Happy 10th Birthday Jackson!!!

Jackson turned 10 years old this month and we are so proud of the fine young man he has become! He was so proud to have turned double digits and get a "raise" to $10 for his allowance. We celebrated with his sisters by opening presents and sharing ice cream cake.

As you can see, Legos are still by far his favorite pastime. He is excited to have his "real" party with his friends in two weeks at Stars and Strikes.

4th Grade Rock Eagle Trip

Legendary Rock Eagle

The Kittredge 4th grade class takes an annual overnight trip to Rock Eagle 4-H center located about 1.5 hrs away from Atlanta. The site sits on a beautiful 1,500 acre nature preserve and a 110 acre lake. Steve went along with Jax and the 127 other kids on the trip, hoping to get some quality time with Jackson and his teachers.

  

Stiv and a few other dads were the chaperones for 16 boys in a 45 year-old cabin! They had eight boys to a room each made up of four bunk beds with 45 yr-old mattresses. There was not much sleep going on and it reeked of smelly feet, but the kids thought it was the Four Seasons.

 This was only a small section of the bags and gear needed for all the campers and chaperones. The dads loaded and unloaded an entire bus full of gear twice by the time the trip was over. The whole process of loading and distributing the the gear to the correct camper was actually pretty smooth.

We are ready to start our adventure!

Calm in the middle of chaos...

One of the main activities was leaning about pioneers and how they used tools. This year, we learned how to make roofing shingles. It became clear early on that today's asphalt shingles are the way to go!

Jackson was learning how to use a special saw to cut a piece of wood so it could be used to start the shingle process.

Here Jackson is learning to use some contraption (forgot the name) that allowed the pioneers to shape the shingle into a usable piece.

Jax and dad enjoying the feeling of working hard to produce something out of nature with their bare hands. This was a first for BOTH participants.

"Check out my massive bicep.."

Here they are, preparing for the big hike up to Rock Eagle. The trail through the wilderness was absolutely gorgeous this time of year as the leaves were at peak color and the temperatures were nearly perfect.

Albino corn snake anyone?

Thursday night after dinner, we had "snake class" and learned the difference between venomous and non-venomous snakes. We even got a chance hold four snakes! The consensus was that the corn snake felt like a wet noodle.

Our final activity was a canoeing excursion. Once we completed our instruction session and life vest fitting, Jackson and his buddy were ready to hit the water. 

The group all worked together to launch the canoes into the lake. No help was allowed from the chaperones!

"Wow, this life vest has great neck support!"

Busted! This was taken with all the lights off well past bedtime. The boys were up making mischief into the wee hours of the night!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

The kids have been counting down the days to Halloween and the big day finally arrived! We started the evening off carving pumpkins on our back deck before heading over to the Wilsons for the pre-trick or treat party.

Catie decided that she wanted a tiny pumpkin this year and was proud of her finished product.

Hey, look what I found!

Abster was the only one who was willing to do the dirty work and pull the "innards" out of her pumpkin. Jax and Catie thought it was "too disgusting" and  stuck to carving their pumps.

Man, I can't get enough of this pumpkin goo!

We carved four pumpkins and cleaned up in 25 minutes before heading out for the evening... a new record! 

 Jackson and Dad were both hyper-focused on completing their creations while Abby sorted seeds from the goo.

 The gang in front of  the Escoffery's illegal Halloween decorations. They were put on probation by the ARC for excessively large holiday decorations.

 Abby was so proud of her Cat in the Hat costume!

 Jackson picked out his man eating shark costume months ago. We thought it was kind of a poor choice at the time, but it was the hit of the season! Everywhere we went, people were talking about "the shark".

 

Catie was really into it this year. She was the first kid to every door. Here she looks like she is getting ready to flip the bird but she was actually excited by the awesome candy she had just received.

Florida Trip

We took advantage of a four day weekend and made our annual Florida pilgrimage to visit Grandma and Grandpa. As luck would have it, we were able to get in for a sneak peek of Legoland! Anyone who knows Jackson will understand what a monumental day this was for him. 

The kids posing with the giant Lego mini figures inside the main entrance of the park.What the picture does not show is the pushing and shoving that took place just before the final posing and smiles.

This Lego "baker" statue outside one of the restaurants was actually quite small compared to all the other amazing Lego statues throughout the park. When you stopped and really looked at them it's just amazing what they have created.

Dad and Catie were the only two brave enough to ride the  "Dragon" roller coaster! This was moments before it took off through the terrifying indoor/outdoor adventure. 

The menacing lion!

Now that's a smile!

Jackson was running around like a crazy man taking in all the sites. Over six hours, we probably only managed to see a quarter of the park.

It's a good thing we landed in the Imagination Zone at the Build and Test Center when we did because a big storm passed through and we were able to hide out here for most of it. This was a popular place with the kids because you can build race cars and test them against challengers on digitally timed tracks.

The girls enjoyed building Lego towers and then turning on the "earthquake" simulator that shook the building like a real earthquake to see if it would survive the natural disaster. You could even change the setting to represent different category quakes. This was a great time for the adults too as we all sat and rested! 

The verdict on Legoland was two thumbs up from all! We wish that we had more time at the park, but we had to head over to the Magic Kingdom for an evening of  Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween...

The Halloween parade was exceptional! The floats and characters were done up with the realism of a Hollywood movie production. The adults and children alike were entertained and amazed.

The mandatory family photo in front of the castle.

We meet up with the Wilsons for part of the evening and the kids had a great time running around in their costumes. Nothing like a dressed rehearsal for Halloween.

The Abster has become a real dancing queen! She loves to cut  loose whenever the music starts. Here she is dancing up a storm in downtown Disneyworld.

 

For some reason Jax and his shark costume were a big hit with all the people in the parade.  One after another, they stopped and gave him a high five with a big smile on their face. 

We have had great luck with the weather over the years, but this trip mother nature could not even offer one day without rain. We made the best of it and managed to have a great time in spite of the near tropical storms.

Heavy rains on Saturday caused us to cancel our Animal Kingdom plans. Grandma Sandye saved the day by finding the Orlando Science Center. This turned out to be a fantastic place for the kids with tons of interactive exhibits for them to explore. 

Abby loved playing in the water.

Catie building some kind of dam system.

Our three anthropologists

The kids loved digging for dinosaur bones and brushing away the dirt from their finds. Only a small amount of dirt was thrown at each other...

The highlight of the museum was the hurricane chamber that simulated winds of over 80 mph! The girls loved how their hair would blow wildly around their heads! Little did we know that we could experience the same thing at the beach the next day!

Southern Belle Farm

We decided to meet the McGee's at the Southern Belle pumpkin farm on a gorgeous fall day last week. We kind of had low expectations for the experience but it turned out to rival Disney World!

The only thing missing form this picture is the gun rack and a confederate flag.

We promised the kids horseback riding but had to make do with a mechanical cow ride instead.

Our favorite part of the day was the pig races held at Oinker Stadium. They held three heats with three different kinds of pigs. We learned that not only do pigs fly, but they swim too!

Around the corner they come!

Super Pig!

 As you can see, these little pigs are serious swimmers.

 

The farm had limitless activities.  The kids loved the huge "jumpy pillow" and were running around like crazy chasing each other and bouncing high in the sky.

Catie enjoying herself with the rubber ducky races.

Abby was a big fan of the bouncy horse. She was all over the field chasing the big kids.

They even had these pedal cars that you race around an awesome track! Talk about a good workout!!!

Here is the crew in the middle of the giant corn maze. Believe it or not, the adults could not find their way out but the kids had no problem.

Hayride...

You have seen rooms where the kids jump into a pit of balls...well this was the same thing only kernels of corn! We had corn kernels coming out of clothing all evening!