Red Flannel Festival 10/2/10

Every 1st weekend in October, Cedar Springs has their Red Flannel Festival. Every year we head down and go to the craft show, for some lunch......
usually a midway ride or 2 (we didn't this year we didn't because it was cold and raining off and on), and then we watch the parade. Samantha loved the marching bands this year. Every time a music group cam by she started marching.
The parade was right smack in the middle of nap time, so she decided to have a nap with Daddy instead. ;-)
This year seemed extra cool and windy, so, even though we had fun, not quite as much as some years past.
After the parade we came home for some thawing out. ;-) Samantha had to check over the candy loot from the parade. ;-)
It was a fun, cool, windy afternoon. We look forward to doing it again next year, just maybe with some warmer weather. i wonder if anyone has ever thought of moving it a few weeks earlier for a better chance at nice weather? ;-)

Fall Fun at Klackles 9/26/10

Every year we head to Klackles Orchard at least one time. All the way there Samantha talked about apples, apples, apples. So the first thing we did was get on the apple-picking wagon and go get some apples.
We got LOTS of apples!! We each get one of these bags to fill with apples we pick included in our entry fee.
After we got done picking apples, we headed to the store and got some cider and donuts to eat. YUM!! I usually take a picture of the kids eating their donuts, but we were being swarmed by so many wasps that i wasn't able to get pictures of that part. :-( Luckily no one got stung!
After our yummy snack we headed back to the Family Fun Farm part. This apple ruler is a yearly picture ritual.
Marc has always loved riding the barrel car train. We were excited that Samantha was big enough to ride it with his this year! :-)
As soon as we got done with the apples Samantha kept asking abut the "punkin ride". So after some fun in the family area we boarded the Enchanted Pumpkin Ride.
Do you think Samantha was excited to be on the pumpkin ride? ;-)
We thought an almost empty pumpkin patch would be a good spot for some cute pictures.
We usually get 1 big pumpkin to carve and a few smaller pumpkins to paint. Well, I am going on a field trip next week to a pumpkin patch where I will get a small pumpkin and in a a few weeks Marc is going ( and I am accompanying) to a different pumpkin patch where we will both get small pumpkins. So, since it looked like our status on getting small pumpkins was good, we just picked the big pumpkin for carving.
It was a cool, breezy day, but a very fun, fall-filled afternoon! :-)

ArtPrize 9/25/10

This weekend we went to the 2nd Annual ArtPrize. Last year was a big enough success that it happened again this year. Art Prize is an art contest. The artists are required to find a venue to host their art and then when it is time, we the public walk around and see lots of good, and some bad, art. For the first week we get to vote "thumbs up" if we like it, and "thumbs down" if we don't. After a week, the top ten pieces of art that got the most "thumbs up" are published. We the public then vote for our favorite. The piece of art with the most votes wins $250,000!!!

This year there were some pieces displayed at the Meijer Gardens, so we drove out there before we headed downtown.There are pieces of art scattered ALL over downtown. In addition to the pieces scattered around downtown, there and exhibition halls where there are many pieces displayed in the same building. These are just a few of the ones we saw.
I liked this one because the kids got to get involved in the art. The wall was covered in felt and each of the little colored squares had strips of Velcro on it. The kids were encouraged to go up to it and rearrange the squares and change how the art looked. :-)
The artist of this piece was nice enough to offer to take our family picture in front of his piece.
We took LOTS more pictures of art. You can see them on our pictures site pictures.stoufer.com.
I thought I wasn't going to enjoy myself, but to my surprise, I did. We are planning on going back down next weekend to see more. :-)

BeyBlade Frenzy! 9/17/10

My friend Sarah Jehnzen, owner of Sarah's Deals, had yet ANOTHER product testing party. :-) This time it was for Beyblades. Apparently there is a Japanese anime cartoon show all about them. They are metal, spinning, battling tops. The company sent her 5 tops and an arena for the kids to play with.There were times when the kids took turns having 2 of them battle and other times when all 5 tops were in there together. Marc took a turn battling Daddy. :-)
This is how the younger sibling sisters spent some of their time. ;-) What are they to do when their brothers are having fun with new toys?? ;-)
Marc really enjoyed playing with these. Sssshhhhh.....we got him some for his birthday in November. ;-)
Thanks for another great party Sarah! :-)

Happy 60th Birthday John Ball Zoo!! 9/23/10

Tonight we headed to the zoo for a members only 60th birthday party. We were going to eat dinner at the zoo, but the gates were closed for another 30 minutes before the party started so we headed down the street and got some hot dogs at Dairy Queen. We took them back to the zoo and ate them by the water.Samantha thought it was SO cool that we ate dinner with the "gucks". :-)
After dinner we made sure to keep some hot dog bun to feed to the ducks/geese.
We were excited to see Nessie again. We loved looking at her at ArtPrize last year, so it was nice to see her again.
What would a birthday party be without cake and ice cream???? Well, they gave us some when we went in! :-)
After we ate our cake and ice cream we headed to look at the animals. The bears were very fun to watch. They were getting in and out of the water.
Who is the tallest animal? ;-)
Samantha liked watching the "kitty" walk around. She asked if she could pet the kitty.
My little smarties were guessing what kind of animal each paw print belongs to.
All 3 of my kids had fun playing the drums at the entrance of the "African" section.
We were all a little skittish about petting a snake, but we were all brave and pet it. It actually wasn't too bad. It was softer than I would have thought. I always thought snakes were slimy, this one wasn't.
Samantha was terrified of the water fall the last 2 times we went to the zoo. Not sure why. Daddy tried using Disney's trick about waterfalls. He showed her the front of the water. Then showed her the back of water. ;-)
Normally there is a charge to pet the sting rays. Since this was a special evening, it was free. Samantha didn't so much pet them as splash in their pool. ;-) I think a few of them got her because Daddy said she jumped a couple of times.
Marc really liked trying to reach them . He thought it was cool how slimy.smooth they felt (me too!).
Since this was the zoo's 60 birthday, they had a coloring station where the kids could color a birthday cake picture.
It was a nice few hours o wander around the zoo that we have been to so many times before. Happy 60th Birthday John Ball Zoo!

Apples, Apples, Everywhere! 9/23/10

I started Samantha in another play group this morning. It is called Little Tykes. It is made for kids up to preschool age. This was out first one so I wasn't sure what to expect. We almost didn't go since I was actually getting some work done around the house. ;-) I am glad we went. it was tons of fun!

When we got to the classroom there were 5 stations set up that the kids could do at their own pace. Samantha went directly for the painting with apples!After she got done making a total mess with the paint and apples ;-) we headed over to the station where she got to glue apples onto a tree.
The last craft station, which was also the least messy, was Samantha's last choice. ;-) At this station she got to color a picture of an apple.
She wanted to go to the snack station first, but I told her that she had to do the crafts first. So, after she did all 3 of them, she made a beeline for the snack table. She was very excited to see apples and animal crackers to eat! :-)
While we waited for group time to start, Samantha played in the rice table.
After playing, eating, and crafting, we had a short group time where we sang 3 songs and read a book. After group time we headed down to the gross motor room for some free play. Super fun!
When we got home it was time for lunch. Samantha asked for an apple for lunch since we had spent all morning talking about apples.
It was a very fun morning. while there I found out that this (free) playgroup goes on every Thursday morning. Looking forward to next week! :-)

Hexbug Mania!! 9/17/10

My friend Sarah Jehnzen, the one that runs Sarah's Deals, had another product testing party. This time it was aimed at boys ages 7-9. Since Marc is just 2 months shy of 7 she invited Marc. It was for a new nano technology toy called Hexbugs. Very interesting, cute, weird little toys. ;-)
When we got there Marc got to pick out the 3 Hexbugs he wanted to take home (they were different colors).Sarah had a whole track course set up in her living room. All the boys got to get down on the floor and play!
A couple of the younger sibling girls got in on the action.....more like they were an obstacle. Both of the little girls kept picking up the Hexbugs and holding them or putting them off the track so they wandered the floor instead.
The girls got bored off and on, so we pulled out Ainsley's My Little Pony collection to keep the girls entertained, for awhile anyway.
One of the boys made a comment that they were getting kinda tired of watching the bugs walk around the track. One of the parents suggested that they rearrange the track to make a new path for the bugs. The boys had a blast dismantling and reassembling the track.
The Hexbugs have little soft plastic bristles and a small motor that makes them vibrate. Daddy decided to put one on the palm of Samantha's hand for her to feel.....
and bot did it tickle her. She squealed with pleasure!
After some playing at Sarah's house, it was time to go home. When we left Marc got some of the track pieces t brig home. So, we came home with 4 Hexbugs, 2 arenas, and 3 track pieces!! After the kids got ready for bed we let them play one more time. Even Samantha got her very own pink Hexbug!
These are what the Hexbugs look like. With Samantha's foot in the picture you can kinda get an idea of the size of them. they are cute little things. i told Marc that I was glad we got an enclosed arena for them because if I saw one of them crawling around on the floor in the house I would think it was a bug and swat it and probably break it! ;-)
It was another fun night of testing new products. Thanks Sarah for inviting us and giving us ideas for Marc's Birthday/Christmas list! ;-)