Labor Day Week-end

We kicked off Fall with a nice visit from Oma and Opa; although we had some hot weather on Friday/Saturday, it cooled down quickly on Sunday and Monday. We biked downtown to the market on Saturday where both kids got soaked running through the fountain. We continued the water theme and had a picinic dinner at Sandy point beach in the afternoon. The water was a bit cold, but it was nice to get out of the heat. Sunday we took a walk on the green belt and while the kids were napping, Opa took Grady and I down the river on our canoe. There are three drops on the river which everyone, but Grady were nervous about in the canoe. We made the first one and the second, but didn't have such luck on the third. When we go to the top of the drop and look down, straight down, we knew we were in trouble. Even though we survived the drop a wave poured into the boat and quickly filled it up with water. Both Opa and Grady bailed out; I managed to stay in -although it didn't make much difference, I still got soaked. We saved all the gear and climbed back in. Had it been a typical summer day it would have actually felt refreshing, but it was much cooler than normal. Despite our spill it was great fun (we won't be taking the kids for a few more years)!
PHOTOS TO COME.

A Marble Blew Down

Nana and Poppy came to visit us in Boise on a week-end with plenty of fun things going on in town. First, they took us to the Western Idaho fair (well, actually, first they took Annie for a haircut and an ice cream cone). Annie had an absolute blast at the fair and surprisingly did not have a melt down (I say that given all the excitement she packed in and the dinner she skipped in favor of doughnuts, tortatos and french fries - which usually creates a good atmosphere for melt downs). Both the kids fed a bunch of hungry goats, saw cows being milked and baby chickens being hatch (I figured that would leave a imprint that might make vegans of them someday), and pet bunnies. Annie had her first pony ride (some very sad looking mini-ponies tied to those rings that make them walk in circles) and literally was bouncing in her seat like a legit cowgirl. Annie also rode on various fair rides, some all by herself - she seemed to like the fast twirling ones I thought she'd hate, but after she got on, she couldn't stop laughing. Harry, who although he could have probably met the height requirements, was still too little (young) to ride and was a good sport watching his big sister have so much fun. We had been advised by our friends, the Dangs, to make sure to buy a "Tortato" at the fair -- they take an entire potato, put it through a drill of somesort and deep fry it. It comes out in one giant chain of potato chip like goodness which you can dunk in hot sauce -- delicious!
Besides the fair, we all biked down to the "Tour de Fat" celebration and rode in a HUGE bike parade with our bikes decorated -- it was quite the scene as most people decorated themselves instead of their bikes; the kids were pretty good to spend such a long time in their bike trailor and had fun running around with buddy Deuce after the parade.
We also had a BBQ with the Dangs where Annie and Deuce played "pirates" for a good hour or more -- its pretty dang cute to hear little kids say things like, "Arg me matey!"
Nana and Poppy told Annie that they would blow her a kiss from the airplane when they flew over the house -- so, when Annie found a marble in our backyard yesterday, she said: I think it blew down from Nana and Poppy (because they have a chinese checker set complete with a bazillon marbles that Annie loves to play with at their house).