More Fall Adventures

When we left the house today, I told the kids we were going on an adventure. Kate loves surprises and adventures, so I told her that she'd have to guess.

Kate: Target?
Me: Nope, too close.
Kate: Brynn's house.
Me:  That would be fun, but no.
Kate: Chicago!!
Me: Um, no.
This was an odd guess, but not out of the blue because a) her teacher is from Chicago and is a huge Bears fan and b) Don is flying to Chicago to buy a car on Friday - more on that later.
Mason: Mickey Mouse!!
Me: No, but that was a good guess, sweetie.

So off we went!  Kate immediately complained of being car sick. She would be car sick on the way to school every day if she got sick that quickly. At any rate, I gave her some Dramamine, which put her to sleep before she could even enjoy her chicken (parts) nuggets. She proved me wrong once before, and I felt pretty bad for her.

First up? The carousel. And she's riding a horse (with a pink mane). It only took close to 5 years for her to prefer a horse over the bench.

Mason's assessment of the first ride? This is fun!

Of course there were the pukey dragons.  Don rode this one, because all that spinning is too much for me.

And in case you were worried that Mason was too cautious to be up for rides this year, have no fear that the boy had no fear. Here he is giggling on the dragons. He wanted to ride everything. Even a roller coaster. I thought it was kinda scary for a kiddie ride, but he loved it. "Let's do it again!"

It's not the fair without the bumble bees.

There were corn dogs. Mmmmm... 

Swings? Yes please. Kate rode this ride three times, Mason 2.

And there were prizes. Our game is the 50 cents color game. You know, the one where you put your 50 cents on a color and then someone throws a ball in the little pit and whatever color it lands on is a winner. It usually takes about $10 to win. Guess what color Kate picked? That's right, pink. And Mason? Like a good little Tiger, he chose orange.  That's one of the 4 colors he knows (orange, blue, pink, and white). All other colors are blue. Once in a while he gets yellow.  We played for quite a while and Kate kept asking me if I would throw the ball in and get her a prize. Of course the odds of this are slim, so I told her I would try. I got the ball, threw it in, and voila! Pink. I know it. I'm an awesome Mom.

She chose this dog. He is full of those styrofoam balls. We used to let Foster destroy styrofoam ball fair animals. I'm guessing that wouldn't go over well now.

Mason played pickup ducks/frogs/boats. He won (because everyone does) and got the spotted blue monkey you see below. He named him? Yellow. 

What a great day we had! We stopped by my parents' house on the way out. Mom washed all of the Fair cooties off of the kids in about 10 minutes, and then we put them in pajamas and were on our way. (Thanks Nan!) Even Pop was home from hunting. The kids loved that treat. And Kate filled him in on her favorite ride: "Pop, there were these swings that you get in and no one has to push you, they just go!"

Best Friends and Apple Picking

It's finally starting to feel like fall outside, and that means it's apple season in the upstate.  A couple of weeks ago we were invited to meet Kate's very best buddy, Brynn, at an apple orchard close to the house, and of course we jumped at the chance.

If you haven't been following us at all, Brynn is Kate's bestie from Lexington United Methodist Preschool.  These girls just LOVE each other. As evidenced by them holding hands throughout the day.  When they finally let go of each others hands a while into our visit, their hands were sweaty!

We went on a hay ride. There was no hay, so it was really just a trailer ride, but fun all the same.

At the end of the no-hay ride, they dropped us off in the orchard. I've never been apple picking before. I guess it was exactly what I expected. There were trees and apples.  We picked a bag full. We still have a LOT of apples. I promised Kate we'd make apple fritters. She's beyond excited.

The apples were all up high, so the kids needed help.

Mason was the bag holder.  This became more difficult for him as we picked more apples.

So, what do you do? Eat a few to lighten the load. What can I say? The boy likes to eat. A lot.

The most stylish little apple pickers.

The girls dressed some scarecrows.

And had their picture taken here.

Mason did some mining with Brynn's brother Will.

And enjoyed the tractor.

It was a great day! And now we have a LOT of apples. And a LOT of apple cider. The kids aren't tired of it yet!

Last Days of Summer... at the BEACH!

Every year we head to the beach in September. After all of the tourists have gone home. After the weather has cooled (slightly.. we do like hot weather at the beach). It's a good thing that summer lasts 7 months in SC.

Back to the beach house at IOP. This must have been our 7th or 8th year here.

Here are the kids, just before we hit the beach for the first time.

Mason enjoyed the sand.

Kate's big thing this year was surfing.

And she was such a tough girl. Wiped out on some gnarly waves.

Even Mason got in on the fun.

Of course Don surfed.

And I tried the paddle board thing.  I'll say that it isn't as easy as it looks, and works best when the ocean is pretty calm. 

Foster, however, did not surf.  He's getting old. He did a lot of sitting.

And caught a few frisbees.

Mason discovered fried shrimp.  He's such a southern boy. Fried shrimp, sweat tea, boiled peanuts! Mmmmm!

 

Kate "helped" Pop fish.  Honestly, I'm shocked he didn't catch her.

   

This truck was a huge hit.

We ate at our favorite restaurant - The Wreck.

We took a walk along Shem Creek.

There was the usual outlet shopping. Here are Kate and Mason riding a Carousel. Notice that they're wearing shorts. My Mother wouldn't let me ride those when I was a kid when I was wearing shorts.  And here she is not only encouraging it, but allowing them to eat brownies at the same time!! Shockingly enough, no one got sick afterwards. Luck!

Kate and Daddy at Red's.

It was a great time! Thanks Nan and Pop for a fun week!

2013!

First Friday!!!

We have been thoroughly enjoying our long, Labor Day weekend.  We kicked it off Friday in one of our favorite places: CLEMSON!

The evening before the first football game, there is a parade through downtown, complete with cheerleaders, bands and beauty queens.  In lieu of taking the children to a football game (we're not insane), we left work a little early and headed to town for the festivities. Kate has been practicing her cheers for weeks now, and was ready to try them out.

This year was particularly exicting because the first game was, well, kinda big. So big, in fact, that ESPN came to town.

Game Day is not one of those every day things, so it was pretty exciting to see the setup. And get the kids picture in front of the barrier. Yes, Mason has a bracelet on his head. No, I don't know why Mason continues to put things on his head. M has always enjoyed watching College GameDay. I think it must be the colors or something.

Mason was so excited to see it all in person, he slipped under the barrier and took off.  Luckily the guys on the other side were young and laid back. He turned around when they said hello.  Here's Don hoisting him back over.

Kate got her face painted.

And then on to the parade!

And it was just like any good southern parade.  

There was a band (the most important one):

Flags:

And Cheerleaders:

Beauty queens:

Tractors:

Bass Boats (ok, maybe I've never seen that before):

Kayaks (ok, that's not so southern):

Odd placement of cows (thanks to the Future Farmers of America):

Enthralled:

Kate's favorite (OK, it was a toss-up between this and the walking Wendy's Frosty):

And Mason's favorite:

We had a blast. On Saturday, Don and I returned to town for the game. We bought tickets on the street - and paid more than any sane person should.  We tailgated. We had a great time. Oh, and the Tigers won. GO TIGERS!