The Country Fair with Ocean Air!

 

The fair is once again in town, so Thursday we made the annual trip to take in the sights, sounds, and of course the rides!  The slogan of the Ventura County fair is "The County Fair with Ocean Air", and Thursday it lived up to it's name!  While is was warm for Ventura (high of 86), it was very comfortable at the fair, which is located right at the beach, as a cool ocean breeze kept us feeling good!

 

Thursday was a wristband day, which means for the price of the wristband one can go on as many rides as desired rather than turn in tickets for each individual ride.  It's totally the way to go, especially with kids!  The big dilemma was whether or not to buy Olivia a wristband!  I had decided no, but when she saw the bus/train ride, she just had to go on it!  So I bit the bullet and bought her one, hoping she would go on other rides too!  And she did, but this ride was her favorite.  Thankfully the big kids were so excited that she wanted to do rides they were more than happy to go on this rather lame ride three times!

 

I tried to get a nice picture of the three kids, but Olivia decided to be Olivia!

 

Faith always loves the slides!  She went on the giant one too, but I wasn't able to get a picture of that one!

 

We were all able to go on the carousel, but Olivia would only ride on the sleigh! 

 

I love the look on Faith and Shane's faces on this ride!  Clearly they enjoyed it!

 

Shane really wanted to go on the swings!  He said it was his most favorite ride of the day!  The kids all had a great day!

MIchigan Trip - Part 2

According the Shane his favorite outing while in Michigan was swimming at the pool!  He especially enjoyed going off the diving board! 

 

Olivia discovered how fun the kiddie pool could be on our second trip to the pool!

 

On Friday we drove up to Fremont to visit with Steve's Aunts, Uncles, and cousins.  Steve's mom was also up there as she was visiting them during the same time that we were in Michigan!  What fun to be able to see everyone again!  The kids were able to play with "cousins", swim in the lake, and go on boat rides!  What a great day!

 

Every night we played a game of Monopoly!  It was fun to play together, especially with Aunt Betsy!

 

One final big outing was going to a minor league baseball game!  We had a blast cheering on the West Michigan Whitecaps, and the kids did really well!  Even Olivia!  It helped that it was superhero night, and throughout the game there were superheroes cleaning the field, bringing us food, or on the big screen out in centerfield!  I think they also liked eating all the ball park food!  It was a great first baseball game for the kids!

 

The girls also enjoyed a little pampering as we were treated to mani/pedis at the salon!  Faith went too as she likes being included in all the more grown up activities too!  She's growing up so fast!

Michigan Trip - Part 1

We are back from our week long trip to Michigan.  It has taken a bit to get back into the flow of life again as there seemed to be much to catch up on once again!  Clearly the rest of the world was not on vacation while we were!  The trip was full of fun and adventure!

 

Our first adventure was to Meijer Gardens.  It was a beautiful day to be outside and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

 

Olivia loved moving the boats through the Great Lakes!

 

She was just tall enough to reach some of the higher lakes!

 

On Tuesday the big adventure was the Children's Museum!  Olivia quickly found the xylophone she enjoyed played in the winter.

 

Shane had a blast blowing bubbles!

 

The look of sheer joy once Olivia figured out how to blow a bubble with the big holders!

 

One of my favorite pictures! 

 

 Wednesday was a perfect day for the zoo!  All the kids enjoyed the petting zoo!  It's not every day that you have the chance to brush sheep and goats!

Or feed a bird!

While we weren't gallivanting around town, the kids enjoyed having grandpa read books to them!

2 camps...1 week!

This past week was action-packed as we participated in two different camps!  The two oldest kids went to a basketball camp in the morning, and we all participated in the VBS at our church which was at night!  While we had some tired kids by the end of the week, it sure was a lot of fun!

 

The kids have watched plenty of basketball, but they have not actually played too much.  The camp they went to was for kids like them who didn't have much experience playing, so it was perfect!  They loved practicing their dribbling, learning they different ways to pass the ball, and also to work on shooting. 

 

Faith really enjoyed shooting, especially when she would make a swish!

 

Since it was a camp, there were also many fun games thrown into the morning as ways for the kids to practice their skills.  They both had a great time, and each of them said they would like to go again to a basketball camp!  They are looking forward to shooting hoops at Grandpa and Grandma's house next week!

 

While the kids were at camp, Olivia and I were able to hang out each morning.  She decided that this was the week to wear a bathing suit as much as possible, even though we never made it to a pool or the beach!  This was how she wanted to go to Target!  Today, it was a different suit for Costco!  I decided this was a battle that wasn't worth fighting as there are plenty of ideas she has that I do have to say no!

 

The theme for VBS this year was Camp Discovery, and so we ended the week last night with a camp fire!  This was the first year our church ever did a nighttime VBS, and it turned out very well!  A dinner for the whole family was served starting at 5:30, and then VBS opening began at 6.  All three kids were able to participate as Olivia was placed in the preschool class.  I was worried about how she would do in there, but I was told each night that she did so well!

 

Olivia was very happy to be in class with her good friend Brinley!

 

Steve and I ran the games all week!  Here is Faith and her friend Rose doing one of the games!  In this game the kids have to bring a water balloon from the cone to a bucket without using their hands or arms!  It was fun to watch!  These two have the balloon resting between their backs!  It was a fun week, but I'll be looking forward a slower pace next week!