Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Olivia's pre-k class went to the YMCA pumpkin patch as their first field trip (ever!). Olivia was psyched because she wanted to "ride the bus". Of course - it rained, rained, rained. Here she is in her raincoat and boots. I braided her hair to keep it from turning into frizz, since I knew she'd get wet.

On the bus!! She got to sit with her friend Jordana.

Since Mark was home in the morning because he was working afternoon shift (and Debbi was ready in the wings if I was late getting back), I got to be a chaperone-mom on the trip. It was fun. Here are the kids at the YMCA waiting for the third bus load to arrive from the day care center. We sang songs and played Simon Says to keep them from getting out of hand.

We had to walk a fair distance in the rain to some "olden days" displays the YMCA had put together to show life in the 1800's. The camp is on the shores of Lake Allatoona, a man-made lake that was built to help with flooding in the area. The kids got to see deer along the road, so that thrilled them.

In the first cabin (display) they got to learn about food, living conditions, etc. Olivia was very enthusiastic about sweeping. I asked if she'd be that way once we got home. She told me "no" without hesitation. The really neat thing in this display was that the "hostess", an older woman, read a book about carving apple faces and actually carved one as she read. I would have taken pictures, but I had to hold the book for her. She was very talented at carving. The apple face had cheek bones and everything. She'd taken classes and had lots of practice.

Next, we took a hayride in the drizzle to the pumpkin patch. We rode in a large wagon pulled by a tractor. The kids loved that especially. All the kids got to pick a small pumpkin to take home. I took one for Brooke. Here's Olivia's class and her teacher, Miss Kathleen.

Olivia and Jordana in the wagon. It poured on us on the way back. I was thankful for my cheap rain poncho. I didn't get a picture because of the rain, but we had two horses (and their riders) follow the wagon on the way back to the cabins. They almost overtook us. The kids loved them.

Back at the second cabin (display), we started to dry out. The topic there was leisure activity in the olden days. Imagine no TV or video games!!!! EEKK! The kids learned how folks made toys out of the materials available (wood, plants, etc.) Some of the toys were very ingenious. They got to make pumpkin puppets out of paper bags.

Olivia and Emily compare puppets. All the workers were dressed in period costumes.

After the toy-presentation, it was time to go. The chaperone moms headed home (we're not allowed to ride the bus with the kids) and the kids headed back to class. Olivia loved her first official field trip. Hopefully the next one will be when it's dry and warm. :)

More Birthdays and New Countertops

Now that school has begun, so have the birthday parties. Olivia was invited to a dress-up party by one of her old classmates, Emily, from last year's pre-school. They are in class together this year and will move on to regular kindergarten together. The theme of the party was a Hannah Montana-style spa/makeover. All the girls got their hair done, nails painted, their faces painted, and "tattoos" (temporary, or Mark would have keeled over). Here she is before the party, in one of her princess dresses.
Here is Emily's mom doing the face painting. She throws great parties. The girls all had a ball.

Olivia kept her flower painting as long as she could, but it flaked off by the next day. She took wonderful care of her Hannah Montana "tattoo" tho, and kept it for a week. She would not let it get wet and kept her arm out of the bathtub by constantly holding it over her head...

Ke Xin scored a 4-wheeler! Actually, mommy bought an old 4 wheeler for $3.44 at the thrift store. Mark looked it over, but declared that it would never run again. Shoot. I threw it out, but kept the battery charger, just in case... (maybe that's how we have so much "stuff" around the house). But then, the very next week, in a case of perfect timing - WalMart put a floor display 4-wheeler on clearance for $20. The problem? It was missing the charger!!!! Problem? Not for the pack-rat Myers family!! So, Ke Xin has a brand new $80 4-wheeler for $23.44. Thank you very much! She loves it and drives it around the cul-de-sac. She's a very good driver. Lately, when we are in the car and come to a red light or stop for traffic in front of us, she waits for about 10 seconds and then starts yelling (really) "Go! Go! Go! Go!" Road Rage at age 3!

I don't post many pics of the dogs, so here they are! Jingle (the fat), Smoochy (the bouncy) and Lucy (the timid). And Olivia, too. They are great little dogs and we love them. Mostly they just sleep on the sofa because I'm running after one, or both, kids. They love to wrestle with each other tho. It can be quite a sight.

Sometimes she's happy, and........

sometimes she's not. Below is a picture after yet another birthday party. There's a story I want to tell first, tho. At the birthday party (dress-up again), the girls were given plain foam crowns and allowed to decorate them. They had jewels, letters and all sorts of shapes (flowers, etc.) they could paste onto the crowns. Most of the girls took letters and spelled their names or the word "Princess". Not mine! She went straight to the top and spelled "Queen". You go, girl!!!!!!!

When we got home, she wanted to play. I wanted to take her picture. I won. Sort of. Below is the result of my ordering her to pose for me. She was seriously PO'd.

You could sit on that lower lip. Talk about pout!


She got over it pretty quickly tho. Thank heavens!!

Both the girls love to dress up. It usually doesn't last long, but it's fun to see all the costume changes. Here are the two princesses (queens?).

Ke Xin is so cute in this little witch outfit. At the time, we didn't know what the weather would be like on Halloween, so I had a warm weather outfit (below) and a cool weather outfit (above). The cool weather outfit became her official costume, since it was rainy and icky Saturday night.

Grandma Sally invited us over for dinner the other weekend. Aunt Karen and Uncle Robert got to see Ke Xin for the first time. Karen is a teacher, so she's great with the girls.

Ke Xin wanted to comb everybody's hair, even mustaches! Grandma Sally's chili was perfect on a chilly night! Yum!

The granite was delivered much sooner than we had expected. We love it. Here is a "Before" picture.

Without knowing that the granite was being installed later that morning, I started stripping wallpaper just because I could. I wanted to see what the kitchen would look like without the grapes. (Yes, Ke Xin loves being naked and drops her clothes whenever possible.)

But then, surprise! The granite guys were on the doorstep. They installed everything in short order and it was beautiful! Here is Ke Xin helping daddy hook-up the new cook top.

And here is our "new" kitchen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was really glad I'd pulled down that wallpaper. You can see how awful the grapes look with the granite. Mark LOVES the new granite. I believe that when he comes home late at night, he just runs his hands over it and smiles to himself. It gives the kitchen a whole new feel. Now we get to start the seach for the perfect backsplash tiles and piant...

Continuing to Catch Up

We made it back from Indiana with one day to spare, so that Mark could rest before jumping back into the chaos at work Sunday night. That day, we went to Pappadeuxs Seafood Restaurant to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. We both LOVE that place and the seafood is to-die-for. Since it is expensive, it is a treat. It serves all kinds of cajun-style seafood, as well as traditional. It is always busy and loud and has a fun atmosphere, and the wait staff is excellent. Mark and Ke Xin played at the table.

Ke Xin likes to smile for the camera, but she has a habit of smiling a BIT too much! Is she happy or is she going to bite?

The waitress took an unofficial family portrait for us. Mark hates to show his teeth, even tho the dentist has made them perfect.

Sitting on the edge of the outdoor fountain at the restaurant. Ke Xin was not happy being perched above the patio. Olivia loved it. She's becoming more fearless. Maybe it is the gymnastics lessons.

No sooner did we have our anniversary, than it was time for Mark's big day!!! Happy Birthday!!!! Mark really didn't want to celebrate this one, but we HAD to observe his special day. He hit the big 5-0!! Half a century!!!! But we were kind - no over-the-hill jokes. The girls made cupcakes for him to share at the brewery.

Then they decorated his cake. In the interests of ecomony and ecology, we recycled some of the decorations from Ke Xin's cake. It ended up alittle crunchy, but it was actually very pretty. The girls were very proud.

After vacationing, our anniversary, and his birthday, Mark and Ke Xin were pooped.

Then Ke Xin got a wonderful surprise!!! A birthday gift from Qi Meng!!!!!! She loves Kai Lan and was kissing her new baby almost before we could get her out of the box. Thank you Meng Meng!!!

Olivia disguised as a sweet angel. Sometimes this is true, and sometimes... it's not.

We finally bit the bullet and decided to update the kitchen. In this economy you never know what the next week could hold. If we have to move, we have to update or people won't even look at the house. So, we embarked on a trip to the granite shop and picked out our slab. The picture doesn't do it justice. Mark was in his element. He's a closet decorator.

I'm getting closer to getting caught up!

Next - a trip to the pumpkin patch and a kitchen renovation!

National Museum of the United States Air Force

We stopped at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, on the way home from Indiana. Mark had really looked forward to stopping and seeing all the planes. He loves military stuff, so this was heaven for him. I thought it would be "ok", but I figured the girls would get bored. But I was wrong! It was great and the girls loved it! We had to run through it, since we had to make it to Lexington that night, so it would be nice to go again and take our time.

The place is HUGE. It has rockets in it. Standing up! I didn't know what most of the planes were, but they were really neat to see and the displays were very educational. The lobby sports a statue of Icarus, who flew like a bird until he got too close to the sun. Olivia kept wanting to look at the back of him. Then she and Ke Xin would giggle.

There are three huge hangers worth of tiny-to-gigantic planes, helicopters and experimental planes. I like the nose art the best.

There were dispalys you could walk through. That's Olivia on the stairs. She got quite adventurous and wanted to go by herself sometimes.

This is a HUGE quilt - 20 feet x 20 feet. Each square represents all the different AF installations throughout the world. Quite beautiful. It commemorates the 50th anniversary of the USAF.

Olivia takes a ride in the cockpit of a F-4D Phantom II.

I liked Iron Mike, the mascot of a squadron based in Alaska. He had some adventures of his own!

Real rockets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cool!!!!!!!!!

This pic keeps loading sideways, phooey. It is looking up at the top of some rockets.

The girls got quite a workout. They zonked before we hit the interstate. They slept well that night, needless to say!

And we headed for Lexington and our shining beacon in the night - The Spearmint Rhino!

Then, homeward.