Ringo Starr Halloween Special

Kathryn has been a little under the weather for the past couple of days. I blame it on being around fair people. Her immunity isn't built up as much as Nathan's. He's been to the fair in Rapid City, which is the ultimate in disgustingness. Speaking of fairs, Steve took Nathan back to the fair on Friday and bought wristbands so that they could ride the rides as many times as they wanted. In addition to all the other fave rides, they rode the scrambler 10 times. I think Steve was really just living out his Valley Fair dreams through Nate.

As I mentioned, Kathryn was sick so she didn't get to go with us to Destin Commons for trick-or-treating Saturday night. Nate made quite an impression as he walked down the street dressed as Ringo Starr. Well, he made an impression on everyone in Paw-Paw and Lady's age range. People actually knew he was a Beatle. They asked which one and he proudly told them he was Ringo Starr and that he plays the drums too. He doesn't really play the drums unless you count the little plastic drum he got when he was 18 months old.

Despite the fact that he was going to get a bunch of candy from trick-or-treating, he still asked for a cookie. He can't go to Destin Commons without getting a cookie and I couldn't tell this cute little Ringo Starr no.
They had fireworks to kick off the Halloween celebration.
Ringo walking around begging for candy. (That's just some random girl beside him. Probably a groupie.)
Ringo Starr and Cinderella.

More Halloween celebrating tonight at the Orangefest. Kathryn is feeling better so she gets to get in on the costumes and celebrating too.

Love A Fair

After all Nathan's talk about the Mullet Festival and wanting to go back, we couldn't resist taking him to the Northwest Florida Tri-County Fair in Fort Walton Beach. He gets so excited over stuff
We start Kathryn off with a large lemonade to keep her content while Nathan rides stuff she's too little to ride.
He's not even scared to ride rides by himself now. That's a huge change from last year.
Kathryn admiring the lights. And me admiring her hair, which is why I took the picture. I wish I had her hair.

This is especially shocking. He wanted to ride all the super fast, spinning rides. We had to tell him he wasn't old enough to ride some of them because they looked too scary for him. He didn't think so though. We let him ride this one (which scared Kathryn just from watching it).

Nathan was a good big brother and rode the kiddie elephant ride with Kathryn.

We all had fun, especially Nathan, until we turned into the mean parents and made him choose either popcorn or cotton candy. He wasn't happy about that, but we have to draw the line somewhere. He can't get everything he wants. Or maybe he can... Steve is coming home early from work today to take him back to the fair because he loved it so much. He already has his mind made up that he's getting cotton candy tonight instead of popcorn.

Mullet Festival Again

Paw-Paw and Lady left us Sunday after church, but not before taking a few cute pictures of Nate.
He's usually a sweatpants type of kid, so when they saw him in jeans they couldn't resist making a big fuss over it.

And here's Kathryn. Lady draws dark bushy eyebrows on her all the time when she's putting her make-up on.Lady thinks it's so funny.

After Paw-Paw and Lady left we went to the Mullet Festival because we missed out the day before because Kathryn was sleeping. Well, that reason and the fact that Nathan wouldn't stop talking about it until we agreed to take him back. I'm glad we did because it was a lot of fun. Here we are on the spinning alien ride again.

Nathan can't get enough of fair type rides now. This was his first ferris wheel ride. He loved it.

Poor Kathryn didn't get to ride the ferris wheel, but she was just as happy with her lemonade and bucket-o-fries.
Steve and I are going to have to get second jobs if Nathan continues on with his love of fair rides. We make the mistake of never thinking we need the wristband then we end up spending more than the wristband cost

After Kathryn rode a few rides she was content wandering around with her bucket-o-fries.

As we drove home Nathan was already making plans for our return to the Mullet Festival again next year. In the mean time though, the Northwest Florida Tri-County Fair will help fill his Mullet Festival void.

Part 3: Hip to Zip

After the Mullet Festival we headed out for Lady's birthday surprise from her sister. Months ago Lady was talking with Joe and me and mentioned she would like to do a zip line adventure. We thought she was crazy because that's not really her style. We kept that information in the back of our minds then passed it on to Aunt Ruth.

Unfortunately it was dark by the time we got to Baytowne Wharf so we don't have videos of her actually zipping across the village. Trust me she did it though. I did it with her and almost wet myself when I was up there and saw her walk off the plank. Anything adventuresome isn't usually Lady's thing, which made it hilarious to watch.

Nathan wasn't so sure about this crazy idea. He made sure to kiss Lady before she went up because he thought that might be the last he would ever see of her.
Me too.
Happy little family.
Nathan was wound up after the day of excitement.
Neither kid wanted to leave, so we let them run around like maniacs before heading back to the car (that Mace was patiently waiting for us in).
One thing is for sure, these kids love celebrating birthdays.
There's the party crew (with Paw-Paw on the other side of the camera) who lasted all the way to the end. Those young Haggertys just couldn't keep up with the rest of us and went back to Pensacola before the zip line adventure.

Lady's Birthday Weekend Part 2

I'm finally getting around to Part 2 of Lady's birthday celebration. I've been reminded on a couple occasions that I haven't finished blogging about it. I'll add a little bit to Friday night then move right along into Saturday's events.

Here is more of Lady soaking up the attention.
Jessica cuddled up to the birthday girl.
Jessica really likes Uncle Steve. She actually prefers him over me (and she really likes me).

Nathan performed for Lady just like he said he was going to. He wouldn't sing "Happy Birthday" to her, but instead he sang his own song that he wrote on the spot while he played the drums. It went something like this:

It's not your birthday. [as he looked at each non-birthday person]

It's not your birthday.

It's not your birthday.

It's Lady's birthday.

If it's not your birthday,

Then just wait your turn.
Quite the party.

When the party got too wild for Steve he worked on his tiling project.

What's a party without a good brawl? I bet Kathryn learned her lesson not to carry Jessica's water sippy cup to her while carrying her own juice cup. Jessica's no fool. She knows Kathryn's sippy cups have a splash of juice and she keeps a lookout for them each and every time they're together.

We all crashed after an amazing party and woke up refreshed and ready for an extremely busy Saturday. Paw-Paw and Lady took the the grandkids to the pumpkin patch for some festive fun.
There was a petting zoo there.
Nathan was probably wondering where all the big animals were for him to go lay on and roll around in the hay with like he used to do at Old MacDonald's Farm in South Dakota. (Actually all those trips to Old Mac's Farm were a waste because he doesn't even remember that place. I showed him pictures and he was amazed and thought it looked like fun and he would like to try it out again.)

I wonder what Kathryn's bossy pointer finger is trying to tell that poor goat. I bet Mace knows. She's always waving that finger at him.
Too bad Kathryn never got the chance to visit Old Mac's Farm. She would have loved it.
Paw-Paw probably enjoyed the pumpkin patch considering there were all sorts of photo opportunities.
Thankfully they came home with small pumpkins that I don't have to do anything with. Carving pumpkins isn't my thing. Handing out candy sucks bad too, but if you've ever seen our new house you know the entire house is either french doors or windows. There is no hiding out and pretending like we're not home here.

Then it was back home for a little while before they headed out on their next adventure.
I need to warn Nathan of the dangers of riding a bike in front of Uncle Joe. He might stick a stick in his spokes and send him flying off over the handlebars like he did to our neighbor kid when we were little.

We've got some Nathan photography.Cute picture of Jessica, courtesy of Nathan.
Spending relaxing afternoon on the front porch before it was time to head off to the Mullet Festival.

Kathryn missed out on the Mullet Festival with Paw-Paw and Lady because she was napping, but Nate and Jess had fun.
Nathan definitely had fun there, ice cream and Uncle Joe. He would be happy anywhere with that combination.
Paw-Paw rode the rides with Nathan. All you can see of Nathan is a little blonde head barely above the door.
I hate to leave you in suspense, but that's not even all of Lady's birthday adventures. I'm so tired right now that I wouldn't be able to do the real birthday adventure justice! Look for more in the days to come!

Lady's Birthday Weekend Part 1

Nathan doesn't like to let a birthday go by uncelebrated. Lady was the lucky lady this weekend. She celebrated her 60th birthday with us in Florida. We were on the go all weekend so there is no way I'm going to be able to fit everything into one post. This will be part 1 of Lady's Birthday Weekend. Friday morning she opened up her present that Nate and Kate made especially for her. Of course, Nate unwrapped it for her.
Here are Nate and Kate working on Lady's dinosaur weeks in advance.
Nate will be looking around Paw-Paw and Lady's house next time he's there to make sure these dinosaurs are on display. (Remember when you moved those dogs he painted for you? He made you move them back to the mantle when he was at your house the next time.)
While Kathryn napped, Paw-Paw and Lady took Nathan to Rocky Bayou State Park.
They played on the playground there.
Nathan definitely enjoyed Lady's weekend.
After Kathryn woke up, Paw-Paw, Lady and Nate snatched her up and took her to The Track where they met up with Uncle Joe, Aunt Lexi and Jessica as they were on their way to our house.
Looks like Nathan enjoyed himself.
These kids are becoming regulars at The Track.
Jessica on the swings.
This was Lady's first time at The Track. I bet she's glad to finally see what Nathan has been talking about for months.

Birthday parties are Nate's specialty. He chose a Smurf theme for this particular party.
As soon as the party crew arrived back home, Nathan grabbed the stack of party hats and passed them out. He was in a hurry to get the party started.
Nathan was deciding on which piece of cake he should get. Apparently the party planner gets first dibs on cake.
Remember when Nate's picture face was sticking his fingers in his mouth and pulling the corners back. Well, now it's crossing his eyes. I wish he would go back to the old picture face.
Paw-Paw at the kids table.
Lady letting Kathryn stick her finger in the cake.

More birthday pictures to come. This was anything but a boring weekend!