Fall is in the air

Fall is in the air- it is nice and cool outside today, the leaves are beginning to change, and our lives are spent outside everyday trying to enjoy the weather as much as posible until the inevitable long winter rolls around where we will stay inside for the next 7 months.

Jayda started pre-school a few weeks ago and loves it. She gets to go 3 mornings a week to the elementary school where they teach pre-school also. It is fun to see her interact and learn from them and she looks forward to going everyday she can.

First day of school




Both Jayda and Addison are taking some "dance" classes. Of course Addison doesn't really dance much, or do anything in the class but watch, but she thinks it is so much fun to put on her leotard and go. We bought her the smallest ballet shoes possible, and they were still two inches too big. Jayda on the other hand does dance and run around in the class. She enjoys the ballet, tap, and the tumbling that are part of each class. I know you are wondering what I do while they are in dance- I walk back and forth between classes and watch the girls, and pity the poor parents trying to control the toddlers that aren't in dance. That is the main reason Addison is in dance.





We got together with some of Todd's residents and went bowling last week. First time that Jayda has ever bowled and she thought it was fun to roll the ball down. When she tried to roll it by herself it barely made it down the lane, so we found this cool ball rolling thing for kids and she loved it (and we didn't have to help her)!



Some other miscellaneous activities these past few weeks:

Playing at a nearby area called "Teddy Bear Park"


Fall bike rides in the leaves. She loves to ride her bike everyday and won't stop asking when we get to go again. She has already worn through a full tire (and tube) and we had to buy a new one. She just keeps on riding....


This is what Addison does when we turn our backs. She is trouble, and keeps climbing up to play with any computer or anything else she knows is off limits.

Taxes...

I'm not really into politics, and never really get into the issues or battles much, so I am surprised that I even want to post about something political. I am sure many of you have watched the democratic and republican conventions, and that you have your opinions on the various issues, etc....
Today I came across this chart about the different tax plans of McCain and Obama. It compares the income of an individual and how the tax plans of each candidate would effect that income. I thought it was interesting and maybe you will too....

Labor Day Fun

A quick report on our Labor Day weekend. We decided to take a trip up to the city of Duluth, Minnesota and explore some of the area up there. It is about 2.5 hours north of us on the coast of Lake Superior. It is a very industrial city with a lot of shipping business on large ocean going ships. It was fun to see all the boats and the size of some of them.

The real highlight of our trip was all of the State Parks we visited. We went to 3 different parks and they were all beautiful. We took our bikes and rode them everyday in the parks and got to see a lot of great scenery that way.

The girls enjoyed riding in the bike trailer and were happy most of the time (except when Addison would pull Jayda's hair)



One of the parks we went to had some nice waterfalls that you could hike around and get close to.






We even brought Jayda's bike and let her ride on the path for part of the time. She did awesome and loved it, but after about 2 miles she got tired and wanted to stop and ride in the trailer with Addison. She was hot and sweaty, but so happy that she rode her bike so far and so well.






We had to tie her bike on the back and finish our 12 mile ride with it hanging off like this.




After all of the hiking, biking, and sightseeing the girls were pooped. They were both dead asleep when we finally stopped.



Lake Superior has a beautiful shore. It seemed to be quite rocky in the area where we were, but very scenic and nice.



Our last day we stopped by the local ski resort and hiked around a little. It is nothing like the ski resorts out west of course, but this had a nice view of the lake and some good area for the girls to run around.