70 to snowy and back to Savannah

After our trip home from Savannah we were greeted by 70 degree weather. Woohoo! Two days later, it snowed. What in the world?! Don't get me wrong, I recognize the beauty of snow. For about three days during Christmas. But I was not ready for it when I walked out the door Monday morning. Made me want to turn around and drive back to Georgia. Not that the weather was perfect the whole time we were there, but at least it wasn't snowing.

We actually had a number of gorgeous 80 degree days while there. And some beautiful days even when the temperatures dropped a bit.  We definitely tried to take advantage of the nice weather and sunshine when available.

Bubbles are, of course, a perennial favorite with all of the kids. Thank you to Auntie Care-Care for thinking to give some to the kids when we got there.

A beautiful day at the Landings playground...

A sleepy boy trying to be a big boy on the swings.

Look at that face!

Our last day there it was chilly, raining in the morning so we planned a trip to the Children's Museum thinking it'd be a good day to be inside, only to show up and find out the museum was entirely outside.  Luckily, the weather had cleared up and it had turned into a gorgeous day.

Having recently learned to play tic-tac-toe, Kaelyn was very excited about the giant tic-tac-toe board.

Checking out a cute little reading nook.

Brennan spent a lot of time with the magnetic cars, trucks and trains. Very serious work going on here.

I remember Connect Four being one of my favorite games as a kid. How cool is this supersized game?

Matt helped Bren ring the bell.

And we couldn't leave without a trip to the water table where Bren tried to pull out the seaweed and Kaelyn dug for shells.

Of course there were several instances of golfing as well but I didn't get any pictures. And actually, Brennan did most of his golfing indoors. He's actually getting quite good. We left his clubs at Nana and Pop's for the next visit so now he uses a fake apple from my autumn decorations and the Wii golf club to practice around our house.

Beach love

Our kids are true beach bums. And it's not just the warm sun and swimming in the waves. They have a deeper love than that. How do I know? While in Savannah for Nana's birthday last week we took them to Tybee Island on a cloudy and rather chilly day. We knew there would be no chance of getting in the water, but it was a little chillier than we were expecting.

But the kids still did not want to leave.

Brennan could not stop smiling and giggling. He loved chasing the birds and watching them fly away. His cheeks were freezing and nose was red when it was time to go but we still had to pick him up and drag him off the beach.

Kaelyn looked at shells a little bit but was mostly interested in running around and screaming. And I guess she loves the feel of sand between her toes, even if its frigid sand. She had her socks and shoes off almost the whole time. She, too, need some pushing to get off the beach.

We even saw some dolphins. Brennan wasn't interested but here's Kaelyn and Matt watching them. (I, of course, could not manage to snap a picture of them)

More from Savannah coming up next week...

Happy Halloween!

Well, hello there November! Where did you come from? October seemed to fly by.

We celebrated October by going to the pumpkin patch,

carving a pumpkin,

and trick-or-treating.

We had a little monkey this year. Which was quite appropriate given his propensity to climb and love of bananas. And luckily, we already had the costume in the right size. And he was the cutest monkey I've ever seen. It will never work out that well again. And of course we had a princess again. Thankfully, this year the princess did not have a long wig to contend with. She made a beautiful Jasmine.

Bren was a little nervous trick-or-treating at first but warmed up after a couple of houses. He still needed mom or dad with him, partly to help with his bag. It was so darn cold he had to wear his mittens and didn't have much control over his bag.  And Kaelyn was happy because she got to trick-or-treat with her "boyfriend" and got lots of treats.

Overall, we had a good October and the kids had a fun, but cold, Halloween. Hope everyone else had a great Halloween too!

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...