A Couple of Walks in the Woods

Our family always likes a good adventure in the great outdoors.  This fall we've managed to get outside a few times in between the rainy cold weather and have a little fun.

Our first trek was at one of our favorite stops, Occoneechee Mountain.  It's the highest point in Orange County and the highest point from, I think Greensboro to the Atlantic Ocean.  It's not actually that high, which makes it the perfect climb for the boys.  We take the dog because he loves a good walk in the woods, we hike around by the river and through the hills, and of course, the boys favorite part, we get to climb rocks.  Occoneechee Mountain has a bunch of great boulders and the boys have a ball climbing all over them.  This time, we actually found the scenic overlook which gave us a great view of Hillsborough below.

After our hike, I mentioned our fun afternoon on my local blog, and someone mentioned that the Hillsborough Riverwalk was also nearby.  We hadn't checked it out, so the next weekend we headed back out to the same area.  The Riverwalk is a great trail that was just finished up a couple of months ago.  We took the section that led from a playground to downtown Hillsborough.  The trail had lots of bridges where the boys could play "pooh sticks" where you throw two sticks off of one side of the bridge.  Then, you run over to the other side and watch to see which stick comes out first.

Once we were in downtown, we wandered around until we found a great little pizza place to have lunch.  It was a bit chilly, but since Sir Ripple had come with us, we sat outside.  The food was delicious, and there was even a chocolate shop across the street where we could get a little sweet treat to finish off our meal.

We can't wait till the weather warms up a bit and we can get right back out there for some more fun in the great outdoors!

(starting off on our hike)

(nature exploring)

(watching his boys rock climb-such a dedicated poodle)

(a very cute bear attack)

(Taking a picture of someone taking a picture-a Davis family tradition)

(the little sneak I was capturing in my picture)

(getting ready to climb)

(a scenic view and a little snack-no Ripple, no cheese crackers for you!)

(the Eno River-looking good)

(a little game of pooh sticks over the Eno)

Boosterthon

So, this is Evan's first year at the big elementary school, and with a big elementary school come the big elementary school fundraisers.  I definitely remember watching the fundraiser pep rallies at school and really wanting to sell the most of whatever wrapping paper or popcorn we were supposed to be selling because then we'd win the biggest prize that they were promoting.  I never won, but I always sort of enjoyed the process.

I don't know if Evan inherited my love of fundraising, but he too was all about the prizes that he could win by raising money through the Boosterthon program.  For this particular fundraiser they would raise money for a week, gaining prizes as the week progressed, and then they would run to earn all the "pledges" that they had collected.  All of the Boosterthon fundraisers were very enthusiastic and Evan managed to earn a ball, an invisible ink pen, a rocket, and a water bottle.  Thanks so much to everyone who donated to raise money for Evan's school.

On the final day of the Boosterthon, I headed in to school to watch Evan run in the Boosterthon fun run.  All of the students tried to run 35 little laps around the gym.  I could tell going in to it that Evan was a bit nervous about whether or not he would be able to run that much.  But once they got started, he was having so much fun, and he was so proud that he finished all of his laps.

Take a look at our happy little fundraiser!

(Evan's class waits to start their big run.)

(Evan flies around the track...most of the other pictures were blurry because he was running so fast!)

(They marked off a lap on his back every time he went around...there's all 35.)

 

(tired but proud)

Happy Halloween!

The boys always look forward to Halloween, so when the week arrived and they had to wait all the way until Friday, they could barely stand it.  Fortunately, they had some pre-Halloween festivities to enjoy before the big night.

First, Benny had his Halloween party at school.  The kiddos got to wear their costumes to school, as long as they weren't scary.  Now, Ben had picked out a three headed dragon costume. To any adult that saw him, he looked like the cutest little dragon that you've ever seen with one head on top and one on each of his hands.  However, he thought he was very fierce, so I had to make sure to tell him he had to be a nice dragon at school so he wouldn't scare all the other children.  They had a parade and collected goodies (not candy) from other classrooms and teachers.

Now, at Evan's school, they are not allowed to celebrate Halloween.  However, on Halloween day they did have a dress like your favorite book character day and a "fall" party the day before, so I think he had plenty to celebrate.  I got to help plan the fall party and come in to play bingo with the kiddos.  It was a lot of fun!  Evan's actual costume didn't work for the dress up day at school because I don't know of any books about ghouls, so he wore his Superman costume from the costume bin and brought in his Superman book to share.

Finally, the big night arrived.  While we waited for it to get dark so we could go Trick or Treating, we hung out with our neighbors and munched on lots of goodies like mummy hot dogs (hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls)-yep, that was the extent of my creativity.  As it finally started to get dark, Evan put on his ghoul costume, Ben became a three-headed dragon, and we headed out with our friends.

This was the first year where we didn't bring the wagon and the kids really didn't need anyone to go up to the door with them.  It was quite a bit more relaxing.  We still had to work to convince Ben not to stop and eat each piece of candy immediately after he got them, but they still amassed quite a bit of candy in their pumpkin buckets.

Eventually, all our neighbors had gone home or moved on to other parts of the neighborhood or gone home, and Ben got tired.  So, I took Benny home and Evan and Ian forged on.  Finally, they met us at home.  The happy little ghoul and dragon immediately went up to their beds, fell off their sugar high, and crashed.  Now, they just have a few pieces of candy to enjoy until next year!

(the fierce dragon head to preschool)

(Superman is off to school)

(the neighbors meet up to celebrate)

(Our backyard was getting a little bit scary.)

(The boys pose with our neighbors Izzy, Carolyn, and Jill before they head out.)

(ready to go)

(Of course, Rip had to join in on the fun.)

(our whole little crew)

(Trick or Treat!)

(Ian tries on Jill's wig-I think he looks great in purple!)

Fried Rides

So, October is one of our favorite months in NC, and one of the main reasons why is that it's time for the NC State Fair.  We go every year, and we always have a great time.  We have our traditions, but we always like trying something new.

We arrived as early as we could on the last Saturday morning of the fair.  The weather was beautiful so the crowds came with us.  Our usual tactic is to make a beeline for the kids midway so we can hit the rides before the lines get too long.  Our first one this time was the ferris wheel.  Even though that one costs a lot of tickets, I always like that one because our whole family get to go together and enjoy the scenery.  As usual we had a great time.

After our trips around the wheel, we wanted to let the boys use the rest of their tickets.  So, the boys each picked two more rides and set off.  I went with Evan and Ian went with Ben.  Ben picked two fairly spinny rides and had a great time, even dragging Daddy on one of them with him.  Evan picked a spinny ride first and had a great time.  However, after he got off, he decided that perhaps he didn't feel that great and maybe he only wanted to do one ride after all.

The rides, however, were not what the boys were most excited about.  They really wanted to play the dart game to get a prize.  They always get to play one, and it's one of those games where kids always win.  This time, they not only got to play the dart game, but they also suckered us into the fishing game where you always get a prize.  So, they went home with two little stuffed sea horses and two stuffed dice.  Evan also was brave enough to try the Marines pull up station.  He was hoisted up there and hung, but then he started inching over to the edge little by little.  He ended up not doing any actual pull ups, but he got a sticker for a great effort with his hanging.

Finally, it was time for Ian and I's favorite part of the fair.  It was eating time!  We think it's always hard to find an absolutely fabulous main course at the fair.  So, the boys had foot long hot dogs while I had a cheese burger and Ian had a gyro.  Then, we moved on to the yummy course-dessert.  This year, Ian and I actually tried something new with the gourmet funnel cake stand.  We sampled a half strawberry shortcake, half banana pudding funnel cake and it was really good.  I definitely would be tempted by it again next year.  The boys don't quite have our taste in dessert.  Evan got some cotton candy while Benny went to the all gummy booth and got some gummy snakes.  He inhaled quite a large amount of gummies before he dropped his remaining snake on the ground.  After some tears, he was cheered by some cotton candy from his brother.

As we were wearing out, we finished out the day with a trip by the agricultural building where we headed straight for the record setting pumpkin, as usual.  I always have to get a picture of the boys in front of the pumpkin.  While they boys have gotten much bigger, they still have got a long way to go before they're as big as the pumpkin.

After the pumpkin, we were all pretty worn out.  We had our fair fun and we headed out with our little stuffed animals, stuffed bellies, and happy memories.  Until next year, NC State Fair!!

(Benny and I on the ferris wheel)

(Evan spins on his chosen ride.)

(Daddy and Ben get ready to ride.)

(yummy!)

(hot dog as big as Benny)

(Evan loves his dessert!)

(before the infamous gummy drop)

(Evan tries his pull ups.)

(Last year's pumpkin picture)

(This year's pumpkin boys!)

Field Trippin'

A few weeks ago, the kindergarteners at Creekside Elementary had their first field trip to the NC Museum of Life and Science, and they were nice enough to let me tag along.  I don't know what I'll do if Evan ever becomes one of those kids that doesn't want me to come into his class or come of the field trips with him because I really do have a lot of fun!

We met the kiddos at the museum as they got off the bus.  It was actually Evan's first experience on a true school bus.  He said he liked sitting in the back and feeling the bumps, doesn't everyone?  Each class got off the bus wearing their matching shirts which me at the other room parent had had quite a time tie-dyeing the week before.  We all piled on over to the front door where it was quite a mass of little brightly-shirted kiddos, and their parents and teachers.  Keep in mind that Creekside has seven kindergarten classes so it was quite a group.  Finally, the teachers divided up their groups and we all headed out to explore the group.

I took my little group which included Evan and some of his other classmates into the museum.  As I walked in with the rest of the mass of kindergarteners I started to look around at the other parents with their group, I noticed that most parents had 2 or 3 kids.  My group had six little wiggly, high-energy kiddos.  I guess I should feel good that Evan's teacher was willing to trust me with that many kiddos, and fortunately, I brought them all back to her in one piece.

While we were there, we had so much fun exploring, and fortunately I knew the museum very well because we have been members for the past 5 years that I knew where to take them.  Evan sometimes thought that he needed to tell our group where to go because he was with his mom, but he settled in and everyone had fun.  While we were there we played around at the indoor exhibits-the weather stations, the indoor NC animals, the space exhibits, and a great little spot where we could launch our own paper planes and rockets.

After a quick stop for a picnic lunch in their great dome picnic shelter we were ready explore again,  (And why anyone build a kids picnic shelter in the shape of a dome was beyond me.  Let's just say that making echoes is super-fun!)  Once back in the museum we headed to the outdoor exhibits to stretch our legs.  This part of the field trip was much more relaxing because we were bit more spread out from the rest of the groups and the kiddos were easier to keep track of.  Our outdoor museum session included fossil digging where the kiddos were pretty excited to bring me lots of "treasures" that they found and ask me what they were.  Evan (the fossil dig pro) and I did manage to find six sharks teeth so that everyone could take one home.  We also walked (or ran) the dino trail, checked out all the creepy insects in the bug exhibit, and searched the butterfly pavilion for any butterflies that wanted to land on our fingers.  The kids were so patient, but the only butterfly that landed headed to my head.

It was a fabulous day, and it made me yet again see how much I love hanging out with kiddos, and it was great to get to be with Evan on this day.  Hopefully, they'll have many more field trips, so I can go have more fun!

(Evan and his classmates Bryant, Nasir, and Bo)

(playing in the clouds)

(learning about physics and how to pinch your fingers)

(my whole adorable group of kindergarteners-Barbara, Nasir, Evan, Bo, Casey, and Camryn)

(trying to catch those elusive butterflies)

(Are you surprised that we found Evan at a computer)

(my little hitchhiker)

Up, Up, and Away

Ever since I heard about the Carolina Balloon Fest, I've been wanting to go.  I've seen the occasional hot air balloon floating at a distance in the sky.  However, I've never been very close, and I've certainly never been up in one.  So, the prospect of being able to be up close and personal with some hot air balloons and perhaps even take a tethered ride in one was too much to resist.

So, one morning a few weekends ago, after being up all night with a nasty virus, I chucked everyone into the van and headed on over to Statesville, about a 2 hours drive from home.  I was determined to see those balloons, and once I told the boys where we were going, they were pretty excited too.

After the two hour drive which my uneasy stomach thankfully survived, we finally arrived at the balloon festival.  We parked and walked inside.  Much to our surprise, we didn't see any balloons, just a bunch of festival tents, some bouncy houses, and a bunch of people.  We were a little disappointed because we were expecting to see balloons everywhere taking people on tethered rides, etc.  Turns out that even the slightest wind means that you can't even blow up the balloons and at that time, the wind was a little bit too strong.  They were, however, hoping that the wind would die down in time for the 4 o'clock mass balloon launch.

So, we started killing time till the launch.  We let the boys play around in some bouncy houses for a little while.  Then, we noticed that some people had at least gotten out their balloon baskets, so we went to investigate. The boys were able to crawl around in one.  Then, we found a young guy that had a smallish balloon laid out in the grass with a basket about the size of a planter.  Ian and the boys loved talking to him about how he made the balloon and how they could do it themselves.  (I think Evan just wanted to use it as a blow torch.)

Finally, we settled down on a blanket in the  big field to see if some balloons would appear.  I watched the flags blow in the wind and the lack of balloons appearing and my hopes started to dwindle.  Finally, however, after the launch window had closed, as the sun was setting, the wind finally died down enough to blow up some balloons, not launch them, but at least blow them up.  They all started to slowly come to life.  The boys and I, and really everyone in the field started to get very excited.  It was really, really cool to see them all rising from the field with the backdrop of the setting sun.

We started walking around among the balloons with the light of the fires coming from the balloons.  Evan loved walking right up to the balloons and putting his hands on them while Benny was pretty sure that they were all about to fall on his head.  He was pretty nervous wandering around under the things.  While it was a long trek out there and the day didn't go quite as expected, those magical moments under the balloons made the whole trip worth it.  What a cool experience!

(exploring one of the balloon baskets)

(flame thrower)

(my cuties posing)

(the excitement as the balloons start to rise)

(next to a balloon)

(a beautifully lit balloon)

(touching the balloon)

(fire!)

(beautiful balloons)

(such a beautiful evening!)