I know that back in May, Kayleigh got a medal for finishing this race, but today she actually ran a whole race. We told her beforehand that she was allowed to run or walk, but she couldn't stop. I know we stopped once to put on her sweatshirt, I think she walked for a minute, and one time she sat down, but that was because she had seen some other girls do it. She finished the race in 17 minutes. Wow! The race was at Jack's church (Kayleigh's friend). There was a character there to cheer everyone on. I think people were calling him BB, so that's the name we'll go with. Kayleigh saw him before we started the race (he was at the starting line) and she started to freak out. She's not big on people dressed up in huge constumes like that. We thought she wasn't going to run at first. Erik had to carry her past the starting line before she would let him put her down for her to run. She did so well, and at the end of the race, we had to run through the church's parking lot to get to the finish line. Thankfully, the sun was in Kayleigh's eyes, so she couldn't see BB standing at the finish line. I was behind Kayleigh a couple of feet trying to signal to BB to get out of her line of vision. She made it until about 10 feet before the finish line before she saw him and did an about face to try to run in the opposite direction. I held her hand and got her to go past him. Later, Erik and Kayleigh talked about BB and not being afraid of him. After Erik ran the 5K, she went up to him and gave him a high five. After the two races, the church had a Fall Festival, so we went over there to play for awhile. You need to watch the video of Kayleigh going down the huge slide. Erik and I thought for sure she was going to freak out at the top, but she did great, and then wanted to go again! We were hungry from all of the excitement, so we decided to finish off the morning's fun with lunch at Chick-Fil-A. YUM!
Jenna had an idea to take the kids to a local fire station to see the trucks and talk to some firefighters. Jack is into it, so Jenna asked if I thought Kayleigh would like it as well. Kayleigh likes anything Jack does, so we were definitely up for the outing. Jenna also wanted to make a cookie cake and have the kids decorate it for the firemen as a thank you for letting us come by and for all of their work. When we got to the fire station, a lady firefighter pulled out a truck and showed the kids all of the different parts of the truck. I think most of it went right over their heads, but it was still interesting. She asked if Kayleigh and Jack wanted to climb up in the truck. Kayleigh said yes, and went running for the truck. Then she heard Jack say no, so she changed her mind. Later we were able to get Jack to get in the truck, but I think he didn't like how high it was, so didn't want to stay long. They did like getting into the volunteer fire truck. It was much smaller and less intimidating. Jack wanted to go see the ambulance, so we were able to look inside of it and she told us about all of the tools they keep in it. Kayleigh asked Jack if he wanted to get in it and started marching up to climb in. Unfortunately, they weren't allowed to get in it because the EMTs weren't there to supervise and the lady didn't want to get in trouble. At the end, the kids got Junior Firefighter stickers and coloring books. I know they had fun, and Kayleigh is already asking when we can go back.
We made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday. I was frustrated because the kids didn't want to smile AND look at the camera for pictures. I think I got a couple of good ones, though. We ended up staying a little longer than we planned since we ran into some friends, and Kayleigh wanted to stay and play. Once the ponies were unloaded, we had to stay and wait in line for Kayleigh to have her chance to ride one. I don't think she wanted to ride the smallest one, but I had warned her that was a good possibility, and that was the one she ended up on. I knew once the ride started she would be fine, and of course she loved it! Some day we'll have to get her on a horse that does something other than walk around in circles. :)
Brian had his 12 month appointment today and it went well. He's 26.6 pounds, putting him at the 90th percentile for weight. I'm glad that he's gained a couple of pounds because he was 24 pounds at 6 months! He's also 31 inches tall, which is the 80th percentile for height. It looks like he's going to be tall like his Daddy! Thank goodness because I do NOT want him to be short like me! On the plus side, Briand didn't get any immunizations today. On the down side, it's because he has an ear infection. He got a cold this last weekend, and the doctor thinks that the ear infection is a result of that. He'll go back to the doctor in 3 weeks to make sure the medicine worked on his little ear, and if it's all cleared up, he'll get his shots that day. Hopefully this will be a quick fix, unlike Kayleigh who suffered from ear infections for months when she was a baby. Jenna and I took the kids to a state park to watch the Monarch butterfly migration today. We must have really worn them out because it's almost 5:00 PM and both of my kids are still asleep!!! Ahhh!!! Enjoy the quiet! :) P.S. I just checked Kayleigh's growth chart to see when she measured 31 inches. I didn't have any on that in mark, but she was 32 inches at TWO YEARS OLD!!! Brian is almost a whole year ahead of her!
Erik and I decided that we wanted to take a vacation, but not anywhere too far from home. We went to Atlanta last weekend, leaving Thursday before 2PM and returning Sunday around 6. It was the perfect amount of time to be away from home. Kayleigh loved staying in the hotel and sleeping on the pull-out couch. We stayed in a 1 bedroom suite so that Erik and I wouldn't have to go to bed at the same time as the kids, although I think we were all in bed and asleep at the same time on Saturday night! Here's a breakdown of the weekend: Thursday evening: We got to the hotel around 8, checked everything out and got the kids into bed. Not too exciting...
Friday: We took the kids to the Georgia Aquarium. Both of them loved seeing the fish. The Aquarium is AMAZING, and I'm so glad we went! I'm just sorry that Brian won't remember it, because I'm sure it's going to be awhile before we make it back there again. My favorite part was the penguins. Kayleigh liked the touch pool with the sharks and stingrays. She also liked watching the scuba diver cleaning one of the tanks! I HIGHLY recommend it if anyone is debating whether or not to go. We got the kids back for naps that afternoon, and that evening just went over to the mall for some quick dinner, because Erik and I were too tired to sit for long at a restaurant. Pitiful, huh? Especially since it was really the one night we could have taken advantage of going to a restaurant that's not local.
Saturday: We weren't really sure what to do in the morning, but finally decided to go to Ikea. Who wouldn't want to spend their Saturday morning there?? My favorite buy was an egg slicer. I've wanted one for awhile, although I've never looked very hard for one. After another round of naps, we took the kids over to Stone Mountain to ride to the top of the mountain and then stay for the laser show. Brian was ready for bed, but couldn't sleep, so he didn't really enjoy it so much. Kayleigh liked the laser show, but didn't like the accompanying fireworks.
Sunday: We ate breakfast at the hotel and then packed up and got ready to leave. Before leaving Atlanta, though, we went over to Centennial Park so the kids could play for awhile and get rid of some energy before the 5 hour drive home. We had kind of decided not to let Kayleigh play in the fountains because we didn't bring any towels with us. Of course, that wouldn't do for her, and eventually we let her play in them in her clothes. She air dried on the way back to the car and we got her into some dry clothes. Erik was brave enough to go in with her, so he also had to change back at the car.
We had a wonderful time away from home, and we are excited to go on another family vacation. I think these shorter vacations are much better for us than longer ones. It's just the right amount of time to be away from home and our responsibilities. I will say that I already miss being somewhere else where people come in and clean my room, cook my meals and wash my dishes!
I realized yesterday that I can download pictures onto this computer, so I can show you pictures from the weekend.
We had family over Saturday night to celebrate Brian's birthday. Kayleigh couldn't understand why Brian got 3 birthday parties. (We celebrated in Jacksonville, had muffins on his actual birthday and then Saturday night.) I told her that she has had multiple birthday parties before, especially when she was in school. Jenna gave me the idea to do tacos for everyone, and it was a hit. Brian did quite a number on his cake, although I think he got some help finding the cake under all of the icing. He let him go at it for a few minutes before I decided I better take it away from him. Amanda helped me wipe him down, so he didn't get a bath until after the party. I realized last night that I can't post pictures yet. We are borrowing a computer from Erik's work because the screen on our laptop is broken. We're shipping it off to get fixed, but in the mean time, I can't pull up pictures from my camera because this computer won't allow you to attach USB cables. So, I hope the description will be enough for now.
