Cox Farms

One advantage of living so close to Cox Farms is that we can pick a more convenient time to visit it.  This year we used our Monday early release to go.  We the second Monday of October so the crowd was minimal.  And as a bonus, right before we left we got a call from one of Hilde's friends needing a ride to an activity later in the day, so we took her with us. The hay ride was a hit as always.  We ate more kettle corn than is proper and the kids did about a million slides.  All in all a fun afternoon.

 Phinn took a while to get used to the hayride, but once he did he was very happy. 

Renaissance Festival Part 2

A few more pictures from our trip to the Renaissance Festival:

Budding photographer

Phinn has been taking a LOT of pictures with my little digital camera.  I often find the camera in random places, with a full card.  Then I take a look at mostly blurry shots of the carpet, floor, tv, books or people.  However, I do occasionally find a few gems.  These were taken by Phinn except for the one of him that he insisted I take during one of his photo shoots.

Splashdown

For Hilde's birthday celebration she chose a day at the local waterpark with cousins.  I had not been to Splashdown before, but Dave and his sister had memories of going there as Splashdown being the big summer activity for the Youth at church. It had changed a lot since they had been there, lots of good slides for kids, a nice splash area and a good lazy river.  The weather was great and we had a lot of fun.  It was perfect for a few hours of water play.  I sure love this girl.

Pool Time

 Our neighborhood has a pretty fantastic pool which we did not take full advantage of this summer.  I am already planning trips there next summer.  It will be a whole different ball game with me not working, and I cannot wait.  Phinn has always been pretty fearless of water, except for hating the shower.  He will dive in head first at the beach and has no problem putting his head under the water at the pool.  I started looking into swim lessons for him and think I'll get him started in November.  Additonally, Hilde is an excellent teacher.  She loves to spend time with her older brothers and loves to teach them new things.  She spent quite a while with Enoch this summer helping him learn to swim better and also spent time with Phinn just playing around and showing him a few tricks.

Freya loves the water too.  Maybe we should sign up for a class too!

Chuck E Cheese

Last summer we were moving from England and our kids didn't get any birthday celebrations.  This year we told them they could pick something small with either just their cousins or a couple of friends.  Earlier in the year we went to one of the cousins birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese. It left such a great impression that Enoch begged to do his party there.  We invited the cousins and he got to bring one friend.  We went at 9:30 in the morning, totally avoiding the crowds and getting the discount party rate.  It was just about perfect.  Here are some pictures that prove it: