Corn Maze

Kyle loves maze puzzles so it seemed like a no-brainer to take him to the corn maze in Union Gap. We haven't been in a few years and he has no memory of our previous visits so it was high time to go again.

Here are the boys at the start of the maze. Tyler has just recently realized that he can carry Kyle on his shoulders, so he's been doing it non-stop lately.

Based on the weather forecast we decided to go to the maze on Sunday since it was supposed to be sunny and warmer than Saturday. Well, turns out that Saturday was the better day and on Sunday it was overcast and it started to sprinkle on us while we were stuck in the middle of the maze.

While it never turned into a downpour, what began as a sprinkle turned into steady rainfall. Kyle's sweater was forgotten at home so he borrowed Rick's, but it didn't have a hood and he ended up pretty wet regardless.

Finally we made it to the end!

At that point Tyler was completely done and ready to go home. He wasn't a fan of getting wet, but we wanted to make the most of our visit, so we stayed, tried to dry up by the fire and made some s'mores.

Mmmm....S'mores!

Instead of the pumpkin (or apple) chucker, they had an air cannon with tennis balls. Of course both boys wanted a turn, so they had to wait in line for a bit, but it was worth it.

All in all, I'd say it was worth the trip, but the admission price is kind of high for what it is and you don't even get a complementary free pumpkin anymore. Hopefully next time everyone will remember to bring their coat and/or maybe we'll go on a day with better weather.

Pictures from the Fair (part 2)

Even though this happened two weeks ago, here you go: pictures from our return visit to the fair. We had admission tickets to use so we went back on the final day. We didn't get wristbands for the rides the second time around because we planned to just visit the exhibits.

We got there right around lunch time so we stopped to get lamb burgers and chili first thing.

Then since the timing was perfect, we watched the racing pigs.

Next up: The Ag building.

Upstairs we looked at the photography and student artwork. This lion was one of my favorite pieces.

Then off to the building with all the S.T.E.M projects.

Ice cream for the boys. Huckleberry for Kyle and Chocolate Dream swirl for Tyler.

No rides, but a few games were allowed.

Nearing the end of the day we stopped in the Fine Living building to look at the quilts and such.

This one was best in show and I can see why. Amazing!

Kettle corn.

Lastly, the walking on water bubble.

An Anomaly

For as long as I live I don't think I'll ever understand how Tyler's brain works. As soon as we entered him into public school, there were comments from his teachers and school staff about how smart he was and how amazing his test scores were, but his test results have never equated to success in school. I will never understand how someone who tests so brilliantly on paper can struggle so miserably in school.

This week we got the results of the Smarter Balanced tests that were administered earlier this year in the spring, when Tyler was nearing the end of 4th grade. I don't know, but it would appear that he got a perfect score on the math section of the test, scoring way beyond the state and local school averages. So for me, I would think that math would be his easiest subject in school. But it's not.....

This is the last week of the 1st term in school and in math Tyler is struggling with his grade. I'm able to log into the school website and see all of his grades in real time and more often than not, the letter grades I see come in on a daily basis are like little blows to my heart. Most of the Fs are from missing assignments. Things he either forgot to do or forgot to turn in, not because he doesn't understand the material. Either way, the final grades for the term are about to come down and it just doesn't make sense that Tyler should receive anything lower than an A, and yet....

September Favorites

Here are my favorite pictures for Project Life and Instagram for the month of September.

Kyle helping me in the kitchen making blueberry muffins. Cheese!

Playing on the new equipment at Randall Park. Ever since they put it in during the summer, it's been absolutely packed with kids. That's a good thing, I guess, but a little frustrating for the boys who aren't used to such crowds at their favorite park.

Monday morning grocery shopping. Kyle was too busy catching some Z's to see that I finally got the strawberry and blueberry frosted shredded wheat that he and his brother had been begging me to buy. Also, I do buy fresh fruits, vegetables and meat....just apparently not on that day.

That day my Ipsy bag came in the mail and I realized I was a matching vision of fushia/berry pink.

Post bumper boat picture. We really don't look wet at all, but Kyle got fairly soaked, especially his shorts and Tyler kept spraying my face, so my hair and face were pretty wet.

Kyle building his own Lincoln log house.

My hair is getting. so. long. In November it will be a year since I cut it last.

We all know Tyler is small for his age. Well short anyway, but come on! He can fit into his brother's 4T shirts. They're just a little short on him. I'm all but certain that Kyle will eventually outgrow his brother. I feel like he'll be towering over me before I know it, just like his Uncle Justin.

Rick spent a whole week in Los Angeles earlier this month taking a management workshop at UCLA. I told him to take pictures for me and literally, this is the only one he took the entire week. Fail. But I'll still take it. It's the food he got when Anni took him out for dinner one night.

September reads. Sharp Objects was so predictable. I knew who the killer was before I was 1/3 of the way through the book. Ugh. What would I give for some old fashioned Perry Mason novels. I was never able to figure out who did it in those books.

And lastly some of my favorite outfits of the month.

Pictures from the Fair

This year the fair was moved one week later than usual, but we actually ended up going the same weekend as always. Though instead of going on the closing weekend, we went on opening day. Rick took the Friday off of work and we decided to go and see how it was on a weekday (albeit opening day) compared to the weekends. And a bonus perk of going opening day was that they had free parking and admission for the first two hours of operation. Judging by the parking lot and endless stream of cars, we figured we'd made a mistake coming on opening day, but really once you got inside, the crowds were not bad at all. The lines for the rides never got exceedingly long so the boys spent a huge portion of the day on that instead of seeing the exhibits.

It took Kyle some time to warm up to the rides, but his true love was playing the games. At first he thought we were at an arcade or fun center type of place and he kept asking to go to the skee-ball. Once we explained to him that they didn't have skee-ball at the fair, he was good with playing ring toss and the like. It's too bad the games are so expensive though. At $5 per play, they really add up fast. They should have some discount for kids.

Tyler won a prize at the ducky ring toss. A giant donut.

We had tamales for lunch, although my favorite fair food of all is the lamb chili. I didn't get any this year and I'm still sad about it.

Later in the day the boys worked together playing darts to earn a smaller donut for Kyle.

 

Speaking of donuts. Snack time!

Late in the afternoon we pulled the boys away from the rides and visited the animals. We missed all the other exhibits this year: the art, everything in the ag building, the modern living stuff (sewing/cooking projects) and the the S.T.E.M exhibits. We should almost go back and get chili and look at things we missed.

The exhibit in Pioneer Hall changes every year and this year it was Discover Dinosaurs, which seemed really cool until we learned that it cost an extra $5 per person to enter. Lame. Pioneer Hall is usually free.

All in all we had a great day. Rick had planned to eat dinner there, but Tyler wanted to leave and get pizza on the way home, which is what we usually do every year. So that's what we did and also stopped at a Mexican bakery to get treats for the morning.