Fun on the Farm

 For our second day with the Tingeys, we hit up Oil Ranch which is a big ranch full of activities and dirt - our kids' dreams!  We spent all day there and we basically had to drag the kids away because they were having so much fun.

We started off the morning with unlimited pony rides.  There were not many people there in the morning, so it was basically ride as much as you want, and some people did!

Our next adventure was to milk a real cow!  I have never done it before, so we all got in on the action with this one. 

We also hit up the petting zoo which Miles loved.  The animals were even a bit crazy but he was all about chasing them around.  

A favorite of the day was the hay barn.  They had piles of hay at different levels and they were jumping, playing and pretending there for a long time.

It also had great lighting so I had to grab a picture of two of them holding still.  I think Madison had straw in her mouth the whole day, because that is what a cowgirl does.  

There was roping to try as well as driving a tractor.  Too bad the tractor was stuck bud.  

 We took the train ride to the other side of the park and to take a little break and sit down.  

This might had been the most fun for everyone - the hamster wheels!  They run on little pvc pipe tracks and you can race each other.  My pregnant body didn't fit so well in it, but everyone else had lots of fun!

 At the end of the day we had Christopher's 1st birthday party and the kids all decided to eat their cake and ice-cream in the center turnabout in the culdesac to end our awesome day.  We had so much fun with them and wish we lived closer.  

BFFs!

After a few days with the Houston Cousins, we headed an hour north to visit the Tingeys!  It was so fun to reunite with them and the girls just picked up right where they left off, having so much fun and  now that Hadley and Reese are older, they joined in on the fun too as little buddies.  

They took us to an awesome park in the morning where we got some energy out and were able to chat with Angie.  

The tire swings were a big hit and I think Mike pushed kids on those for quite a while.

We got to know little Christopher better and even made it for his birthday weekend!  

The girls were headed to a color run that evening, so matching shirts were in order for the day.  

There was also a zip line and lots of trees!  You forget how dry the desert is until you go somewhere a bit more green!

That night was Madison's school fundraiser which was a color run for the kids.  They were so excited about it and were ready to run their hearts out.

Miles opted to play with cars, although he probably would have loved getting all dirty!

Here is Allie after the first color station.  

Poor Hadley was super fast out of the gate and within a hundred yards fell hard and scraped up her knee pretty badly along with her nose and forehead.  After some convincing, she and I did the color run together, trying to get her colored and not so much me.  

She made it all the way around with a smile on her face and got pretty colorful!  This picture was after a trip to the nurse for bandages.

I am sure you can imagine the color of the water from the shower after this night.  I think they had colorful scalps for a few days and colorful boogers too.  :)

Reese eventually decided it would be fun to get colored and joined in with the crew.  Fun was had by all!

Meet the Shaws

This week we get to have a special adventure. It is Allie's fall break so we decided to go visit some family and friends in Houston! The kids enjoyed the airplane ride and the rental car to get there. If we would have stopped after that, they would have considered it a successful adventure. But that was only the beginning!

We got to hang out with our awesome cousins, Benson and Rory. We went to the zoo and looked at all the animals. Luckily, no one was captured while there (or else they may not have been placed in the monkey cages).

The kids loved getting to know their cousins a little bit better and seeing all the fun Houston stuff again.

The girls really loved the games at the Shaw home. They play dancing games (it doesn't get any better for Allie and Hadley than dancing like a crazy person to Rock Lobster).

The first few days of our adventure were a roaring (get it?) success.

Bum, Buta-Bum, Buta-bum, buta-bum, Bonanza!

We needed a good family adventure this week. So we decided to go to the Superstition Mountain Museum, which was an eclectic collection of desert history and western Americana. The museum was not the children favorite (they did a pretty good job of not destroying the place, but didn't spend too much time there). Outside of the museum they have the more fun stuff. There was an old mine that they were trying to restore to working condition. Miles and Hadley really liked this part, since there were lots of rocks to crush. They were looking for gold in the rocks. There was also a barn filled with pictures of all the famous Hollywood actors to play in Westerns. The last building was a chapel from the only movie Elvis starred in without singing (at least that is what the old lady there told us). These were kind of fun, but the kids enjoyed the last stop of the trip the most.

There was an old stage coach you could clim into. 

And the star of the trip was the donkey rides put on by some nice old guy. They each got to help feed the miniature mule.

Then they each got to ride the full size donkey. Allie was brave and went first.

Hadley got to play some fun tunes from atop her mighty stead.

Miles held on for dear life (even though they only went about 2 miles per hour).

He also made sure to watch out for any Indians on his trip west. 

It was a great family adventure.

To Infinity... and Beyond!

Hadley has been loving her preschool this year and has been learning so much!  She had her first parent program and it was on their most recent unit - Space!  She knows all the planets, what they look like, all about Earth and so much more!  We love Discovery Club!

They had all the kids' pictures as astronauts lining the stairway and I think I found the cutest one!

Hadley is one of the tallest ones in her class so she was center back which made for great viewing opportunities.  She knew all the words to the songs and sang and did the actions perfectly.

 This is Hadley inside the spaceship that her teacher has in the room where you get to be an astronaut for a day.  Yea for knowledge!