The Last Night of Summer

School starts tomorrow (hooray) and to say goodbye to summer we had an ice cream party.  Chocolate and vanilla ice cream with M&M's, chocolate syrup, strawberry topping, caramel topping, peanuts, sprinkles and whipped cream.  So good!

This summer was not as fun as it could have been, but why not give it a good send off anyway.  Despite the pictures, the kids really did enjoy their treat.  They are both sad and happy to be heading off to school.  They will miss their lazy days, thier video games, and the TV.

Of course, Brandon and I treated ourselves to a sundae.  We worked hard this summer!

It was very good.

Our summer fun: ITZ

One Friday, a couple of weeks ago we had another fun family day for FREE, courtesy of our favorite local radio station!

This time it was at ITZ and we had never been there. What a great way to check it out!

It was an awesome place for the boys (including Brandon), but Katie was still to small to participate on very many of the rides or video games. Not that she didn't have some fun!

All of the kids enjoyed the bowling. Just their size!

The boys (remember, this included Brandon too!) had a great time on the bumper cars and this other ride that spun you around in the air. Katie really wanted to ride that one, but she was too small.

She was just tall enough to ride this little train roller coaster, so Brandon took her. She was very excited until it started. Then she was very scared!! The ride operator had to stop the ride and let her off, she was that scared.
So she settled for a few of the kiddie ones.

And then the boys hit the video games. Truthfully, I do not understand the attraction of the video game, but they enjoyed them!

Afterwards... yummy Dions for lunch. It was a great morning!

Our summer fun: the Zoo

Katie had her first ever trip to the Zoo on one of the hottest days that Albuquerque had seen this year. But it was the only day that we could make it and so we braved the heat. Sadly, not to many of the animals were up for the weather and we were only able to see some of them.

Here is Katie... it was fun to watch her face as she saw the animals for the first time.


Of course the boys helped her find them. It is nice to find an activity that all of the kids enjoy.

The giraffes were awesome! They were so close! And they had this beautiful little guy with them! We all got a kick out of the polar bears. This one was laying on the top of the waterfall and he would not let the bear get into it. The other bear was really bugged and kept pacing around him and trying to pressure him off. Very entertaining!

You can see a bit of this in the picture if you click on it and enlarge it.The boys will let you that the best part was the spray park. It felt so good to get wet in the intense heat of the day.

Cute pictures of the kids before they started to melt.

Our summer fun: the Aquarium

Another family day courtesy of our local radio station.

A couple of weeks after the ABQ Jump we had the opportunity to go the Aquarium. The Aquarium here is pretty good, but small and it does not take long to go through. It is attached to some beautiful Botanical Gardens though and together they make a fun day, during nice weather.

This was the first time that Katie went to the Aquarium that she was old enough to notice the beautiful creatures that are there. She really enjoyed it!

Look at these sharks!

All of our cute kiddos + one of Eric's friends.

Our summer fun: ABQ Jump

Each summer a local radio station has a summer road trip program. They choose a location here in town and broadcast from there. During their broadcast you can get into that place for free! We have been to a lot of these this summer. Free fun is the best! Plus they go to all the places that we would be going to anyway.

The first week they were at ABQ Jump.

The boys love this place but Katie is a little unsure about it. The place was packed and I think that it was a little to much for her. She only will go down one of the slides if Brandon or Eric was with her.

Eric was an awesome big brother this day and he took Katie every time she asked. It was such a great moment for me to see them getting along so well!

Josh was bouncing everywhere! This kid has so much energy and this was a great way to get rid of some of it!I love the wedgie face!

Enjoying the night

Last week we had a rare night where Brandon and I were home together and the weather was beautiful. We spend the evening at the park.

Isn't this great?

We always take Katie in the wagon, she likes it better than the stroller.

Eric took the dog, but was afraid that she would run away from him. He didn't have to much fun.

Josh is like a maniac on his bike. He loves to ride it. He only receive this bike for Christmas 2007 and he has already outgrown it. It looks like he is getting a bike for his birthday!

My cute little girl.

After the park we took a walk and then, because we didn't want to go in, we all played some basketball at our house.

Pumpkin Patch

Still playing catch-up.

One Saturday in October we went to a local pumpkin patch. They had a corn maze, a small petting zoo, and the pumpkins, of course. The kids had a lot of fun in the maze. Both boys went to the Maize Maze last year and so they thought they knew what they were doing this year. It is a good thing Brandon and I know better to not follow them!

Kate got a little tired towards the end. So Daddy gave her the best seat.


The very small petting zoo. They also had an area to try and lasso a bale of hay. Brandon and the boys loved trying that!

It was the perfect day to do all of this. Perfect temps and bright blue sky. We had a lot of fun. There are a few more pictures of them getting their pumpkins on the side-bar. They are just so cute!