Saturday, September 22, 2012

The Season is Turning

Well, you can feel the change in seasons in the air.  We had the furnace checked the other day and might actually turn it on soon.  And, when Tanya and I work out in the morning, only one window gets cracked for cold air to cool us down, not the sliding door anymore.  Of course, when you're working out at 6:15 in the morning, you might also notice that its now dark out.  Anyway, its been a great and busy summer and its high time we shared a couple pictures.  Enjoy.

Back at the beginning of August, we went to a local farm called Remlinger.  Yes, they do have some animals, but they know their market and have a bunch of other stuff too.  We all started on the diggers that are right inside the entrance.
 
 
Yes, they have carnival style rides too.  I had a bit of a "parent pride" moment watching Connor and Finley ride the Ferris wheel together.

They had spinning barrels too.  I have to honestly say that this thing almost made me toss my breakfast.  Connor didn't seem phased. . .
 
Finley was sporting some cool Cars sunglasses throughout the day.  Of course, they belong to Connor, but that's a technicality between siblings, right?

 
And of course, we had to take a break mid-trip to get the kids ice cream.  Look how big the treats are compared to the kids.  But, they diligently finished every last bite.
Now folks, you have to recognize that Tanya Scharpenberg doesn't get in many pictures, so this is a rare one on the train ride.
Connor is getting good with his funny faces.
Finley, practicing her driving skills.
Super extreme close up!!!!
A favorite over the summer has become the beach.  Both kids are comfortable in the water now, but most of the time is spent playing in the sand.

And of course, the beach is another chance to nail down a treat.
Once the summer started coming to an end, the season of lessons and routine returns.  Finley is taking gymnastics, dance, swimming, and soccer lessons.  This is her first day at dance.
And her first day at gymnastics, starting a front roll.
And on the flip side, besides also taking soccer, tennis, science, swimming, and Spanish classes, Connor also started 1/2 day kindergarten.  This is his first day.
Connor wrote his name on the sign he's holding.
And, it just so turns out that Aunt Jenny is a teacher at Connor's school.  He doesn't yet know he should be embarrassed.  Well, maybe not since Jenny is a favorite teacher for a  lot of kids and carries some "cool cred". . .
Connor takes a backpack with him every day.  He's unpacking for his first day in this picture.
And, wouldn't you believe it, we get door to door service from the school district.  The school bus that Connor takes home from kindergarten stops in front of our house.  I'm not talking down the block or a few houses down, but across the street from our front door.
There is a behavior chart in Connor class for kids that are having trouble or are behaving really well.  Connor was really worried about "advancing to WOW" every day, and we told him it was okay to stay where the kids start every day.  And then, after a couple days, he comes home with a WOW.  We may have created an achievement monster.
And most recently, Oma and Opa came out to visit from Chicago.  Roger and Cindy also surprised us and made it up for a  day from Portland, but we didn't get any pictures of them to our regret.  But, we did see a very precious and rare thing during this trip.  Opa read a book to Finley.

Finley is in love with tomatoes, so Opa went out and helped him pick a few from our tomato plant one night for dinner.
Finlay has a tendency to eat a few before they make it into the house.
 
 
The kids also had a blast with Oma.  I believe Connor got in the habit of getting her out of bed every morning to come downstairs and watch a few kids shows together.  I'm not sure, but I'm thinking they also did some of their colluding during those morning hours, especially about how to get an ice cream snack each day :)

 

No comments: