Minnie's Reunion in Ohio

Minnie, JJ and Billy trecked to Ohio again last week for a reunion at Minnie's College with her swim team. As usual there were many adventures of Billy and JJ throughout the trip...here are the top 5 of each boy:

Billy
#5 - The room I created at Mom Mom and Pa's
#4 - Drinking Red Bull on the roadtrip
#3 - Kenyon
#2 - Going off the High Dive
#1 - Playing Hockey across the street

JJ:
#5 - The Works
#4 - Mom Mom
#3 - Whit's
#2 - Going off the diving board
#1 - Learning to spell J-E-E-P

The Great Outdoors....

Mickey had a work picnic waaaaaay back in the mountains on another glorious fall day. Billy and JJ had some adventures in fishing....and look what Mickey caught!

Pumpkin Patch

A glorious fall day at the pumpkin patch...what more could we ask for?

D-E-L-T-A

Since JJ has started school, he is constantly with paper and writing utensil...either drawing pictures (or more likely) putting down a series of letters on paper and asking, 'What does this spell?' The answer is always a made up word, or usually nothing ...because it is a series of consonants so I am unable to sound anything out! But, last week, he came up with a winner! DELTA is what he spelled on his page. His joy at spelling a word is overflowing. Now I am finding pieces of paper all over the house with his word on it....including my birthday card! I wonder if this means he will be an airline pilot...or live in Mississippi!

Check one more off the 40 before 40 for Minnie

Climbing Old Rag...a near 10 mile hike near Madison, Virginia

Despite a killer attack toad...and a 5 foot black snake, we survived!

How do Billy and JJ fit into this adventure? Well, they had adventures of their own on the Zip Line at Nana and Pops...pictures to follow in a later post...

PLUS Billy informed me that my initial identification of the said critter that attacked me on the trail was not a frog, but actually a toad. He has been studying them in 2nd grade...and here is some of the wisdom he imparted to me...frogs are usually greener, toads more brownish...frogs live in the water...toads only need to live close to water to keep their skin moist. They drink through their skin! Who knew!

JJ's First Field Trip

JJ had his first field trip in Kindergarten yesterday, and Minnie was so happy to go with his class. The trip was up to Big Meadows on Skyline Drive...and we went out into the woods to learn about our 5 senses....

We heard lots of crunching of leaves and sticks..plus noises of wind and birds.
We saw lots of colors...JJ and his friend had to find something red, which at first was hard...until we discovered some red berries up in a tree.
The teachers brought different bottles of smelly things...the kids closed their eyes and tried to identify things like mint and syrup.
The kids went around the forest floor to feel different things...hard, soft, rough, smooth etc.
Finally, they tasted their trail mix...a friendship snack that each kid contributed something towards...JJ brought banana chips...which I believe was the least popular item!
It was a good time...and what even made it more exciting is right during our picnic lunch, a deer walked right by the whole class!

Grandparents Day

And Billy and JJ are blessed with 4 of the best...and 2 'Great' Ones!

In their words:

Mom Mom and Pa - "I love them because they are really great at being grandparents. It is fun when they come visit...but even more fun when we visit them. It takes a really long time to get there, but when we do, it is really fun!" - Billy

Nana and Pop - "I love Nana and Pop. I like their house. They have lots of toys there. I like it when they buy me lots of toys. - JJ

Dutch and Maw - "I like to eat at their house. Maw makes French Toast every time! Dutch plays lots of fun games with me...and I really like to go into his basement" - JJ