Niagara Falls

Last week my parents flew in to come see us and we spent Friday at Niagara Falls. It was amazing! We took the Maid of the Mist boat tour and got soaked, but those photos are on my Dad's camera. In fact... most of the good picture are on his camera. I need a copy of those... hint, hint, Dad! Maybe they could find their way in downloadable form onto mckeent.com? Pretty please?


Anyway, here are the best of the photos I DO have, which don't actually include my parents. But I promise, they did come.

Either way Niagara was amazing and I'm super glad we went, even if we have to make it a short day trip to accommodate two tired little kids.

The Great NY State Fair

Brian and I took the kids to the NY State Fair last Saturday. Its held in Syracuse, so it made for a great day trip. We went opening weekend and it was SUPER crowded and crazy. But our choices were either opening or closing weekend (the fair only runs 12 days... what?!?), but we had fun. Here's a few photos:

Everyone's favorite part: the Shriner's circus put on in the kiddie area. It was great, even Carter was rivited every time an act came on. Allison's favorite part was watching the ariel gymnist who climbed the fabric for stunts. She spent her whole act just staring at her, eyes wide and mouth open. If you asked Allison what her favorite part of the fair was, she'll tell you that it was the circus, and the part the girl "climbed up so high on the fabric!"

Over all, I was acutally a little disappointed with the fair. Coming from my 4-H background, I really wanted to see some awesome 4-H non-animal exhibits (which we couldn't even find) and come stunning arts/crafts/sewing/quilting entries, which was housed in a TINY not-very-accessible building. Excluding quilts (several of which were displayed on blank walls) I think ALL of the sewing exhibited was shown in about 20 square feet of exhibit space. Now, maybe my point of view is skewed, becuase I knew the Pyuallup and Kitsap County fairs like the back of my hand, but I really didn't think that this fair had NEARLY as much in the way of non-animal exhibits as either of those fairs. Made me homesick in a way. On the bright side, what we did see and what was exhibited encouraged and and inspired both Brian and I to aim for having a few entries each for next year's fair.

Apple Picking

Brian's been out of town this week, so I've been trying to pack the kids' days with fun things to do to help them go by faster (for all of us!). And I've been having the hardest time finding a decent apple at the store around here, so we went to a local farm to do some apple picking. We were in luck, too: galas had just come in and they are DELICIOUS!!! It was a fun little farm. In addition to apples they had a cute little country store, several other crops for the picking through-out the year and a little petting zoo. The kids really had a great time. It was lots of fun. We'll probably go back later in the fall for pumpkins.

Love this picture. Carter spent most of the time walking around munching on a HUGE apple. I mean, does life get any better than eating your own yummy apple while exploring outside without mom nagging you to hold her hand? Carter doesn't seem to think so...

Feeding the goats. Carter kept his distance, becuase he did not want to share his apple with them (which is good... we had feed pellets for them). Allison thought feeding them was great.

Sunday Afternoon

Enough said.

Carter Grooves

Too funny not to post... even funnier that he's doing this weird crazy dancing with a play-kitchen chef's knife in his hand. Slash dance, not flash dance...

The End of an Era

Right now its 1:30. Nap time. And this is what Allison is doing:

sitting on the couch, munching popcorn, watching a movie.

And here's what I plan to do about it:

...

...

...

Yep. Nothing. After a horrific 10 days of experiencing an all-day-cranky Allison, brought about by her waking at various and sundry inhumane hours of the early morning, we decided that in order to have her sleep better at night, it was time to say good-bye to her nap.

Good-bye, dear naptime quiet mommy-time. You've been my close and loved friend these 3 years. I hope to meet you again someday. I'll miss you everyday until I see you again... maybe you can some visit when Allison's in kindergarten.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Allison turned 3 last Saturday! I can't believe my baby girl is 3... where did the time go?