Saturday, January 26, 2013

October 2012- Better Late Than Never!

I'm late catching up on my blog posts... have tons of photos to post and getting more every week.  This batch of photos is from October 2012.  October is always a busy month for us with a camping trip (Camping 2012), our annual visit to the pumpkin patch, Halloween (of course!), and sometimes a travel vacation (Charlotte 2012).  Enjoy some moments from our pumpkin patch visit and Halloween 2012!

Luke finds the pumpkin he wants... now if he could just pick it up!
Forget the pumpkins... this dirt is much more interesting.
Maddie gets a ride on Dad's back
Luke wants a ride too...
Carving the jack-o-lantern the night before Halloween
Luke inspects Maddie's pumpkin clean out
Maddie tries to look scary... she's just too cute.
Cheese!  Luke (a.k.a. Thomas the Train) really just wants to be left alone to enjoy his lollipop!
The neighborhood kids gather before the trick or treating starts

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Camping October 2012

Once again this past October we continued our annual group camping tradition with some close family friends (see posts for Camping 2010 and Camping 2011).  This year Maddie and Mom joined Dad and Luke in a cabin... which was a really good idea since the first night of the camping weekend was cold and rainy.  Our friends who slept in tents had a pretty miserable first night, but we slept cozy and warm!  The rest of the weekend was beautiful weather and lots of fun.

Kids pose with the traditional camping stick that everyone signs


Luke combs his hair with a sand shovel...hey, we're camping...

Luke and Dad get ready to eat lunch

Maddie and friends sitting on a tree branch
Luke and Mom take a break from playing catch to pose for a picture

Maddie and Luke with their camping journals

The whole crew... 6 kids all looking directly at the camera!

Girlfriends

Going fishing
Luke enjoys some time in the dirt with the toys

Luke pulls Dad in the wagon... sort of

When the sun goes down... the dance party starts!

What else is there to do with the extra worms after fishing?

Luke gives Dad a big camping hug

Although we added an extra day to our camping trip this year, the time still went by too fast.  Next year we're all going back into the tent, which will be Luke's first "real" camping weekend.  Now that Luke is getting older, we can start camping more frequently... we can hardly wait!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Charlotte, NC - 2012

In early October we spent a week in Charlotte, NC.  The kids were able to visit with Uncle Jim, Aunt Holly, Uncle Chip, Aunt Sandy, and Mimi!  We had a busy schedule for the week.  In addition to visiting with relatives, we made trips to the children's science museum, the US National Whitewater Center, a local animal preserve/petting zoo and of course we stayed several days at the Great Wolf Lodge (our favorite hotel)!  Mimi was a real sport and came along with us on all of our outings during the week, which we really enjoyed (although I think we wore her out). 

It had been two years since we had visited Charlotte and we remembered that on our previous visit, Luke was just a few months old.  He has grown up so much since our last visit.  Both kids did great and had a lots of fun.  It was a fantastic trip, and although we don't currently have plans for a return visit in the near future, we love Charlotte so much that I can't imagine we won't return sometime soon!


Luke shows Mimi his favorite iPad apps
Luke and Mimi take a break... Luke needs a smile app!
Maddie and Mimi share a smile
Maddie has fun on the ropes course
Luke gets some love from Maddie... and he loves it!
Luke rides on Dad's shoulders
Mom and Maddie flatwater kayak
Maddie and Dad on the ropes course
Dad and Maddie conquer the ropes course
Luke and Mom enjoy the forest
Ahhhh....

Uncle Jim with Luke and Maddie
Aunt Holly and Maddie with brownie masterpiece
Three generations photo
Uncle Jim and Luke practice a counting game on the iPad... count Uncle Jim!

Mimi and Luke see some fish

Luke and Maddie doing their best scary bear impressions
Dad and Luke feed some hungy sheep


Luke topples Mimi's block tower


Abra-cadabra - MagiQuest at the hotel is SO much fun
Wolf kids show their smiles (or fangs)

Monday, July 30, 2012

Dancing Luke

Luke loves to dance... he REALLY loves to dance.  Sometimes just singing a song gets him going (and neither Mom nor Dad are very good singers).  He's got the passion... he's definitely got the moves... I see a competitive dance TV show in his future!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Locks of Love Haircut

Yesterday Maddie had her hair cut for Locks of Love.  If you've never heard of this organization, Locks of Love provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.   Maddie did this about two and a half years ago and has been growing her hair since that time.  We're so proud of her giving spirit and we always encourage and recognize this as a selfless act of giving.  This time Maddie was joined by one of her best friends who also cut her hair for Locks of Love.  See the before and after photos below.

The last moments of long hair at the salon

Two long-haired sweet girls

Braided and ready for cutting

Cut and washed... ready for styling the new look

Short and sassy

One last look at the long hair

Two short-haired sweet girls