Fall

It's been a few weeks since I last posted. We've definitely been getting into the swing of things now that school has started. Bryce and Abbi have been having a great year so far--both enjoying school very much. And Cambria is used to having mommy all to herself on school days, too! Rick has been enjoying his classes as well (and thankfully he is only away from home one day a week). He's has also had the opportunity to sub at the school a few times already. And soon beets will start....yep, FALL is here!
On the way home from Grand Forks the other day, we pulled over to take a few pictures of the beautiful fall colors on the trees. It's just gorgeous here with all the trees turning colors. I'm just not looking forward to all the raking that is sure to come!

Our new little nephew

We are SO HAPPY to finally announce that Jenn's sister Heidi had her baby! Jacob McClellan Shannon was born Sept. 5 at 3:53pm, weighing 8lbs 1oz, measuring 20 1/2 inches long. He is very handsome! You did a great job Eddy and Heidi! Congratulations!!

The Zoo

On Monday we decided to have one last hoorah before school started. We took the kids up to the zoo in Winnepeg. It was a really nice zoo and park--we were really impressed. The kids had sooo much fun running from animal to animal, each one as exciting as the last. We saw many types of bears--the favorite being the Polar Bear.
We saw some two-humped camels (as well as the normal one-humped camels, but let's face it, we all love to look at the cool two-humped ones more).
We also saw some zebras, but they weren't too excited to see us. I was lucky to get this shot as they kept turning their backs on us.
And of course, we saw Abbi's favorite--the flamingos!!
There were so many other cool and exciting animals and birds (and snakes and bats). We had a really fun time and can't wait to go again next year.

School Days

Today was the first day of school for the kids. It was Abbi's first day ever!! She was so excited to start kindergarten. It could not come fast enough for her. Bryce on the other hand was not ready to give up his summer break to have to go back to "work". It was really cute this morning as most of the kids on the block were gathered together outside waiting for the bus to come--most of which had been outside waiting for over half an hour--can you say EXCITED!

Montana

Jenn and the girls made a trip out to MT a couple of weeks ago to help her sister, Heidi out. Heidi was possibly having her baby and needed a little help with all the kids. First we went and stayed at a hotel (at that time she was advised to not leave town as the baby could possibly come in the next 24 hours), but after the baby decided it was NOT going to come, we went out to her house. Here are the kids having a sleep-over on the hotel floor.
Several trips to the hospital later, and still that baby decided it was NOT time. So we made good use of our time in waiting and enjoyed the nice summer weather. The kids had so much fun driving around on the 'gator'. Here is Abbi and Cambria taking a turn.
After a little over a week, it was time to head back home (still no baby...). We were really disappointed that we couldn't help out more, but it was still lots of fun to go visit Heidi, Eddy, Elizabeth, Erin, Hailey, and Ricky. But before we went, Cambria and Ricky thought they would be sneaky and get into the container of mandarin oranges--CAUGHT!!
Baby--are you coming? We're waiting....

chalk creation

Here is Bryce showing off his life size robot. Doesn't he have a nice tan?