The Train Gang

I've been telling the kids for three weeks that we would take the train uptown one day to meet Chris after work, and I finally got my act together today. Of course it started pouring down rain when we arrived at the park-and-ride lot, but the kids insisted they still wanted to go. I think we could ride the train all day and they would be very happy.

We also stopped by Imaginon for some computer time. Molly is becoming as interested in computers as Josh is. I'm not sure if either of them realize that libraries actually house books.

For a select few of you, the following pictures may remind you of another member of this family on another public transportation system many years ago. And I'm not referring to myself.

Finally, the first day of school

No one was more excited than me for the first day of school this morning! Josh is starting Kindergarten (again), and we're thrilled that he has the same teacher and classroom. Josh was not happy about getting up at 6:45 a.m., and he spent the morning telling me he wasn't excited about school anymore and that he didn't have time to go to school.

He did perk up a bit when we got to the bus stop, so hopefully he'll get right back into the school routine.

Silver Springs

We spent our last full day in Florida at Silver Springs, about an hour from my parents' house. The springs are a beautiful natural feature that are full of birds, alligators and fish, and we had our fill of nature today! One of the highlights was feeding the two giraffes at the park.

Parrots and other tropical birds hang out all over Silver Springs. Josh kept asking what parrots do, and the best we could come up is they make a lot of noise and pick their feathers.

We brought a stroller for Molly, but she pushed it most of the day.

We took two different rides in glass-bottom boats, which Silver Springs is famous for. The water is clear, and you can see all kinds of fish.

It got very hot midday, and after two boat rides, a jeep safari, a snake show, a petting zoo, an alligator show and walking around looking at every possible variety of alligator, we were ready to go!

Panhandle Tour

I'm in Florida with the kids this week, and we spent the weekend in the Florida panhandle with our extended family. The kids especially enjoyed communing with the animals, and Josh took his first tractor ride.

Molly recently has taken to declaring "I LIKE CATS" whenever the subject of dogs comes up. In this photo she's pointing to my cousin's cat, who had taken refuge out of Molly's reach. Aunt Grace later caught the cat so that Molly could pet him.

Josh rode with my cousin Jessica on the tractor while she bush hogged the property. The tractor originally belonged to my grandfather Josh (who Josh is named after), and it amazingly still runs well.

The horse thought Molly's hair seemed a lot like grass

Molly did warm up to my cousins' dogs, Peachy and Buddy.

Jon and Amy now live in the panhandle, so we all went to the beach this morning. Tropical Depression Claudette, which we didn't realized existed until this morning, made it unsafe to swim, but the kids enjoyed playing in the sand.

More attempts to stay cool

It's still super hot here, so we joined some neighborhood friends at a park/sprayground today. The kids loved it, and the fence around the water park contained them so I actually was able to talk to some other grownups while they played.

One of Molly's many wipe outs

Celebrating the hottest day of the summer

Temperatures were supposed to near 100 degrees today, so we spent most of the day inside or in the car. We ventured out late in the afternoon to cool off with a water balloon fight. Josh was so happy that at one point he exclaimed, "Mommy, you are the best water balloon ever." I think he meant to say I was the best water balloon maker ever, but I'll take it.

Of course 30 minutes of filling water balloons only resulted in about two minutes of throwing water balloons, but it was fun. Molly tended to throw hers at the ground, but Josh has become quite the thrower. I was soaked at the end of it.

The kids are posing with the frozen ground beef we had for dinner. It was so hot that it thawed outside in about an hour.

Mountain Friends

The kids and I took off early this morning to spend the day in the mountains with my dear friend from college, Ruffin, and her three boys. They live in a gorgeous house with a gorgeous view, and Josh was jumping with excitement when he saw the mountain range from their deck.

Ruffin and I had a great time catching up while the kids played on the slip and slide, but the water games had to end when the kiddos got a little bold about throwing water balloons at the mommies.

I tried to get a picture of Josh with the mountain view, but it turned out more of Josh giving the camera a weird look with a blurry mountain in the background.

We're working on a marriage contract for these two