Taking the Scenic Route

Playing dress up with Eilysh.  Zora was the “Princess Prince”

Dawn brought most of her family (her oldest had homecoming that weekend, so she stayed home) back to Hutch for the Fair and we met up with her the last day of the fair. Zora and Kaz really hit it off. Kaz is a few months younger than Zora and they both seem to fall right back into that easy familiarity and preschool flirting every time they get together. (and drive their parent’s crazy wanting to see each other for days and weeks after they are separated).

Kaz fell asleep in the stroller and Dawn and the girls went to see the Naked Brothers (a teen band) for a while, so we were on our own after we all ate something. After the concert, we met back up and hung out.

Since it is rough on Dad to be in the animal buildings (allergies), we waited until Sunday to look at all the animals. (Plus, both of my guys were getting overwhelmed outside because it was too hot and too crowded)

And, back to the rides

No, she doesn’t know the girls, but within a minute of hopping in the back of the pseudo mustang convertible, you would think she knew them for ages.

Zora insisted these were coffee cups, not tea cups.

After one scary incident when I almost passed out on a merry-go-round a few years ago (I think I was pregnant with Zora at the time), I get freaked out by them. (never mind that I have no issues with the most extreme roller coasters, the dang merry-go-round still bothers me). So, once she was out of the concert, Dawn went with Zora. She was very specific about which horse she wanted. Zane wanted to sit on the bench with Zach.

The kids wanted to do the roller coaster again. You can see Zach with Zane and Dawn with Zora, all holding their arms up. lol.

In the foreground: Zora and Kaz eat some snacks as Kaz starts waking up. In the background: Zane, Zach and Zyg are getting on the giant swings.

Kaz and Zora made good use of the “Ride-O-Rama” unlimited ride arm bands with this one ride. It is called “Rainbow Rock” and they would go in and do the obstacle course, giggling most of the way, go down the slide at the bottom and run back to the entrance to do it again.

They did ride the rockets together once before going back to Rainbow Rock and doing that another 20 times or so.

The whole gang, minus me (taking the photo) after our supper at Applebees. We kept lingering because nobody wanted to leave. It was such a great day and we miss them so much.

#157 Carcassonne expansions really add a lot to the game play. The dragon kept throwing wrenches into things.

#155 Friends.

the focus wasn’t quite right, but I still like this one too…

One more game of Carcassonne with the kids today. It was a lot of fun.

Zane playing wii with the boys

#154 Five Kids in the School Room

Robert & his kids came over for the afternoon and overnight.  The kids had a blast.  We made homemade pizza, played Carcassonne, and watched movies.

The princesses and their Daddys head to the store for supper ingredients.

 
Playing

#135 Boring little knitting update. Gaining skill in backtracking to redo.

#136 Showing Opa how it’s done.

#137 Learning Carcassonne. Love it!

#138 Play-doh concentration

#139 the cuteness…it burns

Getting Ready to Leave for the Walk.

We meet up with Carrie & David and their doggie (I can’t remember her name). Carrie was Zane’s first SLP and they had a really special connection. We were also expecting to meet M., the friend that Zane was paired with at WSU, but she was too freaked out by the crowds to want to get out of the car. Her mom walked with us, but her dad took M. back home when she couldn’t calm down.

The crowd begins to gather. I heard there were around 900 walkers.

After Chance talked about autism a bit (he was the older spokeschild), they introduced our family as they prepared for Zane to get the race started. Susan Peters, from the local ABC news station (KAKE), was the Emcee

Zane was excited to do the “Ready, Set, GO!” to start the race.

And, the walk. We ended up having to cut through the back door of Heartspring instead of completing the race because Zach isn’t fully recovered, and the kids were pooping out (I carried Zora for a while, then Carrie gave her a piggyback ride the rest of the way)

The food was good. Old Chicago and Popeyes (and I think somebody else) provided food for the walkers.

It was a lot of fun and, despite the wind, it went a lot better than last year. They had bounce houses and were more spread out so it wasn’t as overwhelming. Zane is also getting better at crowds, so that was a major plus too.

I thought I had avoided being interviewed this year, but KFDI ended up tracking me down to talk for a while. I know I am decent at interviews, but dang I always feel stark cold fear when somebody puts a microphone towards me and I have no idea what they are going to ask me. I think in “essay”, not “sound bites”, and it really forces me to adjust quickly.

Robert followed Zach home from work (Robert is a contracter working on some computer stuff). He hates taking the interstate in his van, so there is usually a little lag even when they leave at the same time, so we just hung out for a few minutes while waiting for him.

I like these pictures of my wonderful husband

There is something about this one that makes him look very Italian

And the evening programming festivities commence (with Chili)