Daddy Time

The kids (and I) have been so happy to have Dad around more now that his tournament season is finally done. I know they love their mama, but Dad is the fun one who wrestles with them, spins them around, throws them in the air and lets them climb all over him.

The first day after the last tournament he had to work we celebrated by going out for a family lunch and spending some time at the park.

Brennan was being a little too brave, but with a little help from Dad at the end he made it to the top.

Waiting to see who wins the stick race.

Important lessons from Dad: How to throw stones in the creek

About 30 seconds after this I turned around to find him ankle deep in the water.

And now the daily routine when Dad gets home (by 5:30!) from work involves some roughhousing, playing ball, tickling and lots of giggles.  Brennan is learning he has to wait and take turns with his sister. And the common refrain from Kaelyn is, "Do that to me Daddy!" whenever he even gets near Brennan. Neither likes to be left out of the fun.

We especially like to go outside when the weather is nice enough.

Happy (early) Birthday Baby! We love you!

Leaves

All summer long I complain and wish that we had trees in our yard. Playing outside in 90+ degree heat would be so much more bearable if we had a little shade. Then I try to make myself feel better by telling myself, "Hey, at least we won't have to deal with raking in the fall." But  now it's fall and I still wish we had trees. Because even though raking can be hard work it seems like we're missing out on a quintessential fall activity. As a kid raking leaves into big piles and then jumping in them is the best. I don't want my kids to miss out on all the fun. Plus, fall leaves are so pretty. Some of my favorite colors.

Since we don't have any trees we decided to go all the way to Wisconsin to enjoy some leafy activities. Ok, not true. Because Maya and Buppa don't have any trees either. But their neighbors do!

Oh yeah, and neither of them even knew how to hold a rake.

There were some sharing issues with the rake so eventually Brennan just started shoveling the leaves.

And then Maya brought out the "big gun."

A serious moment with the leaves.

And we also found time to go to a nature preserve and do a leaf walk. Maya and Kaelyn collected a lot of pretty leaves.

Isn't the fall so picturesque?

Checking out the teepee before our walk. According to Kaelyn it smelled like buffalo. Hmm, interesting. Not sure when she's ever smelled buffalo before.

 It's a good thing I'm not a photographer.  I took over a hundred pictures while we were there and this is the only one where they are both (sort of) looking at the camera.

With hair blowing in the wind (it was quite a blustery day) they are ready to set sail! Now if only we had some paddles...