A nice visit

Kaye and her 2 kids, Ella and Zac, came to town to see us. It was really nice to see and catch up with Kaye who recently moved about 45 minutes out of Oxford. We hung out in our flat, went for a walk, then came back and ate lunch. It was great to have a day "just like the good ole days."

I'll forever associate the real beginning of my learning about motherhood as my days of hanging out with Allison, Kaye, and Jane in Oxford. It's sad that they've all moved on, but I know we'll keep in good touch throughout all the years.

Rocket shooting at the University Parks

These beautiful September days are great motivation for getting us outside as much as possible. This day, we walked down to the University Parks with our trusty rocket. Here, Luke is giving Caleb a lesson on how it works. I kept hearing things like, "No, Caleb, not in your mouth. They go on the stick thing like this." I had a great time sitting back on the grass and just watching.
After launching a good one, Luke was really impressed with himself. Caleb, however, could not be taught to watch the rocket blast off. He was too focused on getting all the various parts in his mouth.
In the end, Caleb won. And, Luke ran off to pretend he was a bear climbing a tree.

My baby brother.....

Cute and funny too!

Pure Joy.....

Getting the winnings home......

Following such displays of their manhood, Clark and Chris were not allowed to compete at that booth again. So we set off for new challenges. Whether it was an attempt to re-live the euphoria of winning something (the size of a couch) in front of a crowd for your small child, or whether it was a genuine desire for equality---we'll never know. But.....Chris insisted he try a different basketball contest so he could win something for Caleb.

Long story short, Clark won a stuffed shark.

No sooner had we collected all 3 of these abnormally large stuffed animals, the 2 guys said, "Well, we'll see you each at home. We have to go get our bikes."

Here's Abbey pushing our stroller with Scooby, Theo, the white tiger, and Sammie, the shark. We had about a 10-minute walk to the car with everyone staring and pointing at us. I'm still laughing at how funny it was.
Just to underscore once again the size of Theo.......this is a DOUBLE bed!!! I had to cover it's face with a blanket because I screamed when I went in to check on Luke before I went to bed.
Sammie the shark sleeps in Caleb's room. Many thanks to Clark and Abbey for their help in keeping equality in our house---now Luke, Caleb, and I all get to sleep with overgrown animals. Ha!

Sweet victories at the fair......

For the past 2 years, my husband has tried and tried to win Luke a toy at the fair. He was pretty nervous this year as he stepped up to the stand to hit his 2 out of 4 shots on a tilted basketball goal. Rest assured, however, that there was ice running through his veins this afternoon. The winds stopped and the crowd hushed as he made his first shot. Then, when he hit his second, utter joy and jubilation ran throughout all of Oxford.
Luke quickly picked out the (HUGE) tiger he wanted. It was Chris' crowning moment as a father. Will he ever reach this great height again?
Our good friends, Clark and Abbey, were there to witness the momumental occassion. With the pressure of Chris' win, Clark hung back a minute to revisit his own strategy for winning a dirty, obscenely large, stuffed animal.

And, of course, Clark won one too!! It was so large, nobody had to ask, "Scooby-Dooby Doo, where are you?"

St. Giles Fair

This was our 3rd annual St. Giles Fair. Here's some background on the fair (from the city council's website):
The Fair evolved from the St Giles' parish wake of the early seventeenth century, which later became known as St Giles' Feast.In the 1780s it was a "toy" fair (selling miscellaneous cheap and useful wares), and by 1800 it had become a general fair to entertain children.From the 1830s there were amusements for adults as well. By the end of the nineteenth century there were several proposals to close it, as it had become too rowdy and licentious. In 1930 the city corporation (now the city council) took over the control of the fair.

Luke on the fire truck (he got a hair cut just a few hours before). On the 'lady bird'