September Martin visit- part 2

We had some beautiful September weather and took our lunch to Gantz park to eat and play on the playground.

 Lucy loved having people around that were patient enough to teach her how to play some card games. ha! And Claire loved pretending to play or just playing her own thing around them.

 Of course we had to take a trip to Whit's frozen custard- one of our Columbus favorites!

 We also took a trip to the dollar movie theater but I can't remember what we saw?!  Some kid movie that was cute.  The girls favorite part is always the popcorn and candy that we bring.

 We did lot's of playing outside and walks to the park down the street.

 Lucy was so proud of this picture she took of me.

 We visited Lynd's fruit farm to get some fresh apples and ended up with a lot more than that!  The girls loved looking at the minions made out of hay, the ginormous rocking chair, the crazy looking pumpkins, and other things around the barn.  

 They were running crazy around the store but this was one way to get them to stay out of trouble and have fun at the same time.  And we didn't have to worry about them breaking anything!

We came home with TONS of apples, fried pies of all kinds, super fresh just-picked corn on the cob, and homemade jam.  All of it was incredible.  We got home and got right on to making apple pie, apple crisp, and grilling some meat to go with our fresh corn.  It was so good!

September Martin visit- OSU game

Ryan's parents were making the rounds to visit all of their kids and it was our turn in September.  We started off their trip by hiring a babysitter for the kids and going to the Ohio State game that weekend.  I had always wanted to go to one to see what it was like since I worked with and live amongst some of the biggest fans of one of the biggest football schools!  Despite a huge rainstorm that drenched everyone and everything right before the game started and again during the first half, we still had so much fun.  And it was a good thing we took our ponchos!

As soon as we saw this giant chair, we knew what had to be done.  It was such a crackup though as we watched people struggle to get on and off of it, just as we did when it was our turn!  haha.  

 Outside the Shoe! This was one of the only acceptable places to be dressed in and cheering for a red team!

 Whoever thought to put a gigantic flag pole right in the middle of a section of the stadium was not thinking.  It started to really bug me halfway through when our view of the scoreboard was constructed. 

 A view of the downpour from underneath my dry poncho. :)

Cedar Point Triathalon

After seeing his brother and some cousins do some half ironman triathlons recently, Ryan decided to join them and signed up for the Gulf Coast Triathlon in April in Panama City Beach, Florida. To prepare, he planned on doing a shorter triathlon before he got into training for the big one.  So, the Cedar Point sprint triathlon up in Sandusky, it was!  Unfortunately, a big storm blew in and caused crazy huge waves in Lake Erie and unsafe biking paths, so the triathlon was canceled.  We didn't find that out though until we got there, which meant that waking up at 4:30 a.m. and dragging the kids out of bed that early was certainly a downfall!  But as the morning went on the race officials decided to still host the running portion of the race, which was just a 5k through Cedar Point.  So we stuck around while Ryan ran that and the girls thought it was the best thing ever to see their dad running in and give him high fives.  The announcer even said "here comes Mr. BYU!" as he ran through the finish line.  Despite the obvious disappointment, we still had fun and enjoyed the pretty sunrise over the lake.  And we will also never sign up for this triathlon again because it apparently has a history of some pretty bad weather.  So, onto bigger and better ones in Florida!  

September 2015 little things

When Claire gets something in her mind, there is NO changing it.  No matter what!!  This day, she wanted to wear her cowgirl boots to the pool (no surprise since she wants to wear them everywhere!).  I thought she looked pretty cute and she didn't mind showing them off for the camera either!

This little sweetie often jus talks and talks to herself in the car, especially while waiting in the preschool pickup line.  These two pictures cracked me up because there was a big storm brewing outside and she went from being happy and chatting away to being super scared and concerned with each big clap of thunder!  Such classic Claire faces!

Again, Claire has a mind of her own with fashion sometimes and this day, a ladybug costume, some polka dot rain boots, and a blankie were all she needed to be happy. :)  We love having such great neighbor friends, and all of them are around Lucy's age! This particular afternoon we were watching a couple of neighbor boys for a few hours and had a good time riding around outside in the driveway.

LOVE these two sweet girls and how well they usually play together.

During the spring, summer, and fall, we got in the routine of taking Sunday evening walks just after dinner was cleaned up and before bath/bed time.  It was a highlight of all of our Sundays and we always had a good relaxing time doing it.  Claire is usually very content to sit and ride in her little pink car but this particular evening she wanted to push this thing all by herself.  I love her girly pink tutu that bobbed up and down the whole time too!

Homemade ice cream in the backyard!  One of our favorite things to do!

These two crack me up.  Anytime they end up cuddling together somewhere, they say "mom! take a picture!"  Well, you don't have to ask me twice!  Cuties.

A fun visit with Grammy and cousins!  This was around the time the Grandpa Walz passed away so we didn't get much time to visit but we take what we can get!

These girls love to play with swaddled babies.  Lucy's was pretty normal this day but it made me laugh that Claire walked around with the Sofia doll swaddled in a giant comforter. :)

First day of Preschool

We were equally excited for/dreading Lucy's first day of preschool.  Seeing as she still wouldn't go to primary at all without me or without a meltdown, we weren't sure how she would handle preschool.  We prepped her all summer long, went to the open house and met her teachers, and let her pick out her new backpack.  There was not much more we could have done.  And much to our surprise, she went right in without any hesitation and with a big smile across her face!  They even encouraged us to not walk the kids in, but to just pull through the drop-off line and let them out, so we did!  It was unbelievable.  That being said, I don't think Lucy was prepared to be going 4 days a week (Monday-Thursday) for months, because the second day she left my car in tears, which broke my heart.  But besides that one day of tears, she was good to go!  Preschool has been such a blessing- Lucy has grown in so many ways and gotten so much more comfortable with herself and with others and had learned so much already.  She even started going to sunbeams at church all by herself just a couple months into preschool.