Meeting the teacher x2

Monday and Tuesday open house days for Kindergarten and 2nd grade.  

Monday, Hailey got to see her classroom, meet her teacher, Ms Gonda, and find out her best friend, CyleighAnne, is in her class!

 

Tuesday it was Kaelins turn to meet Mrs. Moretti and tour their brand new school.  

Both girls are very excited to start school next week.  

Kaelin starts Wednesday, and Hailey has a staggered start (she only goes on Thursday next week).

I think Hailey is most excited that she gets to ride the bus with her sister!

Washington DC

Good friends of ours headed to DC last week to take their kids for the first time (and they hadn't been there in 18-20 years).  After helping them plan some stops, we decided to go along as tour guides - our family LOVES DC.  We left last Tuesday evening and got home Saturday night.

The Air & Space Hanger

Mount Vernon - our family's favorite place to visit in DC

One day the others (Justin, and our friends Jason, Mary Lou and their son Kenny) went to the Holocaust Museum . The kids and I planned a day at the National Zoo - and it rained.  Instead we played in the hotel, had Noodles & Co for lunch and the kids had Baskin Robbins.

Boat Tour of the Potomac, and a visit to DC Cupcakes in Georgetown:

August Fun

This month was back to school orientations, birthday trips to Columbus (as you have already seen), a surprise trip to DC...and just fun for the family.  

I will post separately about DC and back to school, but here are some pics of fair trips and random around the house. 

Yep, my world as I know it is over, this is him, caught in the act of climbing out!  Then next day, I went to get him up from nap and he met me at the door! :(

Lawrence County Fair 2013 with Granda Cindy and Papa Keith

He is going to kill me for posting this pic :).

Funny Story, we stored a bunch of long sleeve shirts under the stroller and Logan spilled a lemonade.  Somehow, when Justin pulled his shirt out, this was all that had gotten wet.  I have no idea how it happened, but I thought it was hysterical!

Logan was obsessed with the trains they had up, he kept trying to grab them.

Some shots from home this week:

Logan is obsessed with his sister's shoes and fan...should we be concerned?

Hailey and her new horse.  Aunt Jecca and Uncle Chris bought it for her bday.  

Kaelin got a trip to paint pottery!  She painted on Wednesday, and we get to pick it up next week.

Notice the giant green/blue bump on his head? 

It looks even worse 2 days later!  Poor baby, apparently our doors bite :/.

Columbus - Day 3...American Girl Store

The real reason we travelled to Columbus....The American Girl Store.  Kaelin and Hailey both LOVE the American Girl Dolls. They want all the accessories and furniture (most of which they do not have). Kaelin now has a bitty baby, Look Like Me doll, the new Saige doll, and an older doll my mom found at a garage sale (crazy!!)!! And Hailey has a Look Like Me doll, Caroline and a bitty baby my mom found at a garage sale (again, crazy!!)!!

They both had money from Papa Bob and Grandma Donna, Papa Keith and Grandma Cindy, Great- Grandma Magee, Great-Grandpa and Grandma Trezona and Coolest Aunti Brenda and Uncle Dude.  They were each able to purchase a new doll (K got Saige this time and H got Caroline) and something else.  K chose the accessories for Saige - earrings, purse, necklace etc.  H chose another dress for Caroline - shockingly, it's blue - her favorite color.  Justin and I also got them the Saige movie, and they each got a carry bag that can hold 2 of their dolls and some clothes/accessories.  We thought this way they could take them to play at friends' houses.  

The girls and I enjoyed lunch in the American Girl Bistro, complete with tea for all the dolls (they had each brought an older doll, and had their new doll with them).  We had mini ice cream cones for dessert, and the whole bistro sang Happy Birthday to both girls.  I was having some phone issues, so I didn't get a ton of pictures, but the few I got are cute.  I wish I would have gotten one of them after we left the store.  They had their little doll bags slung over their shoulders with a doll hanging out each end.  So cute! 

Columbus - Day 2 - THE ZOO

Columbus Zoo is really a zoo, small amusement park and a water park.  Logan HATES water parks at this age, so we decided to skip that, but we did spend 9 hours at the zoo and rides! The day we went to the zoo was also a special event day - Bernstein Bear day.  You could bring a stuffed animal and have a mobile clinic give your 'bear' a check up.  They also had a musical Bernstein Bear train and story time.  

We didn't bring any of our stuffed animals, so we had to buy them at the zoo.  It wasn't too bad though, because if you bought the zoo bear that day, it came with a free child's admission ticket!  We were also able to watch a feeding of the penguins.  It was pretty cool.

Logan's favorite part was the zoo train, he even said Choo, Choo!

(Hailey got a little OCD with her lunch snack)

Hailey waiting for her bear to get a check up.

The girls LOVED that they got to get free tattoos and face painting (or in Hailey's case - arm painting).

 Ronald stopped by for a visit!

 Petting an opossum.

 K and daddy went to see/pet the sting rays.  Hailey wanted NOTHING to do with it! 

There weren't many rides that were Logan's size, plus he was getting hot and ornery.  (Later we found out why, as he was running a temp of 100.8).  So, he and I chilled and snuggled in the car watching Mickey and Veggietales.  He just thought it was cool he didn't have to be in his carseat.  

Oh, and he calls his new bear, Baby!  haha

Columbus Day 1

For the girls' birthdays this year we decided to take another trip (last year we did a DC trip), instead of having a large party.  We headed to Columbus, coincidentally where the newest American Girl Store just opened :)

We drove down Thursday night and headed to COSI (a hands on science museum) on Friday morning.  We spent all day there - literally almost 7 hours. Even Logan got to play in their little kids' center.  The girls built water pipes, played a submarine, and braved a hurricane wind tunnel.  Logan played at a water table and climbed through forts.  While Logan napped, the girls and Justin went to a 3D movie about butterflies and saw a show called Lights, Camera Action - about explosions!  K also got to play in their grade school center (xbox, legos etc), where they had a TON of craft supplies and told the kids to invent anything.  She came up with a house and a snowman.  We all enjoyed the day, but agreed the our Pittsburgh Science Center and Children's Museum is just as good as COSI.