Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Oma and Opa Come to Town

Oma and Opa came to visit last weekend so they could watch the kids for us while we did a triathlon on Sunday (more on that later).  Most of the weekend was really fun :)

Look who is so proud to be sitting up.

He also loves to stick out his tongue.

Saturday morning, we spent some quality time at the Children's Museum.

Of course, they had a pumpkin patch!  Henry was less enthused about it this time.

Rachel loved showing Oma and Opa all the things she can do at the museum.

The zoom in camera was particularly fun.

They had trick or treating stations around so we ventured to the lower level for the first time.  It is geared more toward older children but we still enjoyed it (Wes most of all).

Here is Rachel flying the plane that she made...with more than a little help from Daddy.

Henry made his first visit to the Tot Spot and got to play.

After the museum, we took Opa out to an early birthday lunch at what claims to be the best German restaurant in America.  It was pretty good (though not quite as good as our homemade Oktoberfest feast...)

There is that tongue again.

Enjoying appetizers.

Yummy schnitzel and sausages.

Henry loves his Oma!!

This takes us to Saturday evening.  By this point, both Rachel and Owen had been hit with a stomach bug.  Wes went down around 3:30 in the morning and could not do the tri.  I still soldiered on after a long night with the kids (with Wes being quite a trooper who came out with me).

Here is the swim portion of the event...cancelled due to lightening and alligators in the water.  So, after some confusion, we just started from the end of the swim route.

Here is the end of the bike ride.  I was tired and soaking wet and contemplating quitting.

But, I powered (slowly) through it made it to the finish.  Woohoo!!

Not the brightest end to the weekend, but I am inspired to do another tri and actually train next time.

It is October!

October is one of our very favorite months.  It is finally cool(er), there are pumpkins everywhere and then it will be Halloween.  We started the month out right with a trip to a pumpkin patch.


Owen worked his way through the hay maze

Henry was very sweet for his pictures.

First time to see a pumpkin...

Owen sat still for almost 30 seconds!

Rachel was pretty wiggly for her pictures as well, but we got at least one decent one.

Silly faces

Owen showing Rachel how to get through the maze

A giant pumpkin!

Another sweet picture

After that, we went to another fall event where we got to decorate pumpkins.  Fun!
 

Resting toward the end with some popcorn and a pile of pumpkins.

Another favorite part of this time of year is Oktoberfest!  We had lots of friends over to enjoy some yummy German food.  We had a lot of fun!

This year we even decorated!

Sweet Katherine got to come as well.  She is such a cutie pie!

We topped off the weekend with a cool(ish) visit to Discovery Green for Sunday lunch.

Rachel loves to climb.

Owen wants to use my camera.

Big boy!!

Stuffing her face with delicious food from Phoenicia.  We plan to have many similar weekend outings while the weather is nice.

Fifth Annual UtopiaFest!

We had a great time at the end of September at the fifth UtopiaFest!


Rachel got dressed up as a fancy pink cowgirl

We love seeing lots of family at the fest.

Uncle Travis' band did a great job during the Thursday night pre-party

Owen was ready to rock with the kids performance Friday morning.

We got to enjoy it with lots of cousins!

Rachel was ready to rock as well.

Craft time is always a hit

Some people may not have enjoyed the rain.  Rachel and Owen loved it...and they didn't even have to pay $3 for the showers.

Saturday was beautiful!  We kicked off in style with the bagpipes.

Owen is getting to be a big boy

Henry liked to relax on his blanket under the tent

Rachel got a fun Barbie kite and loved flying it.

Owen got a turn, too.  He did surprisingly well with the kite.

Fossils!

We loved spending the weekend with Aunt Dawn, Mimi and the rest of the crew.

We had perfect weather after the rain cleared out.

The kids all fell asleep outside so we got to enjoy some of the night performances on Saturday as well.

More cousin love

Henry enjoyed visiting with Grammy

Rachel ended our visit right about where she started it.