Labor Day Camping Trip

We returned to Bear Creek Lake State Park for a Labor Day weekend camping trip. Laura, Will, and Owen joined us for the second night.

Little boys and fire:

Doesn't Charlie look thrilled? Despite her face here, she really does like camping. We left her off her leash most of the weekend and she loved exploring around the campsite.

Smarshmallows!

Who knew filling the water cooler could be so much fun?!

Fishing, round 1. We tried again (twice) the next day and no one caught anything!

I can't remember what Brady was upset about but he was not a happy camper when I tried to get these pictures!

Fishing, Round 2.

The park had an archery activity on Sunday. We all tried it and were surprised that it was relatively easy to get the hang of. Brady LOVED it and even asked if we could put an archery range in our backyard.

Owen loved the water faucet. He was SO filthy at one point that Laura just stripped him down and rinsed him there!

Dirt = fun, right?

Night Frisbee

We went camping last weekend and got to try out this cool new Frisbee...

Last day at the pool

Labor Day was pretty chilly and damp, so I'm glad we got these videos the week before!

These are the things we argue about around here...

Brady: Stop pulling my shirt.

{Rudy doesn't stop.}

Brady: I said no pulling shirts!

Rudy: No you didn't. You said, "Stop pulling my shirt."

Pet lizards...

The boys went to the creek to go crayfish hunting and came back with these guys: a salamander, a skink, and an earthworm. The earthworm was released in the garden and the lizards went home with Jacob.

From: kellymgarrett@gmail.com [mailto:kellymgarrett@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2011 3:45 PM
To: Kellymgarrett@gmail.com
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Homework fun

After just one week of school, Rudy and I have nearly come to blows a few times over his homework. His assignment is to do one reading and one math activity every day, and these can be anything. We had success today with flour writing; he wrote his sight words and some simple addition problems in flour on a cookie sheet. It was a big hit, and the mess was definitely worth it!

From: kellymgarrett@gmail.com [mailto:kellymgarrett@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2011 3:46 PM
To: Kellymgarrett@gmail.com
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Sleepover

We check on the kids every night and every morning. At the night check, the stuffed animals were all still in their basket at the foot of Rudy's bed. At the morning check, they were all lined up in a row beside him.

First Day of School, 2011

River

Meg came up for a visit this week and we took the three dogs down to the river with the boys and their friends. It was HOT but a perfect day to play in the water.

The boys did some crayfish and tadpole hunting. Brady even almost caught a snake between his legs. (Yikes!)

Busch Gardens

Bella and Ben start school next week, so we took this chance to go to Busch Gardens with them. Brady was the only one that would ride the roller coasters; this was the first visit where he was tall enough for Alpengeist and Griffin...and the Griffin was closed! All of the kids loved the spinny rides, though, and rode this one at least four times.

August 2

From: Kelly Garrett [mailto:kellymgarrett@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 9:22 PM
To: Home
Subject: