The One Where We Went Hiking

In an effort to be healthier and more active, we decided to take the boys on a short hike last week. We went to a "new to us" park in West Chester. The trail wasn't strenuous and it was pretty easy to navigate (even with the Moose). There was a small creek bed at the bottom of the trail and the boys had a great time skipping rocks and jumping around on the pathway. I even spotted a frog hanging out by the creek side. Although as soon as he saw the four rowdy boys approaching, he froze (in terror-I could see it on his face!). He had no desire to attract our attention. I mean, if I was a frog I wouldn't want our crew poking and prodding me. :)

After the hike, the boys spent some time on the playground equipment.

When I was in grade school there was a family that had 5 boys. And any time her boys would do something unruly or crazy, the mom would just say, "well, boys will be boys". I always thought that was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard-that it was just an excuse for bad behavior.
But you know what? She was right.
Because even though this boy has visited Urgent Care more than all of his brothers combined this year, I caught him doing this. I'm not even sure what he is doing here but I know it was not the intended use of that piece of playground equipment.

Yup, apparently boys will be boys. I guess I owe Mrs. H an apology!

The One With the County Fair

There is nothing that makes it more clear that I am a "city girl" than going to the county fair. I'm not sure that I have been to one since I was a kid and I know that our boys have never been to one. Our friends at church had two daughters competing in the horse and small animal divisions, so we decided to give it a try.
The fair we went to was set up with all of the rides/games/food in the front and the animals/exhibits near the back.

As always, the boys desperately wanted to play the carnival games-Bryce and Jackson both won, but Jarron did not get the UK basketball he was trying for. (He has about 15 basketballs at home, so I wasn't too torn about it.)

Bryce was the only one who chose to spend his money on a ride and he decided to do the Monkey Maze. He was in and out in about 3 minutes, but he seemed to think it was worth it.

Moose got to go on his first pony ride and he had a big grin on his face most of the ride. I did hear him call them "Woof Woof". (Maybe he does take after his momma a little bit-there was a time when I confused a mule and a pony but in my defense they look similar from a distance.)

There was the normal assortment of booths from local agencies and governments. The boys love these booths; they love filling their bags up with free pencils, rulers, bookmarks, and frisbees.

The Army booth was a big hit because they had a few vehicles that the boys could climb around in.

We headed to the back of the fairgrounds to see the animals-here's the city girl part of the story. Did you know that when the fair is over they sell the animals? I had no idea!  These aren't beloved pets; they are "livestock". I'm not a vegetarian-although I recently gave up red meat-but I had a hard time eating meat the rest of the weekend. Of course, I wasn't raised on a farm or in the country, and I'm sure I'd feel differently if I did. But still, it made me a little sad.

The boys were oblivious to all of that, they just really enjoyed petting the animals and seeing them up close. Which is how it should be when you are a kid. They had a lot of fun and are excited to go back next year.

The One With the Link to the Tennis Pictures

The Fountain Square tennis pictures are up on the USTA site.
Go here.
Moose is in picture two and Bryce & Brody are in picture 20. :) I'm surprised that Jackson didn't make the site since they took so many of him. Still-all in all, pretty exciting.