Mostly a place where they could make signs to hold up during the race. Keira was happy to suck her fingers....

Chloe and Caleb loved drawing pictures

Paul and Josh after picking up their packets

Here we are at the condo after a huge carbolicious dinner making signs (which we forgot and never got to use, but still, the thought was there, right?)

Sunday morning ready to go!

See Josh there in the water? This was over 1 hour after the first wave of swimmers started. This was the men 30-35 L-Z wave....There were over 2,400 people in this race.

Here is Josh after the swim running to the transition area.....we won't see him again until after the bike about 3 hours later...

Here we are at Sonic eating lunch while Josh and Paul are riding 56 miles...

Here he is starting his 13.1 mile run, he looks a little too happy doesn't he?

We were able to see Josh and Paul a couple times in the run, so that was nice. They had a jump house for the kids, snow cones, a portable video game truck (Caleb was all over this), and of course concession stands...

After the race, they both did GREAT. Paul finished about 9 minutes before Josh. I was super proud of Josh for training as hard as he did and completing the race.

Pumpkin Patch

Here is our first attempt at a family picture for Mom's wall....not sure we are going to get a good one this year..... Hopefully, since we are starting early, we will have a lot of chances to get a good picture.

So, we got to the pumpkin patch and paid (way too much) to get in. The cost includes a hayride, food for animals, and a small pumpkin. When you walk in, there are cows, sheep, and goats that you can feed. We went in the afternoon, so the animals weren't super hungry, but we found a few sheep that wanted some food. Josh had to show the kids that they weren't going to hurt them....

All the way out to the pumpkin patch, Chloe was so excited to feed the animals, but when it came right down to it, she wouldn't do it.

The only one who would, was Keira. She wasn't afraid at all (could be because she had no clue, but hopefully she will always enjoy being around animals).

We saw these huge pumpkins, so I thought I would share this picture with you

Chloe finally took a turn with the cup so that they wouldn't touch her...

Caleb was just happy to let the girls and dad do the feeding...had no interest whatsoever in feeding the animals.

I have plans to photoshop this one, but wanted to share it with you because I really like it.

We went on a hayride next, it was really muddy and bumpy, but we had some fun. Along the trail we read a story on signs about Farmer Rick and how one day he went out to check on his farm hands and he never returned, his wife went out to look for him and he never returned. On the far end of the hayride, there was a big round bale and there was legs sticking out....we believe that was Farmer Rick. Sweet Chloe was very worried all the way home and kept asking "who is going to get Farmer Rick out?" I thought it was pretty sweet.

After the hayride, we picked out our pumpkin. Caleb and I had picked a pumpkin that we drove by during the hayride and Caleb was super concerned that it wasn't going to be there when we got back, but it was, so he was happy about that.

Keira picked out just about every pumpkin she could pick up....she was pretty cute....as always

Then she found the perfect one....

Apparently I didn't take a picture of Chloe with her pumpkin, but she did get one (most of them were pretty muddy, so dad carried most of them).

Next year we might try and go to one that doesn't cost as much, I was a little disappointed in the cost, but we do love the pumpkin patch. Have you visited the pumpkin patch yet this year?

3rd Annual Robber's Cave Camping Trip

We went on our annual Sunday School camping trip this past weekend. It was near perfect weather. I love going camping when it is cold. Cold however is a relative term as some people may no think high 50's low 60's is cold. As for us, we loved the cooler weather and enjoyed pulling out our sweatshirts and heavier coats. We were the first of the 8 families to arrive. As soon as we got here, Caleb wanted to go to the playground. One of the best parts about this place is that the cabins that we rent are directly across from a very nice playground. It is so nice to let the kids go whenever they want to go. There is hardly any traffic (I mean literally none), so we really didn't have anything to worry about b/c we could see them from our cabin and the campfire that we spent a lot of time around (funny how I didn't get any pictures of the campfire...it was there, trust me, we went through a bunch of firewood). So, while we were getting settled in our cabin, the kids were playing on the playground. Here is Caleb with his buddy Daniel playing Mario vs. Bowser...I will let you decide who was who.

This is a lookout spot just up the hill from our cabin, we tried to get a family picture here last year, but my camera broke and I couldn't ever get the picture off the memory stick (actually I think it was the memory stick that was messed up, not the camera). Anyway, it is a great spot for pictures. A little scary for those of us (me) who are afraid of heights....but a good picture nonetheless.

The crew goes out looking for a walking stick for our hike tomorrow.

Josh and Caleb discovered that directly behind our cabin were some great rocks to climb down, so they did this for quite awhile. Parker joined in right away when he arrived. Anyone know how to turn pictures once they are in the blog?

So, Friday night, we made dinner for everyone (we and another family, Daniel's as seen above), hamburgers and hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, and chips, brownies for dessert. People were straggling in until about 8, so dinner lasted way longer than I thought it would.

We had devotions around the campfire after the kids went to bed (ours anyway), sang some worship songs, and then played murder....very fun game (nothing to do with devotions).

Saturday morning we had breakfast (sausage and egg burritos and fruit) then went on our hike. Here are Josh and Chloe getting ready to go....or rather getting warm by the fire, it was pretty cool in the morning. Before you start to wonder, Keira stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Lunn. I am sure she had a blast and would much rather have stayed in the warmth of their house. We enjoyed the time with Caleb and Chloe, but we sure were happy to get back to our Keira.

Here are some random pics on our hike......

Paul, Sarah, and Halie - our very good friends. Their youngest, Austin also stayed with Grandma and Grandpa

Family pic from near the top

Chloe and Halie in one of the caves

I wish I would have taken more pictures of Caleb climbing. I think I didn't because Chloe wasn't far behind and thought it would be better if I helped her instead of trying to take pictures. But, Caleb and Josh climbed every rock they could. Caleb would have stayed there all day if he could have. He was mad when we had to leave. Josh of course loved every minute of it, he was right in his element. They had a great time. Chloe was a little harder to deal with. She wanted to do all the same things Caleb did, however, she couldn't, so I ended up pushing/carrying her up the rocks. We had fun though and that is all that matters

Here they are at the top of one of the rocks.

Finally, a smile :) She wasn't too happy at the beginning of the hike, but once we stared up the path, she perked up and had a blast.

Yet another rock they climbed

Chloe coming out of a small opening between two rocks, all the kids wanted to go through it. It was a tight squeeze for adults, but the kids did great.

Caleb was up this rock before we even knew it, he and Josh ended up getting really far ahead of everyone because Caleb just kept going and climbing.

Paul and Sarah

Caleb hanging from a rock......

Here is the group of kids that was with us. Ranging in age from 3-9? not sure on the high end, but they were all pretty young.

After our hike, we went back to the cabin to eat lunch, then we headed over to the lake and played at the playground. The guys played flag football, and the women watched the kids. Caleb, Chloe, Carly (in the picture), and Ryanne played together most of the time. It was so nice for them to play together. They are the same age, so that helps a lot. This family is such a great family and I am so glad they have come to our class. I am sad that they are moving soon, but glad at the same time that I had the chance to meet them and get to know them and their kids.

I took the four kids to get snow cones....I know it is cold, but we have gotten them every year and so we had to get one this year.

Here are Ryanne and Chloe enjoying their snow cone

This year was a first for putt putt, but I am sure as the kids get older, it will become a tradition. No one was very good, and we definitely weren't following the rules, but the kids had fun and we did it as a family. That is what was important to me.

Saturday night we had fajitas and of course smores. We also tried banana bombs on the fire (cut a banana through to the bottom peel, put marshmallows, chocolate and peanut butter chips, wrap in foil and cook on the fire for about 5-7 minutes....pretty yummy) and they were pretty good, rich, but good. We then had a devotion with the kids where we did family communion. It was a really neat time and the kids asked a lot of questions. Caleb was hungry, so he was mad that we wouldn't let him have any of the bread. On a serious note though, he is very interested, so we are going to take him to a class that they offer at the church that really explains salvation and what it means. Sometimes coming from someone else helps understand even better.

We had a blast on our camping trip. Sunday night Caleb woke up with a 103 fever and has been out of school all week including tomorrow in which we are going to the doctor. Hopefully, it isn't anything serious, he has been acting normal, eating normal, and besides a fever and a little stuffy nose, he is fine, so maybe we will get some answers tomorrow. Another day..... can't wait.