Painting Pumpkins

We usually aim to carve the pumpkins for Halloween, but with the new baby coming we already had our hands full. So this last year we used a marker.

Emmy was our main pumpkin artist.

Here she is examining the 'Emily' pumpkin
.

All done with her work.

It really was a beautiful fall day.

Fall colors everywhere.

Back to Applepalooza

I'm only 5 months late on this one...

Applepalooza is the yearly fundraiser/carnival for Liberty Christian school. It is another fun event. Emmy will really enjoy this one in a few years, it is aimed at older children then Sausage Fest is.

It is held on the school grounds, which means playground equipment! She also found a baby launching slide. It got some good air.

This game was fun, you toss the ball into the floating cups and get a prize. I think she is helping retrieve the balls here.

Next year I get to park myself in the pony line until it opens. She really really really wanted to ride the ponies. But the line was 1 1/2 hours long.

After Applepalooza we went to a park down on the Columbia for some more playing.

The Doctor is in.

Getting ready to go.

Down the road there where hundreds of geese and ducks covering a small pond. We stopped to chase, I mean watch, them.

Just watching, that's right...

Sausage Fest 2010

Some of the private schools here put on big fund raising events. The Catholic school does an annual sausage festival. The game booths are a lot of fun for children. Emily learned very quickly that if you give them a ticket they let you play a game and then give you a toy.

The main courtyard is set up like a little German village. Though the tent was nice for some shade.

Emmy was happy with her corn.

This is Emmy and Daddy doing some fishing

Emily liked the Butterfly Gardens

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me ....

Here are some more pictures that we've been meaning to post for a while. Most are from Emmy's birthday and the resulting celebrations.

Happy Birthday... Wow, Mom there is fire there!

I think I like this. (It was very good)

Birthdays are fun, I get to wear it too.

Look Mom, a puppy!

Whats in here?

She was a bit close here, but I love the face.

And for Uncle Bob...

Mmmm ... BA-NAN-A!

Climbing to our First Steps

I think these speak for themselves. Emmy just keeps on going.

A future in soccer?

Laura and Emily came with me to the last combined young mens and women's activity. So while all the youth where doing their team building activities Emmy got to kick a ball around a bit.

Coeur D'Alene trip

A few weeks ago we took a weekend trip to Coeur D'Alene lake to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. For those of you who do not know where Coeur D'Alene is, it is located half an hour east of Spokane in northern Idaho.

We had a great time getting away from work and spending the time together as a family. It seems like two years have gone so quickly, but also it is hard to remember a time when we weren't married.

Another strange thing was to see trees again. We live in the desert portion of Washington, so while we see trees, we don't see trees.

Here is some of the fun that we had.

Here is the view from the deck where we stayed. There isn't that much between us and the lake, only a cliff, a road, a jogging trail, and then you hit water. Our landlords have a house next to the lake, that is where we stayed. So anyone up in the WA/ID area can ask about it.

Emmy and Laura having fun. As you can tell Emmy didn't particularly want to wear the sunglasses, but they seem to taste good.

I think she started out with socks on. But there is very little in the world she dislikes more than having socks on her feet.

Our bundle of joy and mischief.

We eventually made it into town to look around. They have a nice downtown area (do you hear that Tri-Cities, they are much smaller and have a much nicer downtown than anything here). But this is much more of a local resort town then the Tri-Cities. If you ever visit you need to visit Figpickles toy store, it is amazing.

The city park is located on the lake. This is where you go for lake tours and some swimming.

Hmm, I'm not sure where my sunglasses went to.

Emmy and Mommy

Pretty much the last thing we did before leaving was to take a aerial tour of the lake. It was pretty fun, and pushes Emmy up to 15 flights in her lifetime.

School festivals

We've had a good time the last week or so. I'll get pictures up at some point, I promise.

The private schools up here do some pretty large fund raisers. They throw all out fairs and festivals.

Last weekend was Sausage fest at the Catholic school. They were packed with people. The carnival section was great, Emmy was old enough to enjoy two of the games. Her favorite part was picking up ducks at a booth as they floated by. The number on the bottom of the duck told you which prize you would get. They gave her little plastic ducks that she would not let go until we got her home and ready for bed.

This weekend was Applooza at the Protestant school. Huge bins of apples, freshly pressed cider, and some fun games. Emmy liked watching the horses that the 4h club brought in. In a few years she will enjoy riding them too.

These are the largest fund raisers they do each year, and we are happy to support the schools.

We really look forward to when Emmy is a year or two older and can be more involved. These things are like heaven to a 3 year old.