Cheerios!

Sam started eating Cheerios! He gets more on the floor than in his mouth, but he's trying!

Apple Picking

We returned to Hartland Orchard in Markham, VA today for apple picking!!

Ellen, Will and Annie have been there every Fall, and they were excited to teach Sam about picking apples. First, they taught him all about the pole used to reach the apples in the tree tops. I am not sure he understood what he was supposed to do with it:

He didn't pick too many apples, but he did a great job sitting in the grass playing.
Yes, sitting! Sam has learned how to sit by himself!


And we managed to capture a picture of those two bottom teeth!

Ellen and Will did a good job using the pole. And they had to, since any apples left on the trees were at the very top. The hot summer weather was not kind to the apple crop!

They still tried to jump for apples that were just out of their reach.


Annie had her own strategy for getting apples just out of her reach,
since for her, jumping wasn't much help...

After picking our apples, we found a beautiful spot with some
cool climbing rocks to have our picnic lunch.


We had a great day! And a mighty great apple pie tonight too!

Check out the video of Annie picking apples:

http://rowefamilyvideos.blogspot.com/2010/09/annie-apple-picking.html

Sesame Place

Sunny Day, Sweepin' the clouds away, On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get, How to get to Sesame Street...

We had a fun day at Sesame Place!

Despite her love of cookies, Annie was in no mood to meet Cookie Monster.

But she seemed quite content meeting Count. Which is funny, since all our kids always seem unsure of Count and a little frightened by him. (Notice Ellen wouldn't even get in the picture.) I guess Annie felt safe in her Daddy's arms.

Squash!

Sam tried squash this week.

He thinks he likes it, but he still isn't sure.

He also has TWO front teeth. That was a surprise. I wanted to look at the tooth that arrived at the beginning of September, so I pulled down his lip and found two teeth where there had been just one!

Back To School!!!

First day of school! These were two excited kids!
Ellen couldn't wait to start 2nd grade and to see all her friends again.

Will is so proud to be starting Kindergarten and to be wearing a belt.
Really, I think the belt is his favorite part.

They are thrilled to be at the same school! (I have no complaints about that either!
So nice to have only one drop-off location!)

Good Bye Summer

The last night of summer...bittersweet! Hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream cones and lots of backyard playing to say good-bye to what was a fun, fun, fun summer!

Notice that Annie never changed out of her jammies all day, Will is wearing his favorite shirt and shorts of the summer, and Ellen is dressed for autumn in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. I found this funny.

Six Months Old!

Sam is six months old!! On his half-birthday, Sam took his first bites of baby food and his first tooth poked through! What a big day! He weighs 16 lbs 4 oz.

Maintaining control of the spoon will be a challenge.

Here's the video of Sam eating his cereal:

http://rowefamilyvideos.blogspot.com/2010/09/sam-tries-rice-cereal.html

Where To Now?

This couldn't be the end of vacation, could it? Of course not!

Mike had the marvelous idea of going to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. Apparently, so did the other evacuees! The place was booked for Thursday night, but not for Friday! We decided to visit Jamestown and spend the night in Williamsburg Thursday and then head over to Great Wolf Lodge Friday after breakfast at a pancake house. (Where else, when you're in Williamsburg?) We played at the indoor water park at Great Wolf Friday afternoon and again on Saturday until we just couldn't slide and swim and float anymore. (Well, Ellen could have kept on going...) This bonus vacation gave us the chance to eat at some favorite Williamsburg places--pizza at Sal's and barbecue at Pierce's--
and see some old friends.

A few pics of the kids at Jamestown, ready to protect and defend the fort:

Great Wolf Lodge!


Time to hit the water!


Will LOVED riding the inner tube down the yellow slide. He barely stopped to have his picture taken before getting back in line with his tube.

Ellen loved EVERYTHING!

Annie giggled and splashed in these fountains. There were three little slides too, and she went down them over and over and over again! Never took her picture though...too busy keeping up with her!

Sand and Surf

For three days, we played in the sand...

And we played in the surf...

And then, we packed in a hurry!
With Hurricane Earl approaching, we decided to pack up and head out before the mandatory evacuation was ordered so we wouldn't be stuck in terrible traffic with an opinionated two-year-old and a sweet-unless-he-needs-to-eat six-month-old!