Labor Day Weekend

My boss informed me he was closing down our office Friday so he could go out of town so Noah & I headed to the farm a day earlier than expected. We met up with Grandma & Grandpa, Miles & Kristi and baby Maxine for lunch at the park. I forgot to take pictures, sorry. After lunch Noah and I met Mike & Jessie to pick up the twins to keep with us at Grandpa and Grandma's house while they went out & celebrated their anniversary. 

Noah is amazingly good with the twins. On the way home he spent the entire 30 minute drive keeping them happy he would switch back and forth so neither of them cried. He will play with them, keep them out of trouble (for the most part) and loves to help give them baths.

Saturday we spent just hanging out and enjoying the day. Amelia and Eliza love the little rocking chairs Grandma has in the front of her house

We had corn on the cob for dinner and Noah helped husk it. He was very serious about the job he had been given.

While dinner cooked Eliza and Noah jumped on the trampoline.

Amelia got in on the fun too. Noah did pretty well jumping softly enough that the girls didn't fall over or get scared.

 Growing up and being from Idaho the labor day holiday always brought one of my favorite things from growing up, the Eastern Idaho State Fair. We decided to go up and check it out. My dad, mom, Noah and I drove up and enjoyed the afternoon.
Noah's favorite thing was the goats in the livestock pavilion. Since they are raised to show they love people so he was able to pet them as we walked around.

 He was pretty amazed by the big horses that were everywhere.It took some coaching from Grandpa but he decided he could pet him.

 Fluffy Bunny

 Growing up at the fair we, my extended family, always spent a good portion of the day at the horse races. Our parents & grandparents would give us quarters so we could "bet" on the horse races. It was a pretty smart way to keep kids entertained during the races so the adults could actually watch them. My mom's family is big into horse racing so we actually do watch them. Noah was kind of impressed but LOVED the tractors that got the track ready. One of the amazing things at the races, besides the regular race, is indian horse racing, google it! They actually ride bare back and switch horses and whoa it's intense!

 These two sure a great buddies, Noah loved getting grandpa for the entire day. Notice Noah had to wear his boots with his shorts, grandpa had his boots on so Noah had to.

 There was a monkey show at the fair, it was okay. We missed part of it but the part we saw wasn't great. Noah was not impressed, he was more into the rope and people watching.

 After the monkey's we found Noah's 2nd favorite thing at the fair, TRACTORS. I am pretty sure we could have left him on this tractor for the day and come back and found him there still.

 One of the best parts of any fair is the food. Growing up our history teacher Mr. Fuller would always talk about the fair food and you always saw him at the food booths if you were at the fair the same day. As we stood there eating our tigers ear AKA a scone as big as a large pizza (we shared) I just had to take a picture for all my fellow West Siders.

 The new way to eat a cone while being pushed in a stroller, hands free :)

 Of course we had to purchase a bag of sugar...aka cotton candy. I LOVE this stuff and apparently passed the love onto my child.

 We had to make one more stop at the goats before we could head for the truck. After we got home Noah informed my mom the goats where his favorite part of the fair. Guess that's why we visited twice.

2 weeks ago Mark and Noah tackled potty training while I was at work, Noah has done amazingly well (knock on wood). Why am I telling you this because we did the fair for like 4-5 hours yesterday and no accidents happened, it was a proud moment in our family. 

As I type this I am watching Noah and his cousins pull all of toys of the shelf and listening to the first rain storm we've had in months and it is truly a great day off! If the rain stops we may venture out swimming at a local hot spring this afternoon, time will tell. I may even catch my blog up from the summer, I make no promises. Have a good day Labor Day! 

More sunshine & friend time

We decided it was time for Noah and Emily to embrace the plus of Mark's job and go on a last minute vacation. We had such a fun time in our 24 hours in California with Matthew, Kristin and their family we decided Emily and Noah would head out there for part of memorial weekend than head to Dallas to see Mark on his break between training sessions at work.
Thursday May 23 after work my wonderful friends Melissa & Becky loaded us up and drove us to the airport. Through lots of prayers and luck Noah and I made it on the flight. Noah did extremely well. He drove his car & trains and enjoyed playing games on the kindle or phone.

3/4 of the way through the flight Noah kept asking to go home. My heart dropped, was a vacation a mistake. After getting off the plane he was much better, we wandered through the airport slowly. I was amazed he stayed right by me the entired time. We got our luggage and headed to the curb to wait for Kristin. The curb scene was crazy; people on cell phones trying to figure where there ride was, lots of hotel shuttles in and out of traffic, people waving shuttles down and lots of people crammed into a small area. A cop finally showed up and started directing people, I think cars would be easier to direct the people didn't seem to listen to him. I told Noah to watch for Aunt Kristins black "jeep" he thinks all SUV's are jeeps, I figured give him a task to help pass the time. What I didn't realize is that EVERYONE okay maybe 75% of the people at LAX that night were driving black "jeeps". Kristin is amazing for driving through the made house to come get us, she really does love us! We met up and jumped in the car and off we went. After arriving at the house and a quick hello to Matthew it was off to bed, Noah was way to tired and I was getting there.
Friday morning I got to play with Noah, Jayli and Brevin while Kristin took Axton to school. I was amazed at how quickly Noah and Jayli became friends, they really did amazing the entire trip with only a few toddler arguments. Kristin and I loaded up the kids and headed to the park for Noah and Jayli to play while we waitied for Axton to finish school.

 

 This little girl is so darling! I just had to snap this picture to share

The 2 of them had a blast playing on the dry splash pad, the water wasn't on yet. I was okay with that, I didn't have extra clothes for Noah and it just wasn't warm enough that morning for getting wet and having to air dry.  

After nap and lunch time we headed to another park, they have amazing parks in their area, for all 3 kiddos to play. One of Kristins friends from church also joined us and the kids had a blast playing. 1/2 the park is over a giant sand box, I think this is an amazing idea. No splinters when you fall and what kid doesn't love playing in the sand box.

After the park Axton attended a movie and pizza night, not sure when he got old enough for this I have a hard time that he isn't the toddler who moved away from us a few years ago. While he was off playing with friends we had dinner and took the kiddos out for frozen yogurt. Jayli and Noah liked the ice cream but LOVED running around the fountain. It was hard to explain to them they couldn't touch it because it was super gross. Thank goodness for hand sanitizer!

 

 Saturday was my birthday, I was asked what I wanted to do.....BEACH DAY! I love the beach I always have and always will. We waded a bit, Noah was all good with it till he got salt water in his face. Matthew spent most the time building sand castles for kids to smash or burying the kids. Axton and Noah enjoyed being buried, Jayli tried to be brave but really didn't enjoy it. Brevin was such a trooper and slept the day away in the warm sunshine.

 Kristin and Jayli

 

 Noah and I enjoying the waves

Before hitting the beach we stopped at Target for snacks. I spotted a $1 kite, it was a great addition to our beach day. 

 Cousins!

 Noah remarked later that he built sand castles at the beach with uncle Matthew and that uncle Matthew is his best friend. It was adorable.

 

 Chasing seaguls

 The boys found a rather large hole and spent a good chunk of time jumping over it.

 This is one of my favorite pictures of the entire trip, I wonder what they were talking about.

 The sun makes a person tired

 Don't you just want to spend the day with these 2 adorable toddlers!

 All these years and I wouldn't trade this friend for anything!

After the beach the boys ended up matching, not on purpose. We went to Red Robin for a birthday dinner. They even sang to me, it was super good food and great company!

 

Following dinner it was church softball night. I volunteered to watch the kids. Love technology for babysitting 3 moving kids and a baby.

 Stay tuned for the rest of our trip!