The Circus

 Saturday we took the kids to the Ringling Bros. Circus.  Wow, was that weird: people ice skating on stilts; playing basketball on fire while riding unicycles; doing tricks with alpacas, dogs, pigs, goats, and even donkeys; midgets walking upside down on the scaffolding, etc.  Parker really enjoyed when the kangaroo came out and hopped over some obstacles!

 I wanted to capture a picture of Cameron's mouth hanging open.  At least the kids were not bored!  Plenty of craziness to behold at all times.

I didn't really take many pictures of the act, so here's just one.  The tigers and lions all sat on their stools and then did various tricks where they lined up and jumped over each other.  Pretty impressive, and my favorite part (except for maybe the kangaroo; I liked him, too!).  

Soccer

 It's fall soccer time, and Kenzie and Parker both wanted to play.  Parker's games seem to always feature an early evening rain.  I liked Kenzie under her umbrella, with her owl blanket, reading a book while Parker plays.

Kenzie is in front in the bright green (I heard her teammates joking they should be called, "Neon Christmas" which I liked!).  She likes to spend quite a bit of time chatting with her teammates but she does run after the ball, too, at least!

 Parker is in the very middle of this picture (not near the ball, but I liked how he was keeping an eye on it with his tongue hanging out!).

 And finally, some cute spectators at last Saturday's game.

I get a kick out of these sunglasses with the visor.  Perfect for watching soccer!  (Cameron calls the visor his blast shield, but whatever!)

Jog-a-Thon

Today was the Jog-a-Thon at the elementary school.  The school does a good job really talking up the fundraising, so the kids are always excited.  Parker's class did pretty well.  They would have gone faster if all of Parker's friends didn't stop to say hi to Cameron each lap, but I think they were glad for the breaks!

Parker all hot and tired afterwards!  

We lucked out this year and 6th grade went right after 3rd grade, so I didn't have to come back later.  The 6th graders did not pace themselves well at all.  I tried cheering them along with, "Last Jog-a-Thon ever!" and they seemed to like being reminded of that! 

 Cameron ran laps inside the "track" and then lost interest and started playing with rocks.

 Telling Kenzie, "Good job!" before she left to join her class.  Cameron misses them during the day, so it was fun to go see what they were up to.

Meet Duchess

Friday night we got a cat, Duchess, from the Humane Society.  The kids were SO excited.  She was quite nervous and spent all of Friday night hiding under our bed.  This picture is from Saturday morning when she emerged for a bit to scope out Kenzie's room.  

Kenzie brushing her.  They both enjoyed this!

This one made me laugh.  I didn't expect Cameron to be so enamored!

 Here was this morning.  Duchess was hanging out in the box, and Cameron sat there and told her all sorts of things. "Hi, Duchess!  I love you!  I am just a big boy.  I go to preschool ..." Duchess, for her part, just listened.  She is already a well loved cat!

Because We're Silly

 Parker with no hands at the wheel, and Kenzie going for a stroll...

... oh no!  We were highly amused with ourselves.  I sure like my silly kiddos.

Labor Day

Cameron in his sunglasses, getting ready to head to Grandma & Grandpa's for Labor Day, and his birthday celebration with the Arnolds. 

Parker and Cameron getting ready for one last swim in the lake for the year.  (Kenzie swam, too, but for only a few minutes!  It was getting chilly already.)

 Cameron got out the doctor kit and entertained all the older girls throughout dinner.  He checked Camille and told her, "You have 'it's bad!'" They laughed and laughed about that.

 All ready for birthday pie time.  Cameron was very excited to see that #4 candle again!  

He loved being sung to!  Tatum and Madeleine were celebrating their birthdays as well, which sure muddled up the ending of the song, but he was still happy. 

Excitedly checking out his presents.  He loved everything and had a great time, which was cute.  So ends summer!

Soldier Hollow Classic

Saturday we went to Heber to the Soldier Hollow Classic Sheepdog Championship, something random that Chris had always wanted to go see.  

The actual sheepdog portion was kind of slow for the kids.  The dogs and sheep were far away up the hill for most of the time, and it wasn't as impressive to them as it was for us adults to watch.  They were pretty patient because we brought lots of snacks, though!

They were happier to watch the other shows.  Here Cameron was getting a better vantage point to see over the crowd for the dog show.  They caught frisbees and did other tricks.  Kenzie and Parker talked about it for a long time afterward!

The Splash Dog competition was kind of fun to watch.  Some of the dogs went bonkers and flew into the pool, and others were cautious and barely flopped in after hesitating.   

As we were about to leave, Chris overheard someone saying you could pet an owl at one of the booths.  We could not leave before finding that for our resident owl-lover, McKenzie.  She was thrilled just to be next to the owl (I loved the sideways glance Cameron was giving it!).

 The sun was in my eyes so I wasn't doing a great job with picture taking, and didn't get one when Kenzie was actually touching the owl, but she did get to stroke the feathers on its chest, and was giddy the rest of the day because of it!