First day of School 2016

School started last Wednesday.  It always starts after Labor Day in Syracuse since the State Fair ends on Labor Day.  The kids had mixed feelings about the start of school.  Rebecah was really excited and Kimball was more hesitant.  He had settled into a nice routine by the end of the summer and didn't really want to have to start homework again.  I think the kids will have a good year.

Here are their first day pictures:

 

I love these cuties.  I thought it was so cute that Annika and Lincoln wanted in on the pictures. 

The Great New York State Fair 2016

We made our annual visit to the State Fair on August 31st.  The weather was perfect.  It was overcast most of the day so we didn't get too hot.  Rain threatened and then it poured.  The rain fell while we were in a building eating lunch so it was perfect timing.  By the time everyone was finished eating the rain had stopped.  I love visiting the State Fair.  I'm not sure why I get so excited about it, but I do.  I love seeing the animals and visiting the various buildings.  My favorite part and Joseph's favorite part is the food.  I know that is a funny thing to be so excited about, but it's true.  I'm really surprised the food is Joseph's favorite part because he usually doesn't care to eat out and isn't too picky about the quality either.  This year since I'm pregnant I packed a lunch from home since I was trying to be good and watch my caloric intake.  I did buy a small ice cream and shared with everyone.  I savored every bite of ice cream!

This mama pig had 10 babies 2 weeks before the fair started and I just had to take a picture of them.  The piglets were so cute.  

Here Kimball and Rebecah are in the 4-H building.  There were various activities for kids and some animals to see.  They both enjoyed this virtual shooting activity.

We attended an Indian dance performance.  It was neat to see the costumes and dancing.

There is a great story behind this picture.  Apparently there wasn't a box to stand on and Kimball wasn't tall enough to see out the cutout so Joseph finally just told him to jump since people were starting to stare at them.  Joseph counted to three and Kimball jumped and this is the picture that resulted.  I thought it turned out pretty well.

The sand sculpture for the year.  I'm always impressed with how well it turns out.

Wishful thinking...

Here is our other "cutout" picture.  This time Rebecah wasn't tall enough--even with a box.  I didn't know about the other picture and the jumping at the time so she stood on her toes and did the best she could.

It was a great day and in the evening Joseph took the kids bowling.  His work was sponsoring a bowling night to encourage people to join the bowling league.

I'm really not sure how the kids had energy for the State Fair and bowling; by the end of the day I was exhausted!!