Phone Camera Dump

Time to unleash some of the photos on the phone that have regretfully been my main source of documentation lately.
Trent and I took the kids on a lazy drive up toward Peninsula and beyond toward Boston Mills. When we came to this old train depot, we saw a large gathering of people and decided to stop and see what all the commotion was about. But the closest parking was across the bridge. Kyleigh got a free ride, and with my large belly, I was always tagging behind and just told Trent to go with B who had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with trains....

His face was covered in smiles and could barely take the time to look at me for a picture, but he's a nice chap and graciously entertained his Mom's wishes.

Seriously, go throw this kid next to some rails, and this is the face you get:

We soon came to find out what the commotion was all about.
The largest steam engine east of Mississippi. It was on loan for just that weekend from Indiana. Born in 1944 and twin of the Engine that is featured on the movie Polar Express. You should have seen Brenden’s face as he sat on the very edge of the grass and watched that giant train go by. 

There must have been a flyer or something about this train coming because alot of people had some serious recording hardware.

This is cool. Giant, loud, and impressive.

This nice lady who travels with the train (because there were employees from both the Cuyahoga Railway co and the train itself) asked B if he wanted to come up to the edge of the grass and sit by her to watch the train go by. He didn't hesitate. And she told us that the train is only supposed to go about 30 mph and make about 2 or 3 passes, but the man at the helm of the train put on a good show and went by at least 4 times. It was a cool show.

When it's too humid or too cold to play outside, but we get a little cabin fever, we like to head to Barnes and Noble bookstore and play in their upstairs kid department. I get to sit and read a little, K & B get to 'train' a little and we all go home happy.

September 19 was international talk like a Pirate day and Krispy Kreme gave out free donuts to whoever talked like a pirate and a dozen donuts to whoever dressed like a pirate. B had been a Pirate many years ago for Halloween, and luckily I still had his old costume in the dress up trunk, so Kyleigh wore that except for the eye patch which B wore. We got together with the Blanchards, Vallens and Teftellers at Krispy Kreme and enjoyed some hot donuts....ok, my kids enjoyed playing with their friends and I ate a donut and had to give the dozen donut box to our neighbors because they would go stale by the time the kids got around to finishing the donuts. Maybe we should have gone to the strawberry and sweet sugar snap pea patch and they would have ate all their portions.

Smile and say 'sugar sweet donut'...... (Kyleigh doesn't dance for sweets. But offer her a Cherub grape tomato and she'll give you a grin).

Completely by coincidence, the next photo on my phone was this one. She was holding onto an apple and had just finished eating off the skin...and plenty happy about it, too.

Even if I wasn't about to bring another baby into this family, I might have gotten a little sentimental about this. Makes a Mom's heart smile when she sees the kids taking care of each other.

B has always been sweet to her, and she sure knows it. She feels fully taken care of around this guy. And I bet he'll do the same thing with Kent.

Can't remember why I snapped this shot...(5 months passing will do that to me)...but there was probably a reason for it. For now, I'll just enjoy a sweet, smiling face of my oldest son.

Maybe he just came out to keep me company.

I'm lucky.

Trent took the kids to Indigo Lake during September to ride their bikes down the hill. I'm not so sure because it's a little steep...as you can kinda see in the background of the photo sloping upward next to the trees...but they all did well, and it was a great natural teacher on how to focus on the road and handle the brakes and direction very carefully.

I was not equipped with the mobility to chase after them. And I didn't mind at all my role of documentation-er.

Indigo Lake is really beautiful in the Fall.

My favorite is the changing leaves reflected in the lake.

One psyched kid. This may be one of his happy places.

2% incline is sufficient for this 4 year old. Gotta start small in order to get to 7 % by high school.

Guess she didn't make it and someone started to come attack her.

Free ride.

Road block.

B likes the freedom that riding wild with only 2 wheels gives ya.

Brenden didn't have school...and it just happened to be on the same day as Kyleigh's red, white, blue Fireman day. The kids were supposed to be around the table for story time...but you think you can hold back a bunch of 3, 4, and 5 year olds when the Fire Engine comes up with its lights and sirens??!

Surprisingly, these kids were pretty patient. The other classes went first to see the firetruck so that it wasn't overwhelming.

B was happy to be back at school on his off day when it involves story time and trucks.

And Kyleigh got to show her brother around her school. It's at a local church.

Kyleigh's sweet teacher standing. She is so good. She came highly recommended to us, so we requested her, and got her as K's teacher. She tells me that Kyleigh is a very good student...and actually a little ahead of her peers. She is our academic sponge.

This was so cool for B. He kept getting closer and closer to the guy in yellow.

The fireman in his gear and the one beside him, could tell that B was soaking this whole episode up. He was fixated on their every word and especially liked it when they brought out their ax and water hose.

Kyleigh, on the other hand, was a little nervous about the whole encounter and would have rather watched it through the safety of the classroom window.

Luckily she had Miss Bobbie (Miss Susan's mom) to accompany her and help her through the scary event.

Kyleigh's preschool class (with Brenden and Morgan joining for the day)

One afternoon, we needed some entertainment. So Kyleigh and I made a target out of tape and shot our Nerf guns for target practice while snacking on some freshly popped popcorn. A great afternoon to remember. :)