King Richards' Faire

 Fall hallmarks activities such a renaissance faires.   We all have enjoyed visiting King Richard's Faire the past few years and decided to go back this year given lovely weather.  Dressing the part always makes the experience more interactive.  I still giggle when others bow or curtsey to the kids as the are "royalty".   

 One of my favorite activities is watching the jousting.  This year we sat in the area supporting Sir Geoffrey.  Unfortunately during the jousting to the death, Sir Geoffrey was the first to die.  Maybe next year our knight will be the winner. 

 Face painting continues to delight the kids.  Micah this year requested to join and picked out a Patriots logo.

Pierce School FitFest

 A Pierce School tradition shortly after school resumes is FitFest.  This is a fun afternoon gathering promoting physical fitness by having fun with friends, neighbors and teachers.  A passport is purchased allowing students to go through 10 stations.  Each station is a bit different.  This year they ranged from yoga to parkour to field hockey to potato sack races.  In addition to the 10 stations, there is a 1 mile run that kicks off the afternoon.  This year Micah wanted to join Izzy and I running.  We spent the week before "training" which was definitely helpful.  That day was a mad rush to get back from church in time to change and get to the starting line.  Given that the course was blocked by police, John dropped us off ~ 5 blocks away.  We then jogged there only to find the race had already started.  We were encouraged by everyone along the route to go ahead and run regardless which was uplifting.  Despite starting blocks behind, we were able to catch up with the back of the pack and did not finish last!  I was so proud of Micah and Izzy for sticking with the run!

 Micah taking his turn at putting.

 Izzy on the zip line.

 A great yoga pose.

At the end passports are turned in for medals.  Izzy and Micah completed 7 of the 10 stations.  Victoria didn't want to do any.  She wanted to wear her cheerleading outfit and cheer us on running followed by hanging out with her friends.  As the passports cost $5 each, I informed her she had to do 5 stations or she owed John $1 for each she didn't do up to 5.  After two, she was completely fine with paying John back $3 and didn't complain at home when instructed to do so.  Yet another example of my strong willed daughter.

First Day of School

With all the excitement of summer and our wedding, I never thought I'd see the first day of school come.  But here it is!  We are all still trying to adjust back to a school schedule on top of extracurricular activities that all three would like to participate in this year.  Micah & Victoria (1st grade) have their own separate classrooms but are on in the same building.  Izzy has moved up to being a bigger kid at school (4th grade).  Her classroom is in a completely new wing of the school that I'm not as familiar with.  All of their teachers are excellent fits for each personality.  This is shaping up to be an outstanding year for all!

Izzy's Garden

Every year we try to improve upon Izzy's garden.  This year we added the white tubs to allow for more variety.  As with anything, we had trials and errors and will continue to work on perfecting our city garden.  Two plants we have planted in the past actually produced!... jalapenos and an eggplant.  The main reason why I think we did as well as we did was our neighbor's cutting down of a large tree that provided shade to the back of our condo.  Though we weren't happy due to lack of shade on our back porch, the garden certainly liked the change of scenery. 

A sampling of our bounty.  We all chuckled with our "baby corn".  Izzy was hoping for the corn to be large enough to use in a stir fry recipe.  These were too premature to be used for anything but fun nonetheless.  Our biggest success were the jalapenos and tomatoes.  Not all of them are pictured as we ate them over time when applicable.  Izzy was even able to enter her jalapenos in the county fair.

Victoria's Dance Recital

 This year Victoria wanted to try her hand at dancing; a perfect match for her personality.  The timing couldn't be more perfect as her BFF Gabby's mother (Biliana) opened a dance studio on the same block as her school.  In addition Victoria was able to hang out after class with Gabby and play until we were able to pick her up.  She joined the jazz class which also included two other classmates from her kindergarten homeroom.  Though Biliana wasn't planning on putting on a recital the first year the studio was opened, enough parents inquired that one was held at the end of the school year.

Several of Izzy's friends made up the Broadway / Musical Theatre group.

This was one of the cuter acts.  I think the 80's outfits resounded with me more than anything.  Or maybe it was the 80's music..... hmm.

Patiently waiting for our turn.

 This is absolutely one of my favorite pictures of Victoria from this night.  I see her years in advance in this picture.

 This dance was to ABC by The Jackson 5.

Victoria with her 3 jazz classmates.  Ashika had stage freight right before going on and thus sat out.  Gabby had another performance and had to change into a lion before we were able to snap a group photo.  Victoria's smile says everything.

 All the dancers on stage at the end.

The teachers from The Village Dance Studio.

Micah & Victoria's 6th Birthday Party

 Having a birthday in August has it's challenges (we are learning all of them slowly over the years).  This was the first year where Mother Nature hung on just long enough for us to enjoy a slip 'n slide birthday.  Approximately 30 minutes before we headed home, it down poured the rest of the day.  We were lucky!  The down side to an August birthday is that many friends are out of town.  Micah and Victoria's birthday party fell in the purgatory between the end of camps and school not yet starting.  Many parents decided to go on vacation during this time since they would have to take work off regardless.  That meant few friends attended.  Nevertheless we all had a blast together.  Surprisingly it didn't bother Micah or Victoria (though none of Micah's friends came).

Thank you to this lady (Kerry) and her hubby for yet again donating their home and yard for a birthday party!

 The main reason why Micah was okay that none of his friends came was because of Spiderman.  He gave Micah his full attention when he saw the situation and was up for whatever game or fun Micah wanted to do.  That really made this birthday boy feel special.

 We all loves Spidey's shoes.

 Story time with Cinderella was not too exciting.  But when she got our the face paint and fingernail polish, many giggles were heard.

 John once again was in charge of the menu.  This year he decided to make everything on a stick thinking it would be easy for folks to grab and eat.  We had chicken & steak for a protein.  He then made veggie and fruit skewers. 

 Meghan and Izzy decided to have a contest to see who's BBQ art was better.  Izzy drew a flower.  Meghan drew a unicorn.  What's your vote?

 Victoria requested a unicorn cake and was very particular on what she wanted.  I guess the trendy unicorn cake is not this which was a bit surprising to the cake store when I made the request.  Micah's request was for a sports cake.  Again, I received a surprising response as they pictured making the three different sports balls 3-dimensional.  I'm sure glad I brought in print offs of what Micah and Victoria wanted otherwise each would have gotten something completely different.

 You think he likes it?

 We go through bath bombs like water sometimes.  This kit will sure come in handy.

This was the cutest backpack for Victoria.  Unfortunately it was a smidge too small and had to be returned.