The Kansas State Fair

We went to the Kansas State Fair in the middle of September and had a great time. It was a Monday (dollar day!), but since we homeschool, that was our field trip for the week!

We checked out some of the many animals at the fair.

 Goats!

Dominic thought the piano you played only by pumping your feet was pretty cool.

Anthony tried it, too.

What are we waiting for?

The tiger show!

The tigers did lots of neat tricks, but the show was rather short.

This tiger walked from one platform to another using only two ropes.

On the 100th anniversary of Ye Old Mill, we rode it for the first time.

First, I went with the older kids in case it was too scary for Anthony (it wasn't).

Animated skeleton monster right at the entrance.

I think they liked it!

Anthony rode on a roller coaster his size.

The girls and Anthony rode on the spinning strawberries.

Waiting in line for a bigger roller coaster.

There we go!

Catherine, Dominic, Joseph, Anthony, and I rode on the giant Ferris Wheel.

No seat belts on this ride.

Going up high.

Looking out over the Midway.

Zoomed in to see Daddy and Anne down below.

Anne and Joseph on a crazy fast ride.

Do they look wiped out?

Not quite.  We had enough energy to walk over and watch the chain-saw artist at work.

He carved a bear using only his chain-saw.  It only took about 30 minutes.

On the way out, we spotted this big guy.  He did a little song and dance.

Fourth of July 2015

Okay, so I am 3 months behind, but better late than never, right?

Stopping for a slushy break while shopping for fireworks.

Anthony was allowed to shoot off firecrackers for the first time!

He did not blow anything or anyone up.

Waiting for Daddy to shoot off a parachute.

Joseph got one!

Time for snakes.

On the actual 4th, the boys helped Daddy put up the flag.

The kids and the flag.

More firecrackers.  Guess who got to unravel all those things?

Our dog, Biscuit, was not afraid of fireworks, except for the loudest ones.

Daddy lit the lantern.

There it goes!

Another great 4th of July celebration.

The First Week of June

This year we got our biggest crop of cherries yet:

Most of the crop filled up my biggest silver bowl.

After a long pitting session, the girls and I made...

...cherry jam!

And a cherry pie.

It was good!

We have a bunch of wild mulberry trees near the pond and off into our woodsy area.  I told the kids that if they picked enough mulberries, I would make them some mulberry jam.

And here it is.

We also made some mulberry muffins, which did not last long.

From Monday through Thursday, Dominic and Joseph attended a basketball clinic at the YMCA for 2 hours every afternoon.  They liked having a chance to work on their skills.  While they were at the clinic, I took the rest of the kids to the outside pool each day.

Joseph 

Dominic went for the shot.

At the end of the week, Dan began making batches of homemade silly putty/goop for the kids.  They had a lot of fun with it.

Catherine was able to blow a giant bubble with hers.

They all came to see.

Pop! There it goes!

We began to get a lot of snow peas:

Bucket is full!

That weekend was warm, so the kids played in the sprinkler one afternoon:

Anthony, Joseph, and Anne cooled off.

Head in!