SIX FLAGS!!!!!!!!

We have some really awesome friends - the Reeder family - that used to be in the same ward as us.  We still try and get together once a month to visit, each, let the children play, and usually engage in a epic game of Munchkin.  They bought season passes to Six Flags America and they came with coupons for get a friend in free - so we all went.  We choose a perfect day - was not too hot, there were not that many people there, and we hardly had to wait in line.

Walking in - we are ready.

Main entrance.

Just inside the main entrance - Chris thought this was fitting.

The first ride was air planes that went up and down in a circle.

Then some tea cups.

They had many different trains to ride on and we did them all.

This was a bit of a stretch for the boy - he was not convinced that it would be good, but peer pressure can sometimes be good.  It lifted them up high and then dropped them - slowly - and then back up again.

By the end, he was screaming and having a blast.

They had this place that was filled with machines that blew air and ball that were really soft.  They had a volcano that you could fill with ball and it would erupt and all sorts of things.  MORE BALLS!!!!

They had a roller coaster that the boy could ride - Papa is getting him ready.

It went around the loop 3 times - it was Owen's favorite ride of all day.

"Let us into the carousel!"

The one ride we all went on, even if you can't see mommy.

This "car" ride was quite fun, even if Owen couldn't drive.

On yet another train - this time a really big one that took you on a "scenic" tour of the park - cool for the boy, not so much in awesome factor.

On the ferris wheel - it was up pretty high.

Mommy was really small - she is in the orange coat.

Another train ride!!!

And another one - Papa and Owen are at the very back.

Family picture before we leave - of course the boy is not looking.

Take two! Mommy and Papa's hair is all over the place because they went on two HUGE roller coasters - Superman and Batman - there is no explanation for the boys face!

It was an over all successful outing.  We stopped at Five Guys on the way home and got some yummy food and rounded out the evening with ice cream.  We are contemplating getting season passes for Papa and the boy - we will see.

First Soccer Game

Owen's first soccer game was on Saturday - we didn't know how well it would go, but keep our finger's crossed.  He has 8 games this season - all on Saturday's, so we are pretty busy for the next two months.

Warming up with his good buddy before the game - it was a little cold because Fall  decided to show up.

Warming up is so yesterday, playing with your jacket is was cooler.

Stretching before the game - attempting to get a circle is kind of rough at times.

Reach up high and touch the sky.

Now down low and touch your toes.

Playing a warm-up game to work on defending of "Keep Away".

There are seven children on Owen's team and they play either 5 on 5 or 4 on 4, so everyone on the team takes turns.  Owen was on the bench the first quarter - they do 4 10 min quarters.

Finally in the game!  Papa is the coach and the ref at the same time - he looks like he is in charge huh??!?!

Owen wasn't too into the game and spent all of his time no where near the ball.

Dancing at times.

Getting ready for a kick-in by the other team.

Owen was not very interested at all, but hopefully that will change over the course of the year.  The boys lack of interest was annoying to the coach, but hopefully things will improve.  Owen's team won - even thought they don't keep score - and in the end coach had to ask the team to lay off a little because the other team was crying.  Chris claims that it was superior coaching - we will see.

A birthday Party and randomness

The torrential rain from Tropical Storm Lee continued for many days straight with little respite.  It turned our front yard into a swimming pool and we were wondering if we needed an ark.  We were VERY thankful that we don't have a basement, because we had two friends have flooding in their basements.

You can also see the tree that blew over in Hurricane Irene.

Owen was invited to a birthday party at a place called Pump It Up - it turned out to be an indoor area filled with inflatable toys.  This one is an obstacle course that was a hit.

Running and jumping his little heart out.

For some reason he thought he would give this car a whirl.

In the end the winner was this giant slide - he made quite a few runs.

So Beki went to JoAnn's Fabrics needing some thread for her sewing machine and a little bit of fabric for some mending.  They were having a sale on remnants and this was one of them - when the boy saw it there was no stopping us from buying it - it is Maryland and that is where we live and mommy goes to the University of Maryland - so it came home with us too, but was not used for what mommy thought it was going to be used for.  Soon it was used to make R2-D2 Owen.

For the full experience.

This is a giant praying mantis that landed on our storm door - it freaked us out so we thought we would share.

We also paid off Sammy the Silver Santa Fe and finally have our TITLE - so we can check them off our list of people we owe money too, now to tackle the rest.  Hopefully he will run really well for at least 2 more years so we can get a little bit a head.  

Maryland Renaissance Festival 2011

So we ended up going to the Renaissance Festival on Labor Day - hoping that the forecast of rain would keep the hordes of people away.  We didn't gamble very well and there were still tons of people there and they were all smoking - which lead to Owen and Mommy being out of commission for a few days because of our asthma - you just couldn't escape the smoke.  We went with Owen's best friend's family and the boys had a blast together.

Owen was not too interested in watching the shows - this was supposed to be a comedy act for kids but...

jumping from bench to bench was more interesting.

Somewhere, Owen got it into his head that he wanted to have his face painted - he has been asking us for WEEKS and thinks that we just need to go the the face painting store and get it done.  So we promised him that when we went to RennFest, he could get his face painted.  He choose to have a dragon painted on his cheek.  He did pretty good at holding still for the painter.

Papa and Dean watching anxiously.

Check out the swagger.  He LOVED it and showed it off all day and was lucky to have it for two days because he didn't go to school the next day - thanks smokers for that.

Close-up shot.

We watched some jousting event - we ended up sitting on the Scotland side, but the boy didn't care.  The rode horses back and forth and did some cool stuff with their swords.  At least it kept his attention, unlike the other shows.

He did some bowling too.

They have a kids play group that is a pirate ship of awesome!!  The boy loved playing on this - the ramp was pretty steep, but holding on to the ropes helped.

His favorite was the slide, he did this a million times.

We ended up buying him a dagger and a shield - needless to say it was a HUGE hit.

His shield has a dragon on it.

Since they both had daggers and swords, some battle ensued.  Luckily, they were way more interested in hitting their daggers together then hitting each other.

Papa showing off his skills.

For some reason Owen decided to knight Mommy, so now she is "Sir Mommy".

Shortly after this a torrential rain started - thanks tropical storm Lee - so we made a run for the car and headed home.  By that evening, Beki knew that both her and the boy would not be going to school the next day - they were both coughing pretty hard and had to take may doses of their asthma medication - they were both at home for two days trying to recover and both went back on Thursday.  It was a lot of fun and we will be going again because we bought two day passes, but hopefully we can really avoid the smokers this time *crossing fingers*.

Yes, we know....

It has obviously been a while since an update - don't worry - one is coming.  We have many pictures to share of the Renaissance Festival, a birthday party, general shenanigans, and such.  

Stay tuned, hopefully we will find time this weekend.  In the mean time, enjoy this gem.

First Day of Soccer, for both our Future Superstar and the Coach!

Just a quick picture taken with Beki's iPod at the end of soccer practice today. I took Owen to the sports store yesterday and we found him a ball. They had an entire wall full of soccer balls in every size and color imaginable, but we were looking for a size 3, and when Owen found a RED ball that was size 3, he almost knocked the entire display down trying to get to it. By the soccer balls they had their youth shorts on sale, and so I found 2XS in green, blue and RED, but there wasn't much point in asking, because it was obvious what the boy wanted. Then we found some soccer socks (that go up to high thigh if we don't fold them back over) that were also RED, I didn't even ask this time, I just grabbed them. Then I needed another pair of shorts because I wear my Yellow  pair to basketball on Wednesday nights. As you can see, my new pair of shorts is also RED. I am sure that we will have more stories to tell as the season progresses, such as the boy's first RED card, and my 3 match ban that I am sure to get!