Family fun

 

Nicole had a book project where she used different materials (fabric, wrapping paper, ribbon) to make a scene from a favorite book. From "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" this is Ralph the mouse riding his motorcycle down the hallway of the inn he lives in. Nicole is wearing her blankets as it is past bedtime, but isn't that when all good projects get finished?

 

Jacob has a lot of energy when he is up, and then he is usually the fastest to fall asleep. He is a high octane kind of action kid. And Diana, as you can see in the background, is still climbing-crazy.

We went to the Go To Be NC festival yesterday, the 20 min away and the across-the-street parking and entrance was free. So awesome. It was Katy's first big outing and she slept through the whole thing little angel that she is! We let the kids choose 3 rides and it was so cute to see their excitement and absolute joy in the simplest rides. Nothing like riding a motorcycle I guess!

 

Rollercoaster ride! I told them the ride is funner if they scream :) Nicole was pretty nervous but still waved as they went by. Michael was happily screaming and laughing through it.

 

Diana bawled every time the kids went on a ride. She is at the age where she realizes all that she's missing because she's not big enough. So we let her go on this train ride, the only one she was tall enough for. It was mind-numbingly slow for poor Jim but D absolutely had the time of her life. Every time they train rode by we all waved at her shouting hi and she felt like a queen with her daddy.

 

 

We brought two strollers- a double for Katy and the boys if they were tired walking, and the umbrella stroller for D. It worked really well. I always get nervous doing big stuff with a bigger family until I get a good idea of what to expect so I'm glad our planning worked out.

For their last ride, the boys chose "the race car one! the race car one!" and of course got in the red car since it was most like Lightening McQueen. Feeling like race car drivers, the glee of 'living the dream' was all over their faces as they rode.

 

Nicole chose a helicopter ride for her last ride. She rode in the NC Highway Patrol copter and had a great time.

 

The kids got to have their first ever cotton candy! We all shared a small bag which was more than enough. The guy selling it had no teeth! and later in the car we were able to give the kids a great lesson on why we try not to eat lots of sugar and why we brush our teeth. It was a great case in point :)

 

Waiting for the Lumberjack show to begin! The kids were so cute a cameraman for the festival took film of them. Can't blame him, they were so fun to watch making a mess of themselves as they ate the cotton candy!

 

The "Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show" had world champion lumberjacks showcasing 2-man cross-cut sawing, hot saw racing, axe throwing, underhand chopping, chainsaw carving and log rolling. Jim wanted to try the log rolling but unfortunately they didn't ask for volunteers.

 

The kids sat through the whole show and we all enjoyed watching the cool demonstrations and seeing their skills. It was a little long in some parts for Mike who surprised us all by pulling out a toy dragon and two toy guys from his pocket to play with while he was waiting. We have no idea how he fit that dragon in his pocket, Jim and I had a good laugh over it. We also watched part of a BMX bike competition which was awesome! The kids got to see all kinds of farm animals, we had to drag them away from looking at the cute baby chicks. It was fun going in the morning because it was not crowded and the weather was perfectly warm but not hot. A great day of family fun!