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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween


Happy Halloween, Power Ranger style.


The boys are Power Ranger crazy right now.  


Especially Ben.


Sword fights are standard weeknight entertainment lately, but they were very serious tonight in full regalia.  I'm surprised we got any pictures that aren't just a total blur.  They were sooo excited about Halloween and were ready to go get that candy!


Ben insisted that he be the green ranger, which they only sell at one store and in sizes way too big for him.  It took some serious hemming to get him in that costume.


Oh my gosh it was a nightmare painting Ben's face.  He sat so still for the nice lady at the pumpkin patch when he got his face painted, but he couldn't stand it when I was doing it. Of course, I don't think it helped much that he'd refused to eat dinner before we got started.  He wanted it done so badly though! He kept making me stop so he could go look in the mirror.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Plano Balloon Festival


We took the boys to the Plano Balloon Festival at then end of September.  We left the house around 5:30 a.m.  That is super early for me considering I'm usually not up before 7 a.m. and am known to sleep until 9 or 10 on the weekends sometimes.  I was concerned about getting the boys out of bed that early, but I just had to whisper donuts and they popped up.



The balloon "glow" started around 6:30 a.m.  If I remember correctly, that bright "star" to the left of the balloon above is Venus.






It got really cold just before the sun came up.





The City of Plano balloon was the first to take off.












There was a box wind that morning that pushed the balloons out over the crowd as the took off, and once they were a little higher push them back out over the field.  It was great because all the balloons got to spend a lot of time over the crowds for some great pictures.


Chris took this awesome picture of one of the balloons as the sun was rising.




Benny was making friends.  They didn't really want to play "Hulk smash" with him though.


The special shaped balloons are always a lot of fun.




Once most of the balloons had taken off they let the crowd on the field to explore.








The strange wind was posing a challenge for this balloon.  It had taken off elsewhere and was supposed to come in and land on the field.  It seemed like they were trying for the parking lot instead, but that was a no-go too.


A little early morning tree climbing and bark picking never hurts!

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Zoo Membership


One gorgeous day in September we went to the zoo.


We bought a zoo membership this past Spring, but had not been back since.


One of the best parts of the membership is that the kids can ride the carousel as many times as they want.  


And Mommy can just drink her coffee!!!


Is there an eagle on my butt?


Pure joy


In the new lorikeet exhibit ... gosh, Mom, take the picture already!


I'm going to have to start taking more pictures of Ben twirling his hair and sucking his thumb before he grows out of it.


Heck yeah, I want to ride a camel!


Hmm, okay maybe not!
 

Ghosts from the Bayou


Awesome exhibit at the reptile house with albino alligators, snakes, turtles, etc.



Why did I not know there was a whole group of reptiles called monitors?


Once the boys figured out all of the snake tanks were like a look and find puzzle, they were super excited about looking for the snakes.


Ginormous snake


Chris's favorite - clawed frog


My favorite - frog toes


The other great part about having a zoo membership is not feeling like you have to rush around and do everything in one day!  I can't wait to go back!