October Fun

You'll have to forgive me.  This actually happened at the beginning of the month.  But in the interim, I have gotten a job, changed callings, did a family photoshoot, and made some Halloween costumes-most of which happened on the same weekend.  Things get crazy, you know how it is.  

Anyway, right in time for Conference Weekend, my wonderful in-laws visited us.  The children have finally reached that magical age where with a little preparation on my part, they can amuse themselves for two hours, so for the first time in 4 1/2 years, I got to hear and watch all of Conference.  It was awesome.  

And between sessions on Saturday, we went to a pumpkin patch.  It seems like a tradition that we go with the in-laws, but they do make things more fun.  

Down the bouncy house slide.

This was Joy's favorite thing.  I may have had to drag her away kicking and screaming.

There was a big kid maze that had a hay bail roof on it except this part at the end.  So you let your child go and then pray they can figure it out.  The Captain made it through safely.  

There were all sorts of photo ops with non copyrighted animated characters.  Joy does like the Bubble Guppies.

The Captain as a pumpkin engineer.

She does look mischievous, doesn't she?

There was a smaller, easier maze.

The Captain always wants to be the leader.

 Then on Monday, we went to Legoland.  Apparently, this was the best time to go because in the summer or on weekends it gets ridiculously crowded.  We had no lines.  In fact they started a few rides because we wanted to go.  

Joy trying to zoom away.

At the building tables.  

The Captain is testing the structural integrity of his Lego building in the event of an earthquake by pushing that button which shakes the green pad.

Building a car with Grandpa.

Testing said car with Grandpa.  In the background is a cool ride where two people sit in a car and pedal to fly.  The whole family went, boy vs. girls.  I think the girls got higher longer.  

She did not want to be left out.  Counter too high?  Not a problem.

We sat through two different 4D shows.  Don't let the grumpy face fool you, he was just a little cold from the water they sprayed on us.  I thought their glasses design was awesome since it fit me and Joy equally well.

 They also had a Lego Star Wars room with replicas built and moving parts and quotes from the show.  There was also a Lego version of the Dallas/Ft. Worth skyline.  Cool.  

The Captain was driving solo on this one.  Off to the Lego Police rescue. 

While The Captain was off playing in the giant, mulit-storied obstacle course construction zone.  Joy, Johnny and I built a giant tower from Lego Duplos in the kiddy area.  As you can see it was taller than Johnny.   

And the best part . . . knocking it down.

It was really awesome at Legoland.  The Captain has informed me he wants his birthday there.  It is just the latest in birthday requests, so I'm not reserving anything yet.  March is pretty far away yet for a 4 year old.

Amusement Park - Old school

I heard about an amusement park in our city that is totally old school with tickets and all.  Since their season ended in September, we decided to go one Saturday.  It was a good decision.  There were tons of kid rides.  The Captain was excited to try some spiny rides and Joy knows no fear, so she pretty much tried everything she was tall enough for, and shed some tears over the stuff she wasn't tall enough for yet. 

Sharing a boat ride.

Driving in the race.  

Did she like the fish ride?  Yes she did.

The seats were too small for Johnny so The Captain had to ride by himself.  That's not really his thing, so he was very brave.

He loved, loved, loved the bumper cars.

This was the closest to a Ferris wheel they had.  We were all alone on the ride so we went really fast for a really long time.

Pony ride!

Octoberfest

We went to Octoberfest this year.  We remembered it from a few years ago when we lived here last.  Only last time The Captain had to wear a sweater.  Seriously?  I don't remember it being that cold, but here's proof.

Wow.  Time flies.  At least he still has little sausage fingers. 

This time is was much warmer.  Even with the storm (more on that later). The food was delicious. And we learned a new alternative to the chicken dance while we were eating, which is always a good idea.

And we got to see some of the entertainment.  We made a porto-potty stop and got dessert, then it started raining, so we popped into the nearest tent, which just happened to be the Kinder Tent.  We watched the end of two musicians' act, then these guys were up.  They were magicians, too.

 We got a lot of company because it started seriously raining. Like pool in the middle of the floor, raining.  It's hard to see in the small version of the picture, sorry. 

 And just when we started enjoying ourselves, 

 The police officers made us go to the covered parking garage because it was a severe storm.  

But it was past bedtime anyway, so we just walked in the rain, found our car, and went home.  

We did have fun though.