Hershey Fall Festival

Saturday was the annual Hershey Fall Festival.  This year Jason was not working so he was able to join us for the celebration and fun.

We started off the day with a morning 5K trail run. 

It was a muddy, sandy and wet course through the corn fields, brush, trees, weeds and river.  But we had fun and maybe next year I can finish closer to Jason.

Then after we got all cleaned up and had breakfast we headed back for the parade.

Jackson and Axel have gotten good at waving and collecting the candy.

Axel waiting until candy gets thrown.  He is actually quite good at collecting the candy.

The boys and their loot.  We got lots with 2 collectors.

After the parade!

After naps and lunch, the boys created themselves a break from the heat by playing in the sprinkler.

We didn't plan on getting wet (meaning no extra clothes) so we stripped down and applied a good layer of sunblock!

The sprinkler was fun until they discovered the large water and mud puddle.

We had to hose them off pretty good when it was time to dry off and head inside.

After dinner we headed to Cody park for ...

Ice cream...

  

...and rides

I was trying to get a shot of Jackson and me but I kept cutting off one of our heads and this was the only one I got of our whole heads!  I need practice in this area of self photography!

Grandpa said that these smiles were worth the cost of the tickets! 

After rides, grandma had brought bread so we could feed the animals.

We started with the ducks and geese...

...then we made our way over to the deer.  I don't think most kids this age ever get to be this close to a buck!  Or one that is alive at least.  Matter of fact I don't think I have ever been so close to a live deer!

This buck just laid there while the boys reached in and petted him.  Axel even petted him right on the nose.



Milestone Marker

I just want to get this documented so that I can tell Axel when he gets older. 
For the last few weeks he will randomly say "potty" and if we put him on he just gives the 'all done' sign and wants right off.  There have been a couple of times that he will sit and grunt but nothing has ever happened.  I think he just likes sitting on the toilet like Jackson. 
But tonight he got out of the tub to come tell us "potty" then went running back in and when I put him on the toilet, he peed!  It created a little celebration in his behalf (in which Jackson then was jealous and he wanted out of the bath to go potty) and some clapping to let him know that it was a really good thing.  The potty candy jar was empty or he would have got a treat...for those who have been in our bathroom, I'm sure you have seen this jar!

I know that we are far from Axel being potty trained but this was a good start and since it has been on his own terms, maybe it will come quicker with the second child then it did with the first!

Phase 2-Bunkbeds

Jason has been working on the bottom bed of the bunk beds and today he put on the final pieces-the drawer handles.

In order to make room in the garage for phase 3-the stairs, we needed to put the bunk beds together.

So here it is!

Jackson was quite excited about the drawers and was trying to think of all the things that he could put in them. 

The stairs will go at this end of the bunk beds. 

The boys really liked being on the top bunk but until the stairs get finished they have to have help getting up there. 

Such cuties! 

How was your day?

Monday our day started out pretty slow, as has been most the past week. Not much going on that I felt was exciting. The morning started with a routine doctor appointment to make sure that I am getting bigger!! Then the boys and I went to the park for a picnic

and to play.

There were a couple of other boys there that they played with really well once I convinced Jackson to try and make friends rather then being possessive of the playground...little stinker!  Having someone to play with allowed me to just sit back and put my feet up! 

It was a nice break for me.

Then we came home to do some chores.

Toward the later part of the afternoon I got to mowing the lawn...here comes the story for you :)  Sorry it is kind of long ;)

Both Jackson and Axel were mowing with me until they both started falling asleep. So when the grass hopper was full I decided to carry them inside...but both of them woke up.  Axel came back out and finished the small section I had left with me but Jackson stayed inside.

Jason was home by this time and had started working on the bunk beds.

When I pulled the lawn mower into the garage (after finishing mowing of course) Jackson was with Jason so I didn't rush to get inside.  After a few minutes I decided that the beeping I was hearing coming from the house was not good, so then I hurried in to find...

a smoke filled kitchen and family room...

smoke detectors going off all over the house...

a toaster hot and red...but Luckily not on fire!

I guess when I went out to finish mowing Jackson decided he was going to try and make dinner, or at least toast.  What he didn't know is that if you turn the toaster all the way up, then stick in the crusts, then go outside with dad, you create a bad situation!

Here is one of the pieces of toast, charred and extra crispy!

The inside of the toaster...also charred.

When I unplugged it the cord was quite hot so I grabbed hot pads (as Jason is telling me to throw it outside fast) and even they got hot in the few seconds it took me to go dump it in the grass/weeds off the deck.  The inside of the toaster was quite red and just to give you an idea, even the toast was glowing red.

Here is was the underside of the cupboard the toaster sat under looked like...

and the inside of the cupboard (when I opened the door smoke came out!!)

So (before taking pictures!) we opened up all the windows and doors to try and air the smoke out and to get the smoke detectors to shut off, which they did after several (which I will call LONG) minutes.

Which until they turned off Jackson sat on the deck crying that he didn't want the "heat to burn him" and Axel stood inside trying to help fan the smoke away using his arms.  I wish I had got a picture of their reactions, but I think I was too busy trying to clean up and get dinner ready (I figured Jackson must have been really hungry if he had tried making everyone toast for dinner!)

That is when I found this ...

Apparently he had pulled out a pan and lid and had put the "toast" he had already made in it.

Although it was kind of scary at first, and Jason and I know we were blessed to have it not be worse, I couldn't really be mad at Jackson.  He did get a little talking to about how when we cook food we make sure mom or dad are around!  But, I found it kind of sweet that because he was hungry he wanted to make dinner for everyone else.

So 24 hours later the house still smells like burnt toast, the cupboards have been wiped clean (there is still a small area that looks yellow and burned), and the toaster was replaced with a $6 upgrade, but mostly we are still felling very blessed that nothing worse happened.

This was a long story but one that needed recording! So thanks for bearing with me.  If you have any tips for getting rid of the smell let me know (and no painting the walls in the basement did not help any!!)

Summer Hail Storm

We got a little summer storm this afternoon.  For the first 10 minutes it was just rain but then the hail started.

This is a large one hail in comparison to all the others that came down during the storm.

This is what the start of the storm looked like on our deck. 

And this was toward the end of the hail storm. 

The wind was blowing quite hard while it was hailing and I thought we just might loose a window it was pelting them so hard. I actually made the boys get away from one jut in case it broke!

The funny part of the story was that at the very start of the rain storm the boys and I were sitting in the sun window watching and I saw this white thing fall out of the sky.  I watched for a few minutes thinking that it might possibly be hail, but since there was no hail at the time and no hail for several minutes I was trying to figure out who or where a ball came from. Possibilities being: the roof, Jason, a neighbor kid out playing ball in the rain!  

So after several minutes my curiosity won and I decided to brave the rain and go see what it was and come to find out...

it was a GIANT ball of hail balls!

Pretty big isn't it!

Glad it just landed on the lawn and that the rest of the hail storm was pea size in comparison.

During the hail storm Jason and the boys were enjoying watching and eating a few of them.

Here are the boys watching as Jason ran out to fill a cup full of hail. 

This next picture is about 1 second to late.  

All 3 boys were standing in the door watching the hail and by the time I grabbed my camera and pushed the button for the world cutest shot, Jason was shutting the door and so this is NOT the worlds cutest picture :( 

It was a few moments of excitement and I actually emailed the picture of the giant hail ball into the news so we will see if Jackson gets a few seconds of fame on the news tonight! 

Fairs and Corn

It is that time of year again.  Fairs galore and sweet corn!

Friday night we headed south to Oberlin for their fair.  They own all their rides so they are really cheap compared to the fair rides we had here.  Our main event was a demolition derby.  I love them for some odd reason and I wasn't disappointed by this one.  I was worried that there wouldn't be much of a show since it is a small town, but we definitely got our money's worth both on the rides and with the derby!

Jackson and Axel on one of the kid rides.

At first I thought Axel wasn't liking it but when it came time to stop (and they let them go for a ling time) he was not happy to be taken out (he actually started hitting Jason-this is how he shows his disapproval lately much to our dislike)

Kid swings.  I think this was the least favorite, but they still liked it.

Fire engine ride. 

Axel loved this one. I think it is because he got to play with the steering wheel.

Jackson got to ride on one of the "big kid" rides with Jason.  For the most part he really liked it but there was one time it spun really fast like 4 times in a row and for that moment he might not liked it as well.

The operator of the "Tilt-a whirl" came over and asked me if I was Jason's wife (I think the picture taking gave me away!)  He wanted to shake my hand a tell me what a great guy Jason is and that he was going to give him an extra long ride.  I guess it pays to be a nice guy!!

Another round on the Fire engines.  (This was actually a first for Jackson because Axel got to ride it while Jason and him were waiting for the Tilt-a-whirl.)

Jackson had won a periscope playing a game and it was quite funny to watch him play with it, even during the rides!

Another fair favorite - the Merry-go-round.

Jackson picked the red horses every time.

The demolition derby.

The ground was quite muddy and despite the fact that we were 7 rows up with a good 10 feet between the berm and the fence, we still got splattered with some mud.  Not near as much as the official who was standing down in front of us though!

They even had a 1/2 ton truck round.  The trucks were able to get more traction in the mud and it made the hits seem much harder.

It was a fun night and I even got to ride on the fun slide since they let Axel go with one of us.  It was super fast and the boys would have gone lots more if we had had any tickets left.  I was surprised that both boys made it with good attitudes through the night especially when it was 11 o'clock when we left to make the 30 minute drive home.

Saturday we made our way up to Hershey to get sweet corn.

The boys were on shucking duty.

Axel even attempted helping.

The girls were on blanching, cutting and bagging.  We got lots of yummy corn now sitting in our freezer.

Jackson enjoyed the corn so much that he ate 2 cooked ears for lunch, a third cooked ear a while later and then he also ate 2 raw ears before Grandma and I could get it bagged up and put into the freezer!

Axel tried a raw ear but he wasn't quite as big of a fan of it as Jackson was, but who can blame him!