A visit to the lake

This past weekend we went with friends to their house at the lake, and had a blast!  Port Clinton is such a nice area and the kids had friends to keep them occupied and the adults got to enjoy good company.  Couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

We took a boat ride out on the lake, caught some perch, almost lost Mike in the water and let Dawson fall asleep on me.

Carter boy loved the fish finder.

Dawson cuddled his Mommy and then fell asleep.  He was so scared when the boat took off and was yelling at the captain "BE CAREFUL!"

Then we went to the African Safari Park and the kids got to feed the animals from our car.  There were deer, giraffee, bison, camels and alpacas.  I have to say, it did a number on our car.  We had buffalo slobber all over the place!

It took awhile for the kids to warm up to the idea of animals sticking their head into our car.  Dawson and Ava hid behind me for awhile panicking at these big creatures.  

Thumbs up Alpaca

There is also a walk-through area to look at more animals.  There are white alligator, capybaras, lemurs and so much more!

Crazy Ava!

The kids also got to take their first camel ride.  Look it is Ava!

And Carter!

I was absolutely shocked that baby Doc got on the camel by himself, but he loved it!  He looks so tiny on this big animal, but he just wanted to pet it over and over again. 

In addition to all this fun stuff we went on golf cart rides, spent a chilly day at the beach digging in the sand and topped the night off with s'mores at the campfire.  It felt like we were back on vacation again!  A great way to end the summer, and now back to school.

Our Week

This week we've had some low key fun trying to get back to earlier bedtimes and earlier waking times in preparation for back to school.  The kids enjoyed one last pool day on Monday, probably the last for the season.  I was shocked to see Ava start swimming independently!  Carter just started within the last month, and not to be outdone she decided to join in on the fun.  Monkey see, monkey do!

Sometimes this kid gets hungry and he has to take snack time into his own hands.  So, he grabs a plastic knife and a jar of sunbutter and goes to town!  FYI, I'm actively discouraging this behavior, it's a touch messy!

This girl is hilarious!  My very first red tomato of the season and she took it right off the vine and ate it like a tomato.

The kids requested to eat breakfast on the back porch.  We had to bundle up because it was a little chilly that morning but we ate our sunbutter toast on the porch.  Look at Doc giving the thumbs up!

Let's take a silly picture now!

Lego King

Ava's latest accessory?  the winter hat.  It can go fron day to night, soccer outfit to bathing suit to christmas dress to ballet leotard.  All in one day really.

Carter in his kindergarten desk at school.

Even though I was so lucky to have some extra time with my little guy, it's gone by way too fast.  Carter I'm so excited about what this next year is going to hold for you, I know that you are going to have a great year!

Weekend Update

Saturday morning was the best EVER!  The kids and I got to spend a couple of hours with the cutest little six month old, our cousin Andrew.  We had the best time with him and here are some pictures from our time: 

I was taking the picture of Ava and Andrew and Carter jumped in "PHOTOBOMB!"

A couple of minutes later I went to the restroom after Dawson had just returned from the restroom.  He went after some skittles as his potty treat and I heard Carter or Dawson say "Andrew do you want a skittle?"  I yelled from the restroom "NOOOOOOOOOOO."  No worries, no skittles were consumed by the little guy.

Carter's turn!  We played little people, read some books and then the kids wanted to take him to the........

Neighborhood Playground.  He loved the ride down in our stroller and Ava pushed him in the swing.  Then me and the little guy chilled out in the shade.  It was pretty warm and sunny that day!

Ava even fed him a bottle.  Can you tell we had the best morning with him?  Any time you guys need a sitter we would be more than happy to come and play!

Then Saturday night.  Stupid Saturday night.  We tried to plan a fun movie and pizza night and it totally didn't work out at all.  Mike and I remembered how much we hate Pizza Hut and then we wanted to see Planes. We drove 30 minutes to go see it at a drive-in and it was sold out.  Then everyone was crying because they wanted to see the movie.  Although if this is really the worst thing that happens to our family we are so incredibly blessed!  So we taught the kids to make lemonade out of lemons and watched a movie at home.  Candy makes everything better!

Today I took Carter on a date to pick out some new clothes for back to school.  Then we stopped for a treat, his choice?  Handel's for some birthday cake ice cream in a sugar cone.

Back to school is looming.  I'm nervous but not letting Carter see that.  I'm going to miss my guy so much!

Ava's first selfie.  She grabs my phone when I'm not looking and takes hundreds of pictures of vacuum cleaners and Dawson.  Apparently she also takes selfies now too, but I thought this one was pretty cute!  

Latest and Greatest

Lately we have been soooo busy, but there have been many little things happening around these parts.

Dawson is very into pirates, in particular Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  His potty present was a Jake and the Neverland Pirates chest.  He loved it!

We took Daddy to the Akron Zoo.  They have a new grizzly ridge exhibit open, and we got to experience it together.  Although Dawson still loved the train the best!  Unfortunately the train is at the very back of the zoo and we have to hear him complain the ENTIRE TIME.  

Meme sent the kids a box of "treasures" including her very own wedding veil.  We've had quite a few weddings recently.  Also, Ava got another hair cut!  It keeps inching shorter and shorter, but I think it makes her look older.  Mike and I are pleased because it is so much easier to keep clean and brush.

Weird Story:  We were outside playing in the backyard and I see Carter had a mosquito bite on his forehead.  We go to bed and the next morning I notice it looks a little raised.  As the day goes on it got bigger and bigger.  Finally around three o'clock I look at it and realize wow, that has swollen up to the size of a softball.  Off to the doctors we go.  You can see it a little in this picture, he looks vaguely like a character from Avatar.  After a little Claritin he is back to normal. 

Also HOORAY CARTER!  He scored his very first goal in soccer this week.

This kid was at the very top of Mike and I's list this week.  Tuesday night I went to bed a little later than normal around midnight.  Around two I hear Dawson's bedroom door open.  I go to check on him and he tells me "it's getting darker and darker."  We turn on some lights and I think I get him settled.  Anyways, this kid ends up being awake for over two hours!  He was in our bed poking and tickling, I tried rubbing his back in his bed, Mike took a turn and this kid just wouldn't sleep.  It was so bizarre!  I've never had anyone do this, he was happy and just wanted to be awake.  If you look in the above picture you can see he eventually fell asleep on the floor at the entrance to his bedroom.  Needless to say I did not get up to work out that morning!  Now we have put a baby latch on his door so once it is closed he cannot get out.  So far, so good and we have had a normal night of sleep since then.  These crazy kids, you never know what they are going to throw at you next!  

Tiny Tracks - Touch a Truck

Yesterday our tiny tracks class had a touch a truck.  The kids had a ball!  It was so nice because it hasn't been as easy to find this sort of thing in this area, and I knew that Dawson would love it!

The first thing he found in the fire truck was the flashlights.

The firemen were so nice and let us do things we had never done before.  See the picture on the screen?  That is Dawson's heart beat!  Picture credit:  Ava Shadle

Dawson had such a great time despite pulling a yellow lever and detaching the air tanks and trying to jump out of the fire trucks.  I guesstimate that a fire truck is close to seven feet off the ground?  He seriously tried to jump!  Luckily there was a fireman there to catch him.  A couple minutes later a fireman said "He's the alpha male, isn't he?"  It takes one to know one and he had Dawson pegged in about a minute flat!

In the back of the police cruiser

Our Tiny Tracks class in front of the fire truck.

Carter, Ava and Dawson in front of the fire truck

They also let the kids put on the head phones and talk to each other on the microphones.  That was their favorite!

Goodyear tires Mom!

What a fun morning!  There were fire trucks, police cars, tractors, snow plow and an ambulance.  Our littest one was in truck heaven!

Pittsburgh Trip - Part 2

Sunday we spent the day with Uncle Michael, Aunt Colleen, Annie, Sara, Emma, Katie, Josh, Emme and Megan.  We went to downtown Pittsburgh for a little sight-seeing.

And of course a dip in the fountains at PPG plaza.  The kids had a ball running around the fountains with their cousins.  The water would shoot up high and low, and they thought it was so much fun.  The statue behind them is called the tomb of the unknown bowler {according to Uncle Mike}.  

Dawson got chilly chilly chilly.  But cousin Megan warmed him up.

Then it was off to Market square for a little lunch and some pigeon feeding.  Dawson focused on catching them.  He would dive and run after them, he was really close to catching one.  Carter thought he was the pigeon whisperer.  He would croutch down low, whispering to the pigeons, trying to get them to come into his hand.  None of the pigeons took him up on it though.

We took a little walk and Emme and Ava held hands the entire way.  It was very sweet.  Thankfully we had lots of older cousins there to help carry tired feet.  Thanks Sara and Emma!

We also visited Point State Park, where the Allegheny and Monogahalea Rivers come together to form the Ohio.  I'd love to go back and kayak it one day with Mike!  Point of fact: you are permitted to dip your toes in the fountain but not to walk in it.  Don't ask me how we know that.

The boys taking in the scenic view of Heinz Field.  Ava happened to be in the restroom at the time or I would have taken her picture too.  I told Carter to say "Go Steelers!" and he did.  Laughingly I said "your Dad isn't going to be happy about that."  Carter replied "But I like them both."  Don't worry buddy I understand.

Then we capped off the perfect day with a dip in the pool.  Carter and Ava were jumping in together holding hands over and over.

Finally some monster high makeup, inspiration from Riley and courtesy of cousin Megan.  As you can see we had a great time, even without Mike there were so many hands from older cousins that everything went really smoothly.

Pittsburgh Trip - Part 1

We spent a long weekend in Pittsburgh with Meme and Riley, unfortunately Daddy had to work but he did a great job fixing the shelves in our garage.  We all had a blast, and let me tell you they were soooooooo spoiled!  Friday night we had a pool party at Aunt Margaret's house with tons of cousins.  I took many pictures from this weekend and I was debating on writing out the genealogy for the Chester side of the family because it's so obnoxiously long.  But we did it for the other sides of the family, so here it goes:

Your great grandparents are Alice Jean Chester and the late William Chester.  They had eleven children:

• Aunt Carol - She has two daughters: Rebecca married to Chris and they have six daughers:  Katie, Beth, Claire, Abby, Lucy and Ruth.  Rachel is married to Josh.
• Aunt Uncle Kevin is married to Aunt Sally.  Their oldest daughter Kelli is married to Mike and they have a daugher Clara.  Their middle daugher Katie is married to Josh and they have a daughter Emily and one on the way.  They have a younger daugher named Erin.
• Then Meme, you know this part of the family!
• Aunt Janet is married to Uncle Coke {Tom} and they have two children Mary Beth and Tommy.
• Uncle Billy is married to Aunt Kim and they have three children:  Billy, Kasey and Maura.
• Aunt Patty has two children Bridget and Adam.
• Uncle Jim is married to Aunt Jodi and he has a daugher Amanda.
• Uncle Michael is married to Aunt Colleen and they have three daughers Annie, Emma and Sara.
• Aunt Jeanne has one daugher Erin.  Erin has three children: Ben, Hannah and Leah.
• Aunt Margaret is married to Uncle Bobby and they have four children:  Matt, Ryan, Robbie and Megan.
• Aunt Rachel is married to Uncle Ron and they have three children:  Ronnie {married to Liz and two children James and Olivia} Richie and    Ryan. 

Whew!  That's a mouthful!  But now when you look back at these pictures you will have a little idea of how everyone is related!

So anyways, friday night we had a pool party.  Afterwards we sat in the backyard with s'mores and 

Watched the Wizard of Oz on an outdoor screen.  I was so exhausted this night from getting up at five that I went to bed at 10 with Dawson while Meme watched they other two and put them to bed at close to midnight!

The next morning we woke up to facials.

The next morning Dawson was yelling at Megan "I VANT A FACIAL!"

He was a fan.

The boys were loved the cap guns from their older cousins.

Saturday evening we went to a family get together at Uncle Michael's house.  Dawson fell in love with Uncle Michael and I think it was mutual.  They played cars, reach for the moon and don't drop the baby.  When we went to leave that evening Uncle Michael gifted him with a flashlight.  He's been sleeping with it ever since!  The whole evening when Uncle Michael would leave his sight he would yell "WHERE'S DAT MAN?"

Ava loved playing with girls, girls and more girls.  Carter and Dawson were the only boys under the age of 13.  She had her hair put into a lovely braid during beauty parlor.

Swinging on the swings:  Carter, Lucy, Ava on Sara's lap, Emily, Abby and Ruth

More cousins!  Carter, Emma, Emily, Sara, Ava and Annie

Then of course our daredevil had to go and do this:

It was so nice to spend a long weekend because I feel like our little ones got plenty of time to play and get to know their cousins and first cousins once removed.  More pictures to come!