My trip to NY with the kids last month was seriously the best.  I think it is exactly what the doctor ordered!  We all just had such a fabulous time.  We were able to be there for 3 weeks so I have lots of adventures to report.  Hopefully I will take the time to post more eventually, but until then, I wanted to post this great picture that in my mind really captured just how happy we all felt there together.  My Mom and Dad have a special gift of loving and caring for their family, and I feel so blessed to be a recipient.  Thanks so much, Grandma Ka and Papa Stan.  We love you and miss you dearly!

 

We have been having reading time after dinner and clean up time.  It has been going really well to have a designated time we all relax and read together.  Oliver has been doing a great job reading to Janie.  It is really cute.  

Well, this wasn't her first day out in the rain exactly, but she did get to take an umbrella for the first time on her way to the bus stop.  It seemed that she was more aware of the rain than in the past.  She held it proudly to say the least.  She wouldn't let go of it when it was time to come in.  (Plus, she was determined to wear her dress to the bus stop as well. It wasn't that it was nice out.  It was pretty cold!)

The boys had a great time building these wood kits with Dad.  Oliver chose to build a bug house and George chose a locker. 

I have been really proud of Oliver.  We have been having a piano lesson together every day after lunch now since school started.  After 4 weeks now, he is a fast learner and taking a lot of pride in his new skill!  I am really excited for him.  This is him playing the last song in the 1st book.  He is now ready to go onto the 2nd book.  Way to go Oliver!

 

The first weekend in October, Uncle Adam and Aunt Tess invited us to go camping with them.  They got the sight and everything and even provided all the food.  It was delicious.  They treated us to fish tacos for dinner and an amazing breakfast with homemade granola with peaches, hash browns with veggies and sausage (for Oliver) and eggs.  Adam and Tess worked hard to feed us all.  It was fun to see Baby Elliot in his element!  He has taken lots of trips camping already in his 2 months of life.  I was grateful to get to be with them.  The boys had fun.  It rained while we put everything away but the towering trees provided enough cover for us that it wasn't too bad.  It was a 2 hour drive but it was so beautiful and scenic. Robby had a deadline that kept him from coming Friday to camp but he came up the next day to be with us.  The boys all went off roading in his new 4 Runner and Tess and I and the babies hung out at a park with lots of nice trails to walk around for the afternoon.  The boys were stoked to report they got to shoot Uncle Adam's rifle while they were there.  Oliver has their target paper hung up on the cork board in his room.  

It was a fabulous time.  Even though there was a lot of set up and work for just one night it was well worth it.  I would really like to go back to that camp ground next summer.  Thanks for treating us to a great weekend, Adam and Tess!

There are so many blackberry bushes around us that we have pretty much been visiting them all daily.  This is partly because it is just fun and also because they are so delicious.  Janie loves to eat them and we love to bike around to the various places to pick them.  I didn't get a picture of the yummy cobbler George requested we make with the ones we picked this last weekend.  But I do like this picture because it kind of captures just how wild they look and are with all their prickly branches and spiders that tend to gather near them.  But man are they yummy and sure make a great late summer outing!  

Oh, and Grandma Carol… notice the berry bowl!  We love it.  

 

Janie found this dress that Aunt Marissa had sent her deep down in her drawer.  And when she found it, she got the biggest smile on her face!   I was happy she got it because it seemed so huge for her but it definitely fits!  She insisted putting it on and went and got this sweater and these sunglasses and shoes and purse.  The accessories just don't end!   It was really darling actually how proud she was of her get up.  She was getting ready to go get George from the bus stop and ran out of the house with a mission.  She does the same thing twice a day.  Once, at noon when we wait for Oliver at the bus stop and again in the late afternoon when George comes home.  I had to post these photos because it is just too cute to see the way she races to them when they get off the bus each day and the huge hugs that always follow.  We will see how long this goes for, so far it is 2 weeks and counting...