Harper brought homework home for the first time last night. I let him have his quiet time as soon as he got home but as soon as it hit 4:30pm it was time to break out the homework.
He didn’t know he’d brought homework home so he was curious when I told him he had some to do. As soon as I read him the instructions for Monday night’s work, he was excited and ready to start. Not only did he finish Monday’s homework, he also finished Tuesday and Wednesdays assignments! (With the exception of the days of the week, all the writing is his own.)
He finished Thursday nights homework this morning when he came downstairs and was upset when I told him there wasn’t anything left for him to do! Haha! I sure hope his enthusiasm lasts through high school!
I found Landon’s school pictures on the floor of his bedroom one morning this week. I can’t believe how awesome they are this year!
I came across this on my Facebook newsfeed…
School was closed for Yom Kippur on Wednesday so we made a trip out to Snapology. Originally it was just supposed to be me and the two little kids meeting up with Colin and Wyatt and their momma, but Zoe needed me to pick her up from the mechanic because she didn’t want to wait there while her brakes were replaced, and Tony ended up taking the day off…so it was a big group of us who showed up! Landon was the only one missing and he had hours and hours of beauty sleep to catch up on. After playing with Lego’s for an hour or so we split up for lunch but then we ended up having Colin over to play at the house. Those boys had such a great time playing! They played Lego’s (again) bad guys, cars, and outside on the play set and trampoline. Colin didn’t want to go home when his mom came to get him…success!
While Harper and Dakota had Colin to play with Zoe and I did some string art. I bought a kit at Target awhile ago and have been meaning to pull it out. It was a fun project!
We bought passes for Six Flags next year and in order to get all the “gold” card benefits you have to visit the park once before the closing of the current season. So, Sunday afternoon, after all the chores we needed to do were done, we hopped in the van and took off for a little fun.
The park is getting all prepped for Fright Fest but it doesn’t begin until Sept 26th. Landon can hardly wait to go!
The line for the carousel was REALLY long so we went over to the tea cups. Harper loves rides like that but for some reason he didn’t want to get on it, so Tony and Dakota rode it. Landon and I can’t stand the spinning so we were happy to stay off that one.
Next up was the pirate ship. This time the boys rode while Dakota and I waited. Landon absolutely hated it and said he’d never ride it again! Harper, on the other hand, loved it!
I told Tony I wanted to try to find the little hot air balloon ride that we’d ridden with Zoe and Landon years ago. Initially we couldn’t figure out where they’d moved it, but when Landon and I went to find his friend that was also at the park, we happened upon it. (Landon never did meet up with his friend, they kept missing each other.)
That’s Superman in the background. I rode that years ago and it was really fun…Landon refuses to try it so far.
Anyways, we got our chance on the hot air balloons and when we were getting off Harper said “well, that was really boring.” He was right, it was boring, but it’d been many years since we’d ridden it and I hadn’t remembered!
While we were up in the air Harper spotted a playground so I headed there with the little kids while Tony and Landon took off for the Mind Eraser. The kids were perfectly happy running around in that playground but when I was tired of standing there I proposed we go ride one more thing before Tony and Landon got back. I gave them a few options of rides nearby and they ended up choosing the little helicopter ride.
The ride itself was fine, but the guy who was running it was awful. He was in no hurry to do anything at all. Ever. He basically moseyed around like he was on vacation while everyone stood in line waiting on him. He’d very slowly walk around to each door to check that it was closed properly, and then once he’d checked each door, he’d walk to the gates to make sure they too were secure. He’d eventually make it over to the booth to start the ride where he’d barely pay any attention to what was going on. Then, when the ride stopped, he’d go through the agonizingly slow process all over again. It was absolutely maddening how slow he moved. There was even one point where another employee walked by and he completely stopped what he was doing to yell out to her as she walked by. She responded and kept going but he just stood there watching her walk away before he finally snapped out of it and went back to his SLOW work.
I could go on about this guy and how he was also rude and hard to understand (because he had his necklace covering his mouth while he barked “how many?!” at the kids in line) but I won’t because I’m annoyed just thinking about it.
We left the park around 5:30, half and hour before closing to avoid traffic. It was a decent day at the park but I’d still much rather go during the week as soon as they open to avoid such huge crowds!
Saturday morning we all got up and headed out to do some apple and peach picking. We went last year for the first time and enjoyed it so much that we knew we wanted to do it again this year. The skies were a bit overcast but it was nice out and it never rained. It cleared up in the afternoon and turned into a beautiful albeit hot day.
Harper requested I take his picture by these giant tires. :)
Once we had all the apples and peaches we could carry we paid (8 pounds apples, 7 pounds peaches $24 total) and headed to the Johnny Appleseed festival that was just down the road. The first order of business was lunch. There were cheeseburgers (not very good) sausages (not that good either) hot dogs (okay for a hot dog) and fries as well as other offerings. The food wasn’t disgusting but they sure could do a little better. While Tony and Landon ordered everything, Harper, Dakota and I wandered around a bit before finding a table.
After eating it was time to have some fun!
I missed Dakota and Tony coming down the slide because just as I was about to take a picture a little boy ran right in front of them and I thought for sure they were going to take him out. That little boy got lucky though and made it by just in time.
Harper was too excited about the hay bale maze to go down the slide again so we all headed to the maze. I wasn’t feeling so good for some reason though and I ended up finding some shade to sit in while they explored the maze. I wish I’d have gotten better pictures because they sure had fun in there.
This picture cracks me up! Landon’s head sticking out of the top just looks funny!
When they’d finally had enough of the maze the boys did the duck races and Dakota climbed on the tire mountain.
Next up was the tractor ride:
Landon’s just a wee bit too big for the tractor ride so he took a break on the tire mountain…
The kids spotted the little goats and headed that way while I took the opportunity to go inside and sit awhile. I still wasn’t feeling great and the heat wasn’t helping at all. So, I handed the camera to Tony and went in.
Here’s some of the pictures he took:
We bought some apple cider donuts (delicious) an apple pie, some apple cider (I liked it!) and a couple squares of crumb cake. Harper couldn’t wait another minute to eat a peach, so he had one on the drive home.
It was a great day and I imagine we’ll be back again next year!
Today was Dakota’s third speech meeting and it went wonderfully. She really likes the therapist and Kota does a great job listening and trying to emulate what the therapist says. Today we played Candy Land and each time she moved she had to practice an ending sound. We focused on the endings “p”, “ck”, “m”, “t” and “b”. These were pretty tough but she can do “m” as a beginning or ending sound fairly well. We’ll have to work on the rest.
When Dakota and I left her speech session we saw a bunch of kids coming in from the playground. I had a suspicion that we might run into Harper (which I didn’t know if it would be a good or bad thing) and I had no more than opened the door when he spotted us. He gave me the strangest look and said “mama?” I said hello to him and he just said “mama?” again. He was so confused to see me there that he didn’t even know what to say! I didn’t get to talk to him as his teacher was trying to get all the kids inside and he seemed so confused I just told him I’d see him at home and Dakota and I left.
Dakota ran ahead of me on the way home from the school bus this morning and she came running back to tell me she saw a funny worm. As I got closer to the “worm” I saw that it wasn’t a worm at all but the tiniest snake I’ve ever seen! I don’t know what kind of snake it was but it wasn’t very happy to see us!
Landon participated in his first cross country event this afternoon. His school holds the Old Mill Running Festival annually and they do a few different running events for anyone in his school who wants to participate. Landon ran the 5K but there was also a relay and a mile walk that he could have done. He said he was able to finish and he thinks he placed somewhere in the middle of the group. I guess we’ll find out more on Monday.
One of the very best parts of my day is greeting Harper as he gets off the bus. He is always the first one off and he comes running to me for a big hug. (He always hugs Dakota too!) It’s the best! I figured I’d better get it on video before he tires of the whole thing…I wish it would last forever, but I guess it would look strange if he did that getting off the bus when he’s Landon’s age and size!
After playing with Lego’s for an hour or so we split up for lunch but then we ended up having Colin over to play at the house. Those boys had such a great time playing! They played Lego’s (again) bad guys, cars, and outside on the play set and trampoline. Colin didn’t want to go home when his mom came to get him…success! 
