Zoo Day!

This year for UEA my parents took us all to Park City. So we started off the day at the zoo. (Warning, there are a lot of pics, I'll try to keep my commentary short :)

 Reese, my mom (aka Yaya), Rylee, and of course, the elephants.

 Classic measure up the the monkey pic. We have one of these for every year we have been alive, of each of me and my brothers and sisters.

 Doesn't work as good with 12 people covering the monkeys, but oh well you get the point.

 Just a cute one of Reese and mom.

 The polar bear was so fun, he would go back, and then swim under the water, to pop up right where Reese and my niece were. It was fun.

 Look at that pretty little face. This bird was cracking me up it let them get so close to it.

 And then those kids behind Rylee actually touched it and it didn't care. This pic is like so many others we have. She says cheeeesee but doesn't look at me, ugh frustrating.

 Can you see the huge crocodile in the back, Reese is pretending to be scared.

 At the end of the night Jeremy got them in bed and put on a show, it didn't last long. Especially for Rylee, she was out pretty quick. I think they loved sharing a bed. This was Rylee's first time in a big girl bed. We had a great weekend!

FireStation Day

As you might remember, Rylee is really into firetrucks for some reason. So when we heard about a night when people were aloud to go to the firestation, and  do all kinds of different things, we knew we had to go.

 Notice Rylee is not in this picture with the clown, she was way scared of them all. I think it's funny that she is scared of clowns, considering that she is 2 and has no reason to be scared of clowns.

 We got to actually ride in the fire truck, which was definitely a high light, of Rylee's, well life. Also Reese got to sit in the front and turn on the siren, which she thought was way cool.

 One thing that was really cool is they let the kids hold a fire hose and spray the water. I only have it on video and not a picture.

 Rylee had to wear her fire chief hat, and it has a siren on it that you can turn on, I think we were driving everyone nuts, but she loved it.

 They also had an ambulance and a helicopter, that the kids got to walk through and sit in. All in all it was such a fun night. The girls had so much fun, I hope they do it again next year.

Fall Drive

A couple of weeks ago we took a nice drive to look at the leaves. Jeremy took these pictures, and I have to say, these don't do it justice. The sun had just disappeared, and the spot we stopped didn't have as many leaves as other spots. But it was gorgeous.

 This was out first outing for quite awhile as a family, because Jeremy has had strep, tonsillitis, then surgery to have his tonsils and adenoids removed, and then pneumonia.  He was just recovered enough we thought to take a relaxing drive. It was great. We did step out for a few minutes, to let the girls stretch their legs and throw some rocks in the water.

 My Reese is getting so old, she is loving going to school. And so far she is doing great, her reading is way above average, and I'm so proud of her.

 Rylee is so sweet and funny, we just lover her so much. She still misses Reese every time she goes to school.

Reese's first day of Kindergarten!!

It's official I have a big school- aged child! I can't believe she is that big. 

 Here she is in front of the doors at school.

 Of course Reese had to wear pink, that is her fav color. And she basically doesn't wear pants ever anymore, it always has to be a dress or skirt.

 Hanging up her backpack,

 Here she is at her desk. Sitting right next to her is my friend's cute little boy, Bowen.

 So who was the most sad about Reese going to school? Rylee. Rylee said, "mom I'm sad about Reese. Can we go feed the ducks? It will make me more happier." So of course I took her.

 Although now everyday since Rylee wants to feed the ducks after we drop Reese off, and I have to tell her we can't do it every day. Rylee just started crying, in the middle of the classroom. "Reese, don't go!" Reese was so cute, and gave Rylee a big hug, patted her back and said, "It's ok Rylee, I will be back soon, don't be sad." It was so sweet.

Since then she has done better, but still asks to see the ducks, and still says she missed Reese. I'm so proud of Reese, she is such a big girl!

Soccer mom!

Well it's official, the only thing missing is a mini van. I know Reese would love to do dance, but I couldn't help but think about how much cheaper soccer is.  And it doesn't go as long. Plus I think it will be really good for her.

 For weeks, she was so worried about what color her jersey would be. (She wanted it to be pink so bad.) She was so happy when she saw that it was.

 Here's her first game. Her team won, although she didn't score. For the most part they just ran around. But she had two girls on her team that seemed to know what they were doing.

 It's kind of fun, and crazy that  she is old enough. (although apparently she could have played last year.

I love watching her try to run around. Now I just need to teach her to be more aggressive. Hopefully this will help give her a good start to liking sports and excersice. I definitely could have used something like that when I was little. Go Pink Flamingos!

Campfire, and Farewell to Leah

You know how it goes, all summer you say you're going to have a campfire, but then when it comes down to it, the girls are tired, or the weather isn't that great, etc. etc.

 Well, we finally had one, and the girls were so excited. There's Jeremy with his s'more, that Rylee and I made for him.

 The girls like to roast marshmallows, and make s'mores. But they do not like to eat them.

 Then after the fire, we did one of our favorite things. We laid out a blanket, and looked at the stars.

 On a completely different note. My sister was here for the summer, I actually have only a couple of pictures,( I must be getting lazy). Anyway we had one final farewell party, before her and her two babies, make the long, long, long flights home to Aussie land. It has been such a fun summer, and while she was here we did lots of fun stuff.

 Of course you can't invite me to a party without me bringing some kind of cake, or cupcakes. These were some cute Koalas I made in honor of our little Aussie.

Well, she made it home safe, and with no mental breakdowns, (through a 27 hour trip with a one year old, and two year old.) Pretty impressive. Love you and hope to see you soon.

Wood Family Fun!

My sister Leah was here visiting from Australia, so we are doing more family activities than usual. So a couple of weeks ago we decided to go take a little hike up to a little cave.

 The kids were surprisingly pretty big chickens about the cave. It took me a long time to get Reese to go in. Finally we had to carry her through it. But then she did walk back, as long as my mom would hold her hand. And my usually brave nephew Mason didn't even venture in at all.

 It was fun! Clearly we need to do things like this way more often, toughen up the little kiddies.

 Then afterward we went to the Huntsville park. If you haven't been up there. Give it a try, it is a really good park. I wish we had one like that closer to our house. That's my sister Leah, and in the background her little baby Reid.

 Rylee loves to hang on things lately.

 This took awhile, so I was proud of her for climbing up this. It's not that high, but she is kind of nervous about heights.

 Even Rylee climbed up. The thing that I really liked is that I used to climb on this very jungle gym when I was little. Even though they added a lot to the park, they still kept a few of these old things.

 Like this tree, we always climbed and played in this tree. I don't know why I care, but I think it's cool that they are in the tree I used to play in.

 And on these tires.

 Anyway we had a fun day. Here's to more, fun activities with my family.