Fall Break

We spent most of our Fall Break enjoying the outdoors. The weather was beautiful and there is just something so refreshing about being outside soaking in nature!

 Thursday we went hiking up at Osage Hills with some friends.

 

Katelyn enjoyed her freedom when she wasn't being carried. And Austin caught a frog.

We hiked to the river, ate lunch, and played at the playground. It was perfect!

Then we spent Friday and Saturday camping out at Natural Falls State Park with Jeff and Andrea's family, Brian and Angie's family, and my parents.

After getting our tents set up, we took the short hike to the dripping springs.

And during our hike we ran across some soccer friends from home.



After a game of Frisbee golf, we cooked foil dinners over the hot coals.

They tasted delicious.
And we ended our evening with s'mores over the campfire! Yummy!! 



The kids had fun spending time with their cousins. The girls spent most of their time at the playground area and the boys spend lots of time playing soccer or baseball at the open field.

Not the easiest environment for these babies but they did great and went along with the flow.

Playing together in one of the tents.

I wasn't sure how the kids would do sleeping overnight especially because it got pretty chilly into the low 40's overnight. But they did great (better than mom and dad)!

My parents made pancakes, bacon, and eggs for breakfast. Plus they made hot chocolate which tasted so good and helped keep us warm during the morning chill. It was a fun weekend getaway!

OSU vs. Iowa State

 When a Saturday suddenly became free with no soccer or other commitments, Craig jumped on the opportunity to go to an OSU football game.

 They all headed to Stillwater plenty early to eat lunch, watch the parade,

and enjoy the pre-game atmosphere.

 There was lots of fun things set up for the kids to enjoy.

 And the boys enjoyed playing a little football themselves before the game started.

 Game time!

It was a exciting game towards the end and OSU pulled off the victory winning 38-31.

They had a great time and will definitely have to do it again next year!

The Bruin Mile

Austin participated in the Bruin Mile for the first time this year. I told Austin he is not competing against anybody else but himself and just encouraged him to do his best.

 Ready, Get Set, Go!!

 Go Austin!

 Go Klayton!

 Crossing the finish line at a 7:33 minute mile! Faster than anything I could ever do!!

Austin finished 12th out of the 136 4th/5th graders that participated from the Bartlesville schools.

Great job buddy!

More September Stuff

 Playing around in between Austin's soccer games. These girls are always such good sports about entertaining themselves while at their brother's soccer games.

 Yumm! Yumm!

 Brooklyn's first time at the dentist. She was the perfect patient and had no cavities!!

 Abby making herself right at home.

 The summer weather wasn't in any hurry to change so on Sept 9th we went down to the neighborhood pool for one last swim.

 

 We had a few days of cooler weather so I jumped at the opportunity to take the girls to the zoo.

 Katelyn was more interested in the hay than the goats.

Super cute picture of Brooklyn and her Uncle Todd at Mikayla's baptism.

The 3 of us participated in the 180 Run together. It was Austin's first timed 5K and he finished with a time of 27:43 which is pretty great! Especially considering that he had already run 3 miles at school that day for the Wayside walk-a-thon.

And we spent the last night of September sleeping in a tent in the backyard. I actually slept inside the house with Katelyn but Craig and these kiddos slept in the tent we got for Christmas last year that we hadn't used it. They took turns telling ghost stories before going to bed and I guess Craig told one a little too spooky cause a couple of the kids told him they were scared. So then they told funny ones. They enjoyed themselves and everyone made it through the night okay. 

Looks like it's time to do some real camping!!

Wayside Walk-A-Thon

It's that time of year again. The kids always look forward to the Wayside walk-a-thon where they are given 20 minutes to do as many laps as they can to help raise money for the school. 

And there they go! Perfectly trained to smile when they see mom with the camera. Ha!

Austin did 24 laps which comes out to 3 miles in 20 minutes. He did awesome!

Mikayla also did great and ran 20 laps. And Brooklyn was the best cheerleader!