The End of The Day (at the fair)......

These are the last of the pictures. You can see that everyone is worn out, the kids are getting grumpy & tired, we have to bribe them with ice cream, our feet are tired so we have to stop at the foot massager again, and I realize that I'm not in any one of the pictures. (How will my kids remember what I look like when I'm gone?) So I have Aaron take a picture of Jake and I (Garrett was too grumpy to pose with me). And then we try to get a group picture of Tia Gina with the kids because we don't get to do that often. But as you can see from the pic, the kids were done. Marissa had a melt down, Garrett is just plain Grumpy, and Jake doesn't know what the heck is going on. It's a good picture of Gina. Enough of the fair, at least for a few more months!

Rides at the Fair....

I took a lot of pictures at the fair. Here are some more of the kids on the various rides. It was more fun this year because they were able to experience more. Jake went on a couple with Daddy but he wasn't too sure about them.

More Fun at the Fair.....

Jake's favorite thing at the fair was the reptile exhibit. He loved the turtles. We couldn't pull him away from them. One of our favorite attractions is the foot massager. We all take turns and the kids love them. We played some games and rode some rides.

Fair Time.....

Here are pictures of our annual trip to the fair. Every year, we all take a day off from work and head to the fair for a day of fun. We even got Gina, Grandma Carol, and Grandma Loma (Marissa's Grandma) to come this year. There were a lot of new attractions for the kids to experience. Garrett & Marissa were a little taller this year so they were able to go on more rides. We ate lots of good food and the kids were definitely worn out at the end of the day.

Hot Air Balloons....

Every September our city has a hot air balloon festival. It's a weekend event. This year's event got canceled on Saturday. We got up early, got everyone ready and then got a phone call from my brother that it was too windy and they canceled it.

On Sunday, I happened to get up pretty early and remembered about the balloons. I quickly got Garrett dressed and we drove to the rodeo grounds. We left Daddy and Jake at home sleeping.We got there just in time. The balloons were just taking off and here are the pics we got of them. Please excuse the puffy eyes and face.

Autumn's Treehouse Openhouse......

My childhood friend Kathy has a daughter who is one week younger than Garrett. Her name is Autumn. Kathy and I met in Kindergarten and have been friends ever since. When Garrett started preschool when he turned 3, we learned that Autumn was in Garrett's preschool class too. Garrett and Autumn became friends, in fact Autumn developed a little crush on Garrett.

At the end of September, Autumn had an "open house" for the reveal of her brand new tree house. She invited lots of friends and all the kids had a wonderful time playing on the awesome treehouse. The boys loved the treehouse and they also got to play in a bouncehouse at the party. The party was a great success.

Jakey On The Sidelines......

This is Jake playing by himself at one of Garrett and Marissa's soccer games. He wasn't the greatest spectator. He always need to be on the move. There were a couple of times when he wanted to join the kids on the soccer field. It was a good thing that Grandma came along to most games so she could take him for a nice long walk. Jake will get to play soccer in 2008 when he turns 3.

Anniversary Flowers.....

September 26th was our 9th wedding anniversary. Here are some flowers I got for my anniversary. But I didn't get them from Aaron. Nope, I got these flowers from my parents. Aaron forgot our anniversary. (I'm not telling this story to mean, I actually think it's kinda funny).

Yes, Aaron did not realize it was our anniversary on this day until he got home from work and the kids handed him his anniversary present. The look on Aaron's face was unforgettable (and priceless). He felt really bad about forgetting (and rightly so). We ended up going out to dinner with the kids and having a nice time.

Aaron felt so bad about forgetting our anniversary and that night he booked two flights to Hawaii for our 10th wedding anniversary. We are going to Maui in August to celebrate 10 married years. There's no way he's ever gonna forget again.

StoryLand, PlayLand.......

One Saturday in September after one of Garrett's soccer games, we took the kids to Storyland/Playland. This is a type of amusement park that's been around since Aaron and I were kids. I remember going there when I was little and being amazed by all the attractions. I honestly hadn't been there in years. It is very different from an adult's point of view. Of course everything looks smaller but it sadly seems to have lost some of it's charm. That may be because I'm an adult now, I don't know. Anyways, I know the kids had fun and I hope the trip generated some happy memories for them.

Bubble Bath Fun......

I couldn't resist taking these pictures. Jake looks like he's in pain but I promise he wasn't. He just has a goofy look on his face. They were both giggling and putting soap bubbles on each other. Jake LOVES getting all wet in the bath tub. He gets the big cup and pours water over his own head time after time. Garrett on the other hand needs me to pour water over his head. He's not a big fan of getting his hair wet.

More Fun at Jake's Party......

I love the expressions on Jake's face as he opens his presents. He was so happy about each present he received. After we ate pizza, cake, and ice cream we all headed to the game room for rides and games.

Jake's Cake......

Here we are at Jake's 2nd birthday getting ready to cut the cake. If you can't tell from the pictures, Jake requested a "Thomas" Cake.

We went to John's Incredible Pizza after Garrett & Marissa's soccer game to celebrate Jake's Birthday. Jake had a fun time except he was suffering from Canker sores. The poor baby had trouble eating solid food because he was in so much pain. He ate a lot of ice cream during this time. He WAS able to sample his cake as you can see from the pictures.