Fire Department Open House

We went to the local Fire Departments Open house and it was AWESOME! It happened to tie right in with what we were doing for scouting and for school too. Plus, we got little plastic hats, always a win.

Going down the fireman pole was a big hit. Seriously. Big. Hit. John wanted to know why we didn't have one at home.


Everyone loved the ride on the fire truck. I was pretty proud of myself for braving the heights. I think I got a little dizzy way up there.


The fire hoses were a close second to the fire pole. After John had his turn with the hose, he ran right in front of the other hose, narrowly avoiding being soaked. The firefighter manning the hose almost died laughing. They were SO sweet to us, I was so impressed. The Firemen went way out of their way to show the kids a good time.






John was asked by the fireman "How often does your mommy change the smoke detector batteries?" John says "Not Much!" Thanks for ratting me out punk.


Chloe was chosen from the crowd to test out the fire extinguisher.

We got to see the helicopter land, really really close. I managed to hang onto the balloons through that, but then lost them at the park. Ironic, no?

Renest 2009

Your eyes aren't deceiving you, those are satyr horns. Because we ARE that nerdy family, we now own multiple pairs. We may have to wear them to Thanksgiving dinner in order to get our monies worth!


























Chloe wasn't afraid of anyone in a costume, John and Emma were a little more cautious. She cracked me up. After the parade, she came over and had a haul of things people had given to her, magic rocks, pins, flowers, little toys. She also nailed her regal, queenly wave.


The sturdy beggars were such a hit! They jumped in the mud through their comedy routine, John laughed out loud over it.





The Falconer was, as always, a huge hit. A new bird debuted Saturday, it was his first show ever. He was a little owl who had been found covered in fire ants, even his eyes had been bitten. Up until this year he had been blind. But his vision was restored and this was his first official flight. The girls were so moved by his story, when he took his first flight over the audience both girls jumped to their feet clapping their hands. Chloe whistled in glee for the owl. Chloe loved the birds, but she kept a pretty close eye on that hawk when we were taking the photo.




John caught Mommy and Daddy kissing, what a look!


Brian found his favorite treat, warm cinnamon almonds. The gentleman said, "Madame, I have your husband's nuts and I have put them in a sack for you". Really?

Brian bought rings for all his girls. I love my puzzle ring. The very first ring Brian ever gave me, or maybe I confiscated was a silver puzzle ring from Turkey. It had an unfortunate accident, I was so excited to see it replaced!




John played baby bird for Emma to feed him Kettle corn.

Chloe played the Pan's flute she chose as a souvenir. She is really quite good.

To start the fireworks show, they lit the field on fire, john was entranced

The fireworks were unanimously the kids favorite!

General Chaos and getting out the door, Organized? NOT!

I got an email (which is very flattering for little 'ole me) from someone who thought from reading the blog that I was "so organized". I remembered that email this weekend when we were in a mad scramble through WalMart.

Saturday we went to the Renfaire. We had tickets for months and months. The week before I had unpacked all of our fall weather gear, the jackets, scarves, long sleeved shirts and such.

Saturday

6am: we woke up

7am: we were ready to go! on the dot, for us that is practically a miracle! We were so excited to be on time, for once. When we were leaving the house I asked Brian if we should bring jackets. The weather man had said a high of 74, so we figured it would warm up once we got there. Yeah... not so much. The weather man hadn't factored in wind, and really cold drizzle.

9am: Instead of parking on the renfest grounds, we were traipsing around WalMart in a mad rush grabbing Winter gear off the racks. Winter gear we already have, in duplicate sitting at home in our closets.

9:45 am We left the store, but had to go back in for potty breaks.

10:30am we arrive at Renfest, thankfully, alternately kicking ourselves and laughing at ourselves. But boy were we glad we stopped, it was COLD, it would have been miserable without it. Thankfully, we stopped and had a wonderful time!

Organized.... not so much..

Herman park

The one thing I really love about homeschooling is the freedom we have to take advantage of all the events around town.

Friday we took off to Miller Outdoor Theater with our friends the Ischys. The Houston Grand Opera presentation of "How Nanita Learned to make Flan". The kids really enjoy these performances, and of course they enjoy getting together with friends. I was especially impressed that John paid attention to the show and only complained once that there wasn't a playstation 2 there.

After that we walked through Herman Park to the splash pad. Mommy forgot that it had rained heavily the night before, so it was really interesting traipsing down the once dirt, now mud paths. Note to self: coolers on wheels don't roll well caked with mud. We spent alot of time giggling over that.

Once we got to the splash pad, we found a lost dog. You can see him, and the police officer we had to call in the last picture. Thank goodness there was another woman there who recently lost her dog and wanted to take this one home. I am a bleeding heart for stray animals, and I felt like we narrowly escaped coming home with a fluffly white little dog!