leaf man

This is the softest coat you will ever feel.  Apparently, it's also a leaf magnet.

Our stream of smoke signals has started up again.  Fall is one of JP's favorite times...burning leaves, sticks and fallen trees.  I managed to salvage a fallen cedar tree from the burn pile to turn into blocks.  Now we just need to add some marshmallows and it's a perfect fall day.

Happy Veteran's Day

To all who served and still do, we thank you.


(Joaquin's veteran's day program.)

a fall park adventure

Days off from school can swing one of two ways....lots of movie watching and house cleaning, or big time adventure.  Tuesday was the latter when a friend invited us to go with her to one of our very favorite parks ever.  I just call it Dodd Park, but I'm not sure that's what others call it.

Diego took a peek at the map before we started off on the trail.  Too bad the rest of us didn't.  The trails had changed since the last time either of us moms had been there, and after about 30 minutes of wandering, we decided to go back to start because there really was a plan to all of this.



The kids played on the playground, and we had lunch before we started off again.  The first question out of Joaquin's mouth every time we go to a park, "Is there a playground?"  I asked him why would he rather play on a plastic, boring playground instead of an ever-changing, adventurous trail?  Silly question, mom.



There are some interesting buildings around the playground.  I think this was a former civil war battle area, but I didn't read the info this time.



Walking sticks are necessary on this trail.  Steep hills, coupled with a floor of gigantic round acorns, made it somewhat treacherous.  Diego found this reed, but it definitely wasn't strong enough.



And boy was it chilly!! Hats, scarves and gloves for everyone!




This bridge was our ultimate destination.  A low lying metal bridge over the marsh.  So fun to cross...minus the dead beaver we saw right beside it.  That brought forth lots of guesses as to what could have killed him.

But for me, the thrill here is taking pictures.  They are always amazing.  This has to be one of my all time favorites.  It looks so serene....back in time.



Brothers on the bridge.  Just the two of them.  You'd have never known....



....we were a motley crew of nine kids and two moms!  What a great adventure day.

find out day!

Wow!  You guys sure put all your eggs in one basket!  Stay tuned.....

pink or blue?

We brought back something else besides souvenirs this summer...there's a baby in there!
And now it's time to place your bets.

Today we find out what we're adding to this picture...shall it be a boy or a girl?


I'll let you know if we get ten guesses in the comments! So...will it be pink or blue?

Kings Dominion

Time to play a little catch up.

Always on the look out for a good deal, this year we decided to go with Kings Dominion passes for next year, instead of Busch Gardens...with one bonus, we could go one time before it closed for the season in November.

This decision was met with lots of protests from the kids...."I hate Kings Domion!", "I won't be able to ride Alpinegeist!"   Ummmm....have they ever been there before? No.  Even with the promise of lots of fun, they were reluctant.

I actually worked at KD when I was a teenager....one hot summer when I literally could find nothing else and waited until July to finally buckle and say yes to a friend that I wanted a job there.  Making music videos of groups of people lip-sync-ing their favorite songs...it was my first experience using special effects and I faked my way through it.  It's not there anymore.

Anyway, all anti-Kings Dominion words were silenced as soon as we pulled up and they saw the colorful roller coasters looming over the trees.

It was decked out for Halloween.  And we knew to get out of there before dark when the zombies would come out.


It's not called the Scooby-Doo roller coaster anymore (I guess 'cause Snoopy took over the place), but Diego braved it with daddy before he knew any better.  Juan Pablo said he was wrapped around the handle bar like a boa constrictor.  That was the last coaster for him for the day.


(Can you spot JP, Diego, and Joaquin?)

After that there seemed to be a major car theme going on....95 baby!


Race cars.....the ones with the rail going down the middle so you can't go off the track....



Bumper cars....definitely a pro at this now.....



And a real driving school where you can go wherever you want....looks like he's one-arming it now.



Even the big kids got in on this one.  Wow, Isabela you really are growing!



Turns out Isabela and Joaquin can even ride some all by themselves now....there they are on the Avalanche in the Suisse car.  There were absolutely no lines for anything all day, so they got to ride things multiple times.  I remember when I was little, you had to stand in lines for at least 45 minutes every time, just for your 45 second thrill.  Times have changed.



Diego and I downed an ICEE while the others rode stuff.



Here's some unusual advice...."Always take candy from strangers."



Since it was Halloween, they had little pirate giveaways for the kids.  Love Isabela's triangle head!



But these two pirates sure are handsome!



And there's little ol' me trying to get in a picture, too.



It took some convincing to get them to go in the foam bubble pool....Diego never did give in.



But he does love those giant characters....even if he's never heard of them.



By next year, I'll definitely have to read them some Peanuts comics.



That's one tall pirate!



Joaquin was drawn to the giant stuffed animals like usual.  They look fun, but really they're not.



Diego and I stayed on the slower ones...although I'm not great with heights either.  I was ready to get off this ferris wheel after the first go-round, but it just kept going.  Diego even started contemplating ways to jump off of it so we could go on something else.



And his favorite...the merry-go-round.  His horse always wins.



So in the end, the kids loved Kings Dominion.  I think they even said it was better than Busch Gardens.  Me...I noticed it was like comparing Walmart and Target.  I'll always be a Target girl myself.