Happy Halloween!!

Conversation Overheard in the Car Yesterday

Alex to Justin: "That is my school...it is where I am going to go to Kindergarten."
Justin to Alex: "Yeah, me too."
Alex to Justin: "No, it is not!" (Alex can be a bit of a know it all!)
Justin to Alex: "Yes, it is!"
Alex to Mommy: "Mommy, will Justin go to Kindergarten with me next year."
Mommy to Alex: "Unfortunately, no, Justin will have to go to a different school than you.
What a bummer, huh!?!" (I have become a pro at diffusing tension!)
Alex to Justin: "You know what? My mommy has to go back to college because she didn't do
very well the first time she went!"
Mommy to Alex: "What!?!?! Where did you hear that?"
Alex to All: "Daddy told me!"
Mommy to All: "I am only going back to take more classes not because I didn't do well!"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mommy to Daddy on the Phone: "Did you tell Alex that I had to go back to college because I
didn't do well the first time?"
Daddy: EXTREME LAUGHTER

He claimed that he said it to Alex right in front of me the other night and that I wasn't paying attention when he was trying to make me mad!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Later last night...

Daddy to Uncle Jeff: "Do you know Alex told his friend Justin?"
Uncle Jeff: "No, what?"
Daddy to Uncle Jeff: "He told Justin that mommy has to go back to college because she didn't
do very well the first time."
Uncle Jeff: EXTREME LAUGHTER..."He remembered that you said that?"

I guess Uncle Jeff had been there for the original joke...

Moral of the story...

Don't tell Alex ANYTHING you don't want repeated regardless of whether or not it is a joke!! Who know who else he told this to? His preschool teachers? My future boss? The other moms on the field trip? I'll have you all know that I did awesome in college!!

Alex's First Soccer Game

Alex participated in a 'just for fun' soccer league this summer, which was directed by one of Daddy's co-workers! We found out soon enough that Alex is a soccer pro! After several weeks of learning the ins and outs of soccer, Alex's teammates and their Daddy's decided to have a game! This picture shows mass chaos on the field...It took a bit of time for the kids to get the hang of which direction they were supposed to go!!

Mommy was a bit distracted during the game...Julia and Savannah thought that they would rather play on the playground equipment than watch the game!

This is Alex (in red shorts) trying to get the ball back. This picture was taken shortly after Alex scored the first goal of the game. Who else can say that they scored the first goal of their lives in their first ever soccer game??

Team Picture

Alex receiving his trophy! :) Awwww!

Fire Station Open House

Hanging out in the big rig!!

Julia taking a ride in the ambulance...thank goodness it was just for fun and not an emergency!!

Checking out all the gadgets in the fire truck!!

Sitting in the driver's seat of the ladder truck!

Standing at the base of the 'really tall ladder' at the back of the ladder truck!!

National Museum of the Air Force, Dayton, OH: A Trip with Meema and Papa

Papa always likes a funny picture!! Probably couldn't get away with putting that on a plane these days :)!
This is Alex with a Consolidated B-24 bomber "Liberator" that was used during WWII.

Papa and Alex with Alex's Great Grandpa's and Papa's Daddy's plane that he flew in the Air Force during the 1950s. It is the Strategic Air Command's (SAC) Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" Cold War bomber.

Alex with the Apollo 15 Command Module...the only spacecraft to travel to the moon and back with an all Air Force crew.

Another shot of Alex's Great Grandpa's airplane.

Alex and Meema with the Fairchild-Republic A-10 "Thunderbolt II."

Alex being silly in front of the General Dynamics F-16 "Fighting Falcon."

Sitting in a cockpit and shooting some guns!!

Another shot...

The flight simulator that Alex and Papa "flew" in!!

Alex, Meema, and Papa had a great time at the National Museum of the United States Air Force last week! Alex keeps asking when he gets to go "on vacation" with Meema and Papa again. I am pretty sure that that means that he had a great time!!

Alex's Last Run

Alex enjoyed his final run for summer running at the beginning of August! He was pretty excited because he received his very first trophy for completing all of his runs!! We just might have a little track star on our hands...he loves to run and always wants to race!! Alex is pretty silly because he wanted me to wave a flag for him as he ran his last race. So, being the good Mommy that I am, I proudly waved the American flag for him as he ran around the track. I suppose he was imagining himself in the Olympics in the future. Just so you know, Alex, if you make it to the Olympics, I'll wave an even bigger American flag just for you!

Updates

So, Fall has finally arrived!?! We’ll call it Fall, although, I’m not sure that is what it feels like. We kicked off meteorological Fall by heading out on vacation the first of September. Alex added four states to his list of states visited and Julia added an amazing five!! Alex particularly enjoyed the states of West Virginia and Virginia because he loved driving through the mountains and especially enjoyed going under the two mountain tunnels in Virginia (The Big Walker and East River Mountain Tunnels—see Link… http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/back0705.cfm). I’m not sure Julia enjoyed any of the ride…The main thing she got out of hours in the car was figuring out how to contort herself in order to get out of the top of her five-point harness. Unfortunately, she has been doing it a lot more in the car since our vacation.

Our main focus of our vacation was hitting the beach. Alex has see beaches and the ocean on television and in books he has read and has been asking to go for the longest time, so we figured…’why, not?’ We went to Wrightsville Beach and Ft. Fisher Beach in North Carolina and had a blast! Wrightsville Beach had tons of sea shells and Ft. Fisher had an amazing history. We got to hit the waves at the site of a Civil War battle! While at Ft. Fisher, we visited the North Carolina Aquarium at Ft. Fisher (http://www.ncaquariums.com/fort-fisher) and the Civil War Museum at Ft. Fisher (http://www.nchistoricsites.org/fisher/fisher.htm). Alex and Julia enjoyed both, but probably enjoyed the beach the most! Daddy didn’t like the sand, but they sure did!!

On our last day in Wilmington, we headed over to the USS North Carolina Battleship (http://www.battleshipnc.com/page1.php). It was so much fun! Both Alex and Julia loved exploring the ship and pretending to ‘shoot down kamikazes.’ It was Mommy’s favorite part of the vacation and I can’t wait to take them to the USS Alabama and the USS Missouri!!

Alexism in Wilmington:

While in Wilmington, Alex kept getting confused because our hotel was right by a Target. He kept asking us if we were “still in Carolina?” We would continually tell him, “yes, we will be in North Carolina until Sunday!” Well, he finally said this as we entered the Wal-Mart parking lot on our last night…

Alex: “Are we still in Carolina?”

Mommy: “Yes!"--With some annoyance

Alex: “Well, I get so confused!” I mean they have a Hooters and now we’re at Wal-Mart! We have those at home, too!”

Mommy and Daddy: BaHaHa!!

I am slightly confused on his analysis…I guess I understand why he referenced Hooters a bit…There was just one a block away from our hotel and Daddy kept joking about eating there, but I guess I never realized that Alex noticed that there is a Hooters at home, since he has never eaten there and I don’t think I recall ever mentioning it even as we have passed it! Who knows? He must have a memory of steel!

Our next stop was to visit Uncle Alan, Kris, and Ava outside of Raleigh/Durham. We had a blast hanging out with them for a few days and heading into to Durham to visit Duke for Daddy. Alex and Julia both enjoyed seeing some of the wildlife NC had to offer and had the chance to see lizards, frogs, and praying mantises at Ava’s. In fact, at a McDonald’s in NC, Alex and Julia found a lizard up in the slide of the playground. Alex said that it was “an iguana” and Julia just kept screaming ‘bug” at it. Daddy had to go rescue her, because she wouldn’t go down the slide because it was there!

While in NC, both Mommy and Daddy wanted to try some authentic NC barbecue, so we headed to Stephenson’s BQ. It is a good thing we realized that it doesn’t come with barbecue sauce or we might have been called “damn Yankees” when we asked for some! It was pretty good, but both Mommy and Daddy prefer our barbecue with sauce. We’ll have to head to Memphis or KC next to try some more regional barbecue!

Preschool

Only two days after our return from vacation, Alex started his last year of preschool before heading off to Kindergarten next year! He had a moment of nervousness, but as soon as he saw his friends…he was gone! Alex is really enjoying himself at preschool. He looks forward to everyday and is super excited to take his ‘treasure chest’ back to school tomorrow. The ‘treasure chest’ activity allows the kids to get to know one another and was his first homework assignment. Hopefully, we will continue not to procrastinate for we had to do the assignment as soon as we got home on Friday even though he doesn’t have school again until tomorrow! He was to put the following in the treasure chest:

1. A Family Picture

2. A Snuggly or Favorite Toy—His Baby

3. Something that represents his favorite activity—Bears Football (plays w/ Owen all the time)

4. Something that represents his favorite food—Taco Mild Sauce from Taco Bell (What can I say? The kid loves tacos!)

5. His favorite book—His informational book on Pirates

I have a ton more updates to do, but I’ll work on getting them posted over the next week or so!!

Alex's First Day of Preschool

Getting ready for the big day!!

Duke is so jealous...He thinks he should get to go to kindergarten this year!

A front porch shot...

Silly cheeses!!

This and That

Alex's carrots!

Alex's corn (green beans courtesy of Meijer)!!

Duke's new haircut!!

Julia talking on the phone while wearing Mommy's bikini!!

Julia's First Haircut

Pre-Haircut

Sitting just as quiet and relaxed as Alex does while getting a haircut!

A little blow-dry to finish it off!

The new do!!

I have officially got to get caught up with my postings on the blog!! I have several pictures from August that have not been posted because of the technical difficulties I was having at the end of August. Poor Julia had her first haircut at the end of August and is just now getting to show it off!! Mommy was getting frustrated with her hair and how stringy it was...I only feared cutting the curls for fear they would not come back! The good news is that the curls stayed unlike Alex's, but Julia's hair has become no thicker and it no longer even looks like she got her haircut!! I'll continue to post end of summer events, but will also try and mix in some of the new fall activities we have been up to!!

Taking it Back--Alex's First Cardinals Game