24NOV09

I know I'm a blogging FOOL!! :) My cousin called to tell me that Schnepf Farms had a day where we could get in for half price b/c her mom is a resident of Queen Creek so I decided we couldn't pass it up. Everyone always told me it was really expensive but I think I spent about 20 bucks including all the rides. I guess a lot of the rides cost extra but they changed it to where most things were included. It was a really fun afternoon and next time I want to go earlier so we can get more in!!

The cousins after getting their faces painted.

Ryan's didn't last very long but she got a kick out of it.

Petting the pony. She saw the pony and kept asking if we could pet it. I would have let her ride it but it was extra and cost as much as it did to get in! :) SHe was perfectly content getting to pet it.

Feeding the goat. No pics of Ryan b/c it knocked her over as soon as we went in! Unfortunately, we went to a couple more petting zoos after that and Ryan didn't really want to be put down. She was good just looking! :)

Yeah this slide was huge and neither of them wanted to go by themselves! :)

The roller coaster. It totally freaked Lexi out but once we got off she was ready for more rides!

Airplanes!

Ryan loved the bee ride!

SIlly sweet cousins.

We went on the train ride at the very end. There were people dressed up (since Halloween was coming up) and they kept popping out to scare the kids. My solution? I told Lex to scare them back. It totally worked!

22NOV09

We were so excited that Dave offered us his pop up camper to use while we were visiting to go camping. Trav has wanted to take Lex camping for forever but we weren't really sure about the rules in Germany so we never went. Although we weren't "roughing it" enough for Travis it was so nice to have beds and a heater and we all really enjoyed some time in the wilderness!! Alexis proved to be a little bit of a princess (Trav asked her to help pick up firewood and she responded with, "but it's going to get me all DIRTY!") but by the end she was with Ryan in the dirt literally pouring it on themselves. We plan on many camping trips in the near future.

At the lake. There was a man fishing and he caught one right when we were walking up and then offered to let Lex hold it. She, of course, got a kick out of that.

These are out of order but this was at the end were Lexi decided the dirt was kind of fun.

Ryan knew it all along.

Ready for bed. Nice and warm (thanks to Aunt Tori since we didn't bring ANY warm clothes!)

Hanging out by the fire.

Eating marsh mellows. Both girls preferred the non-roasted ones!

YUM banana boats!

Helping gather firewood!

They got a kick out of riding in the front seat for the 12 feet Trav drove to find more wood! :)

20NOV09

I was so excited that we were going to be in town for the AZ state fair so that was one of the big things on my list of TO DO. I had a blast but I think it was mostly b/c Alexis and Ryan were having so much fun. We ride, played, and ate. I loved that they let Ryan ride so many rides with Alexis. We loved being able to spend time with my mom and Theresa. One of my favorite parts of the day was when Theresa took Lex through the glass maze and she kept telling her to hold her hands out but Lex didn't want to listen. She smacked RIGHT into the glass right in front where everyone could see her. It was hilarious (She wasn't hurt I promise.) What a great day.

Poor Trav was surrounded by females so he decided to prove his maleness by winning Alexis this HUGE Scooby Doo. Unfortunately, we had to leave it with Grandma Kerry who I hope is taking very good care of him! :)

Alexis loves rides! I thought for sure this was going to freak her out but my mom said even when they put the thing over their heads she was still laughing and having a blast!!!

THe super slide. Ryan looks scared but at the very end she clapped and laughed I think she wasn't sure about it at first!

They both got to go on the roller coaster.

Riding the tractor.

Lex "milking the cow" with Grandma.

Trying to catch a fish but I had a hard time helping Ryan.

So Trav took her and it took all of 10 seconds, of course.

Chilling with Daddy.

Probably my fave pic of the whole day!! The guy said Ry could go if an adult went with her. I felt so bad for Theresa since she couldn't ride any of the big rides with her growing a human and all so I LET her go. You should have seen her begging to go on just this one ride. HA HA!!!

Bumper boats.

Fun house.

Cute girl.

19NOV09

Once we got to AZ the fun never stopped. The girls LOVED hanging out with their cousins and we did a TON of stuff!! Since it was Halloween there was a Pumpkin Farm right by my in-laws so we went with my sister-in-law and her family. The girls got to decorate pumpkins, go on a hayride, bouncy castle, hay maze, and run around having fun with their cousins!

Our family!

Sitting on the little house

On the hayride

It was dark out and I guess that made Ry a little nervous in the hay maze. Really she is just doing it on her own for the picture I was holding her through the rest of it! :)

Alexis, on the other hand, didn't mind the dark at all! :)

Decorating pumpkins. Do you see what hams my kids are and Tori's are so sweet and innocent??

The best pic ever! Notice the sheep! :)

Just right.

How big am I mom?

These girls have so much fun together. Even if Ry was a little bit of a bully sometimes (that's right Tori I said LITTLE bit come on we're working on it! :) )

19NOV09

We are finally starting to feel settled in. Ft. Benning, GA is our new home and we are loving it!! I am happy to be stateside although I am already feeling a little adjustment to the fast pace life. It was much easier in Germany to say, "Oh our family only eats out once a week max." In the states you get out and doing things you need to do and all of a sudden it's 7 p.m. and the kids need to be fed, bathed, and put to bed in the next 30 minutes and you're about 20 minutes from the house still... I think it will get better. We are just still getting last minute things that we need for the house or visiting new babies (our friends the Flynn's had their new baby boy on Sunday and we got to see the little 2 day old since we now live 15 minutes away!)

I'm going to start backtracking a little bit with pics since we did so much and I really want to share the pictures. I'm starting back in Germany with all our goodbye pics. We had to say goodbye to some really great friends and it was super hard. I would have stayed in Germany in a heartbeat if I knew all those friends would always get to stay there with me (you know who you are!) I didn't get as many pics as I should have. I don't have any goodbye pics with Anni (Erica I KNOW I took some when we said goodbye at your house?? Were they with your camera???) And I didn't get enough with everyone else either but we weren't really thinking about pics we were too busy feeling sorry for ourselves! :)

I know you are going to hate this pic Ester but I LOVE it! :)

Together since they were born!

So sweet to each other.

The McGrewe kids! :)