We love the PARK!

Our kids love to go to the park. No matter where it is or what toys there are to play on. If it's a park (or school playground), we are game. As you can imagine, I have lots of park pictures. In West Virginia we visited a few parks. Here's one of them:

BLUEFIELD PARK
This park is huge with lots of things to do. We packed a picnic dinner and spent some time playing, eating, and exploring.

Jake, Ethan, and Josh walking along a railroad track. There is a small train that goes through the park. When we were there it wasn't running so we let the kids walk on it.

Here are all the kids sitting outside the train tunnel.
Jake, Josh, Ethan, Kate, Abbi

Jake and Josh inside the tunnel.

Abbi and Kate inside the tunnel.

Jake and Josh on top of the train tunnel. (The tunnel was obviously a huge attraction for us.)

Jake, Abbi, Josh, and Kate

This is the toy part of the park:

Here is Adam spinning Josh and Jake on the tire swing. He got them going so fast! They were totally dizzy after this ride.

Jake pushing Kate on the swing.

Adam helping Abbi on the firemen pole.

Abbi on the slide.

After a good amount of play and exploring, we decided we were hungry and got out our picnic lunch. My camera didn't get put away though!

Adam eating his dinner.

Abbi, Ethan, and Kate

Kate relaxing.

Grandpa Rich, Jake and Josh chilling on the stone wall.

We had a great time at this park. The kids loved it!

Bluefield Orioles Baseball Game

In West Virginia, we went to a baseball game and watched the Bluefield Orioles play. It was a great game...they killed the other team! It had been a long time since I'd been to a baseball game and it was fun to be there. The kids even lasted all 9 innings!

Here are the kids with the Oriole. He was very entertaining. Kate was infatuated with him as soon as she saw him. If he wasn't in sight she would keep asking where "the bird" was. Then she would get all excited when she found him again. It was funny!

Jake, Kate, and Josh

Between innings, there were different activities on the field for the crowd to watch. My kids were asked to participate. Here are the things they did:

Kate got to dance with the bird. She was very excited about it and was dancing in the stands. Unfortunately, when she got down on the field she got a bit of stage fright in front of all those people so she didn't show off her moves. I think she got extra points for being so adorable though.

Jake and Josh were asked to participate in a tug of war. We thought there would be a lot of people participating, but it turned out that they were the only two. They wished they could have been on the same team!

Here is a picture from the stands.

Here are some pictures of us hanging out in the stands during the game:

This is Stef, my mom, and Abbi. Rich is behind them.

Adam and Ethan

Kate cheering for the Orioles.

Josh just chilling.

Jake

Josh and Kate

The Mercer County Fair in West Virginia

On our visit to West Virginia we got to go to the Mercer County Fair. We spent most of the day at the fair and had a good time. There were booths, food, bouncy toys, and pony rides. And to make the day even better there was a nice breeze to help ease the humidity (this was one of my favorite parts).

This is my brother, Adam, and his daughter, Abbi. As you can see in the background, they are right in front of the bouncy toys. This, of course, was a popular spot for all the kids.

Here are Kate and Abbi inside the bounce house. Kate spent most of the time that we were at the bouncy toys in the bounce house. I couldn't get her out of it to try anything else. She loves it! Notice in this picture she is off the ground! She was like a jumping kangaroo. It was so fun to watch.

Kate and Abbi

And they are down!

Josh and Jake on one of the slides. They were good sports posing for the camera at my request.

Stefanie and Abbi just after they had gone down a slide.

Ethan going down the big slide.

Josh and Jake

Josh and Jake in front of their favorite bouncy!

One of the favorite parts of the fair was the pony rides. The kids all had a great time! It was fun to see their excitement.

Josh, Kate, and me

Jake and Josh

Ethan (Jake and Josh are in the background.)

Abbi and Stef

Kate and I

We had a fun filled day! It was great to be able to spend it with family that we don't get to see that often. Now that we live on this side of the country, I'm looking forward to spending more time together!

Visiting Grandma in West Virginia

During this past couple of weeks the kids and I had the chance to drive to West Virginia and visit my parents. My brother and his family were there at the same time so it was fun to be able to spend some time together.
We started our journey early one morning and drove all day to get there. It took us about 12 hours and we drove through 7 or 8 different states! I had never really taken a road trip by myself where I was the only driver so this made me feel like a grown up! The trip went quite well and I was pleasantly surprised. We were there for about 12 days so I have lots of pictures! Here are some:

It was really humid and warm in West Virginia so the kids took advantage of the sprinklers at grandma's. Here are Jake, Abbi, Kate, Ethan, and Josh. Abbi and Ethan are my brother's kids. Abbi is about 6 months younger than Kate and this trip was their first time meeting.

Jake, Josh, and Ethan

Kate really loves sprinklers!

I don't know what it is about sleeping pictures, but I just love them! I couldn't resist taking these pictures of my kids. One day they will love these, too. I'm sure of it!

Kate looking very cozy!

Okay...so I accidentally woke her up while getting these pictures.

And here she is more awake...and almost smiling at me.Jake in what seems to be an awkward position but one that works for him.

Jake really gets into his pillow.

Here's Josh. Notice he is completely off of his bed, yet still sound asleep.

Josh on his cozy pillow.

Here is my cute niece, Abbi. Her and Kate became really good friends!

Abbi and Kate in the bath...

We all got to go to church in my mom's ward. There were 9 of us so we took up a whole middle row. Here are some pictures of our cute kids in their Sunday best:

All the boys:
Jake, Josh, and Ethan

The girls:
Kate and Abbi
(And of course their beloved Mickey and Minnie dolls!)

All the kids:
Jake, Josh, Ethan, Kate, and Abbi

We had a wonderful time and did so many fun things. I will post more pictures very soon!