OBX

We had a great weekend in OBX with Kathy and Tony. James and Tony got to play golf while the boys and I helped Kathy plant her daffodils.

The boys, playing monster trucks in the sand:

In the afternoon, we went to Roanoke Island Festival Park. First, the boys learned about the animals the first colonists might have seen in the area...

Then we went to the Elizabeth II, one of the sips that brought settlers to Roanoke. It was pretty cool to get to climb all over the ship and ask a "real" sailor questions.

Next was the village, where we watched the blacksmith make a nail and the boys tried on some armor. We also saw a few of the other period tools and played a game very similar to bowling!

The last stop was in the museum to learn about the history of Roanoke Island from the Native Americans through the settlers, pirates, Civil War, and today.

Their backyard is newly cleared down to the sand so we had a 3v3 soccer game on Sunday before we left, with Brady, Kathy, and James narrowly defeating Rudy, Tony, and Kelly!

Indoor football

Santa Claus has come to town...

Pre-K Field Trip

Rudy's preschool took a field trip to a local farm, complete with animals, pumpkins, a hay maze, corn maze, and wagon ride.

Rudy with the perfect pumpkin:

In the hay maze...

With the pony:

The whole class. Note how tall Rudy is!!

He's still talking (three weeks later) about the animals and their funny names. These cows are Eenie, Meenie, Miney, and Mo.

The pigs are Patty and Link. Rudy doesn't get it, but loves that people laugh when he tells them the names!

Rudy with last year's "girlfriend." She's in KG now, so he doesn't get to see much of her but he was thrilled to sit with her on the wagon ride!

Fall Stroll

We had another beautiful fall weekend. Between the fall festival, Brady's first movie with a friend, dinner plans with friends, and Sunday school we couldn't quite fit in a real hike. We did squeeze in a walk at a nearby park, though.

Crazy Charlie, chasing geese in the frigid water

Trying to feed the geese, but they weren't interested in our stale dog bones. (Go figure!)

Brady, striking his GQ pose?

On the move...

Saturday night

We headed over to a friend's house Saturday night for a two-person chili cookoff! We haven't seen much of them since last spring, really, so it was great to catch up!

Everyone enjoying the fire and smores!

Brady was exhausted...and we caught him snoozing during a movie at the end of the night!

Fall Festival

Friday night was the elementary school fall festival. I was busy keeping the festival organized, but the kids had a great time with James!

Biking!

Rudy is this close to riding his bike. He can make it about four pedals before he loses his balance or his feet slip off the pedals, but he's really sticking with it! One day soon, he's just going to take off!

And here's Brady, who rode the scooter so fast that his shoe fell off!