Tree Farm

Before the really heavy rain hit yesterday, we headed out to chop down a Christmas tree. Chop being a little heavy-handed, as it seemed like that saw slid right through the trunk like butter. A little easier going getting a small tree from a farm in Redmond than my childhood adventure tromping through waist-deep snow and felling what was the smallest tree on the land but the biggest one we'd ever tried to fit in our house.

The kids had fun (or at least I did) with the obligatory stick-your-face-in-the-hole photo shoot:

Breaking character:
The "chopping:"

Some hands-on help:
Carrying our treasure back to the car:

Happy with our selection:
Time to bake some cookies and dust off the Bing Crosby cd so we can decorate the tree!

Feasting

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, and I was too busy enjoying myself to remember to snap a lot of photos. Here are a few highlights:
While we cooked, the kids had fun doing some craft projects.
Craig's pumpkin pie was a big hit.
The overnight rain washed away all but a few remnants of the snow, giving us an opportunity to get out and enjoy a walk to the park.
Despite stuffing ourselves on Thursday, we managed to have an appetite again Friday so Adelaide and I made homemade pizza.
Inspired by the fancy Thanksgiving meal, Adelaide spent a long time creating a fancy table, complete with personalized placemats, fancy straws, and many animal friends.

The Fair

We had a chance to head to the fair over Labor Day weekend with our friends. We stayed away from most of the fair food (unlike Wisconsin, there was not a great deal of deep-fried foods on a stick), which sounds like it was a good choice based on 2 other families' reports of post-fair illness, but nonetheless a good time was had by all.Getting there was fun, too!
Lots of baby animals were in the petting area. The girls chased them around and made friends.
Scheming how to catch the geese? Not sure.
The ferris wheel was a big hit. Cotton candy was an even bigger hit, but I couldn't bear to photograph the kids eating blue insulation, so it will have to remain undocumented.


I think my favorite part was the pig races. Or maybe just the generally happy kids enjoying a variety of experiences they don't normally get to have.