We took the monkeys to the zoo

I have a confession...I dread the start of the school year and I LOVE summer.  I know the kids need an education, but being tied down to a schedule and having to do homework again just sounds dreadfully painful to me.  It may be because I spent so much time in school and I have only been out for 6 years.  I put on a smile and make school sound fun for the kids but my head is screaming "I don't want summer to end!"  It is usually around this time of year when I decide home schooling would be a lot better.  Then the rational portion of my brain takes over and I realize home schooling is probably not for us.

Lexi, Vincent and Logan in a little hut

Cecilia having a snack

Logan, Vincent, Lexi, Joel and Cecilia...apparently they segregate based on age

Logan and Vincent seeing how big they are

When August approaches and I know the end of summer is near we start trying to fit everything into a two week period that we didn't get around to doing earlier in the summer.  This year was no exception, but we weren’t the only ones trying to squeeze a little extra fun into the summer before school started.  The Crawfords' had the same plan as us, so we all got together at the Brookfield Zoo for a day of fun.  We are talking seeing almost every inch of the zoo, don’t care if kids are melting, we are going to have fun kind of day!  Actually the kids were really good, we did have fun and there were very few meltdowns.  They even got to play at the splash park and the regular playground!

Joel and Lexi in the wagon

Lexi, Vincent, Logan, Joel and Cecilia

Joel and Lexi holding hands

So cute!

The cute crew!

Vincent, Logan, Lexi, Joel and Cecilia all took turns either riding in our stroller, the Crawford’s wagon, or walking.  Vincent and Logan are two peas in a pod and went every where together.  Lexi took turns either holding Joel’s hand and dragging him where she thought he needed to be (and most of the time he willingly followed her) or holding Cecilia’s hand. 

Erik and Brad and the kids

Big smiles at the zoo!

Lexi, Logan and Vincent learning about Polar Bears.  Vincent told her he likes predators because they eat meat and he likes to eat meat too.

The 3 who willingly pose for pictures!

Us adults took turns chasing down children, pushing strollers, and hauling children to the bathrooms.  While at the bathroom Vincent made a great observation.  He said “why is the girls’ bathroom line always long?  Why can’t Logan and I just go in the boys’ bathroom ?  We told him that the mommies usually have to bring their kids to the bathroom and that was why the line was so long and no you can’t go in the boys bathroom alone.  Logan and Vincent both had arguments for our answer, but they patiently waited in line with us.

So much fun at the splash park!

Heather, Lexi and Cecilia holding hands

The kids loved these!  Logan and Vincent

Vincent and Logan

After a very full day at the zoo, we headed to Red Robin for dinner.   It was so much fun.  The kids enjoyed the balloons they got while we were waiting for a table, and they just have fun when they are together.  All four of us adults had a great time talking and joking around and our waitress was really great!  We all had such a fun day!  I would do that again in a heartbeat.  Actually Heather sent me a text about 6 weeks after that day and it said Lexi was asking when we were going to go to the zoo and Red Robin again.  Fun times with great friends are priceless!

Vincent and Logan

Cecilia and Lexi

Joel

Cecilia and Lexi holding hands

Joel, Brad and the lions

Brad and Erik relaxing and making a plan for dinner

Lexi, Vincent, Logan, Joel and Lexi...all very tired after a long day. 

The County Fair 2013

The first weekend in August is always our county fair.  This year the way everything worked out we didn’t get to the fair very much, just Sunday after church.  We got there just in time for the kid’s pedal pull.  Vincent was the only kid from our family to do it.  He was so excited to try again this year and was hoping to do better than last year.

Cecilia and Joel loving the goats.  He claims Cecilia wants one.  He wants chickens.

Much to Vincent’s surprise when we arrived at the area for the pedal pull he saw many of his friends.  He was thrilled!  All the boys were playing with toy tractors in the dirt.  After a few minutes Joel joined in on the fun.  About at that point Vincent saw his friend Lily and was very happy to leave the rest of the kids to go play with her.

Lily and Vincent

While they were waiting for their turn at the pedal pull Vincent walked up with Lily and asked he could go with her.  I asked where they were going and he looked at Lily with a puzzled look hoping she knew where they were going.  They were soon called to have their turn at the pedal pull, so they didn’t get to go very far.

Vincent having a strong start!

That is where he finished

Lily went before Vincent did and had a great pull all the way to the end.  Vincent went after her and only made it half way, which was a lot better than last year!  Brad and a few other parents seemed to think the track went uphill and about half way it started sloping downhill.  I didn’t look that closely so I can’t confirm that story.  When Vincent walked out of the arena he wasn’t super happy because he didn’t make it all the way to the end like Lily did.  No tears, just a look of disappointment.  She was right at the gate to put her arm around him and immediately told him it was ok and he would do better next time.  Even though he didn’t have a full pull he still placed and he was thrilled!

Cecilia and the goats

The rest of our time at the fair was filled looking for our nieces and nephews projects, looking at the animals, visiting with friends and eating our favorite fair foods such as corn on the cob, pork burgers, giant corndogs, etc.  The kids were begging for ice cream while we were there and Brad and I would have bought it for them, but we were out of cash and credit cards don’t get you far at the fair.  We convinced them that if we left the fair we would go get ice cream on our way home.  The ice cream spot wasn’t actually on the way home but it was still delicious and the boys were excited.  Cecilia fell asleep on the way so we didn’t get her any and just hoped she wouldn’t wake up until everyone was done eating their ice cream. 

Cecilia wasn't too sure about the sheep.

2013 State 4-H Show Weekend

Brad and our niece Kristine are competitive with each other kind of like siblings are.  Not always direct competition, but Kristine tries to out do what Brad did at her age when it comes to showing horses.  They compare placings in different events at different shows over time.  It is a strange ritual they have but they seem to enjoy it.  No one who is listening, except maybe Diane, enjoys hearing about it.   Brad has always told Kristine that if she makes it in the Versatility class at the State 4-H Show (which you have to qualify for) that he would come down and be one of her grooms during the class.  Each participant gets 2 grooms.  Brad was so excited to get a call from Kristine saying she made it into the Versatility class this year!  She was not the only family member to qualify, Karoline qualified as well!

Kristine and Karoline

Everyone getting their blue shirts on while Grandma give the final touches to the horses.

Kristine and Frankie

Miss Karoline and Kermit

We packed the kids and the motorhome up the next day and headed down to Springfield for the show!  I am not going to lie I was not really looking forward to it.  Versatility starts in the evening and isn’t exactly short and young children don't always find them entertaining.  I was not looking forward to the logistics of entertaining 3 kids while trying to watch the show.  I was grateful that it went 10x better than I thought it would!  Vincent had fun hanging out with his cousins.  Cecilia seemed to really enjoy spending time with all the cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents plus she loves watching the horses.  Joel did pretty well watching and playing with all the family members and toys that I brought along.  Plus a few walks and time on the iPhone made him happy as well.   The nice thing about the class is that each contestant went one at a time in each of the four classes and Kristine and Karoline went one after another.  That way Brad or I could go for walks with the kids and then be back in time to watch.  The plan went great until I thought they were starting at one end of the line of contestants and they started at the opposite end.  I ended up missing part of one of Kristine’s patterns, which all things considered wasn’t too bad!

Cecilia's first corn dog.  She was very serious about eating it!

Vincent begging Cecilia for just 1 bite of her corn dog.  She refused!

Vincent and Thor watching the show

Kristine and Karoline did a great job showing that night!  Their grooms did a great job helping them as well.  Brad and Thor were Kristine's grooms and Bob and Millie were Karoline's grooms.  I am so proud of Kristine and Karoline and their horse skills.  It seems like not very long ago that they were scared and didn’t want to ride at all and now they do a beautiful job riding and showing horses.

Keith cheering on his sisters

Look at that cute face

Joel and Vincent cheering on their cousins!

Vincent cheering on K squared!

It is a tradition, so I am told I never really showed horses, that after the versatility class they have a shaving cream fight in the street in front of the barns.  There are children running up and down the street  spraying each other with shaving cream and having a blast.  If you are in the barns you are probably safe, but it is not a guarantee.  Vincent saw all the fun happening and wanted to join in.  We did not have any shaving cream and I was using that as my excuse.  So Vincent was scooping up piles of it off the street, jetting into the crowd of kids, smearing it on them and running back to the barn where it was safe.  Then one of his cousins offered him a can of shaving cream.  All the cousins stood at the door of the barn deciding on a plan of attack and no one wanted to be the first one to run into the fight on the street.  After a quick lesson on how to use the can of shaving cream Vincent was the first of his cousins to join the fight.

Team Kristine and Karoline showed our support by wearing blue

Cecilia looking a little strange

Joel enjoying funnel cake

Brad and I stood inside the barn watching through the doorway.  Constantly trying to keep an eye out for Vincent.  Most of the kids were at least 10 years old up to high school age and he looked so small out there.  He is lucky to have a great group of cousins that kept an eye out for him as well.  He had a blast!  I think he wants to go back next year just for the fight, but he thinks it should be whipped cream instead.  It would probably burn less when it got in your eyes.

Thor and Bob making sure everything the needed was on the truck.

Saddle and change of clothes on the truck

Change of clothes on the truck and ready to go

Joel and Cecilia watched the shaving cream fight from the comfort and safety of the stroller, it was after 10 pm afterall, and they didn’t seem very amused by any of it!

Joel stuffing his face while sitting on Grandpa's lap

Millie

We stayed over night and watched a couple more classes the next day before heading to Farmer City to drop Brad off to do some spraying while the kids and I took the motorhome to my friend Jennifer’s new house about  20 minutes from Farmer City.  I don’t drive the motorhome very often and was a little nervous driving it to a location I had never been.  It was great to see Jennifer and her family!  It had been almost a year since I had seen them.  When we got there the kids instantly went in the house, took off their shoes and started playing with the toys like they owned the place when in fact they had never been there before!  They had fun playing with Jennifer’s son Austin who is 2years old.  Austin thought Vincent was fun to follow and Vincent enjoyed having someone other than his brother and sister following him.

Vincent having so much fun!

Cecilia and Brad watching the horse show

 

Vincent with a fresh can of shaving cream

They enjoyed playing on the swingset, with the new toys and the chickens.  They boys thought the chickens were so cool.  Ever since our trip down there Joel keeps telling me that he wants a yellow chicken.  Hopefully we get a chance to see them again during harvest this year, because I did promise Delaney a chance to camp with us in the motorhome.  Hopefully staying in a corn field counts as camping.

Karoline, Keith, Olivia, Millie and Vincent

Karoline and Vincent

 

Karoline and Millie