J.E.T.S. Again!

Jake was drafted to the Jets again!  He is playing a new position this year which is really exciting--he is center!  So, not only did he keep his green jersey-- he got to keep his number- 55!!!  Check out him doing his job!

 Yep-right there holding the ball in the middle.

Getting directions from Coach.

Ready to pass the ball to his QB.

Way to go Jets!

Kindergarten and Fourth Grade

I know, I can hardly believe it either.  The kids started school 2 days after I started this year.  Daddy did a great job of getting them up and ready for their first day of school.  I can't believe that my little baby girl is already in kindergarten and that my even "littler" baby boy is in 4th grade--the same grade I teach by the way!  They are growing up way too fast!

Time to get up, Jake!!!

 Wake-up sleepy head!

Look at me!  I'm going to Kindergarten!!!

 And I got a cool new backpack with my name on it!

 So cute and ready for the first day of school!

 Getting on the bus to go to school!  Have a great year!

Back to school...

Yes, you can tell we have gone back to school...  Not much to report except preparing classrooms, purchasing school supplies, lesson planning and homework.  Back to the grind.

Meet the Colts!

Jake and Olivia went to a special birthday party/Riley Hospital fundraiser with the Colts.  This is something that Uncle Chris, Auntie Beth and Emily's neighbor does each year.  They have many sponsors for this event and have many Colts players who attend.  Jake was really interested in this event and really wanted to have his Colts Jersey signed by as many players as possible.  He was successful with this including one really special player, Robert Mathis! They got some great pictures and even made it on the news! Olivia had a great time as well getting a Colts horseshoe tattoo on her arm.  Thanks for inviting them!

 Robert Mathis!

Getting his jersey signed!

Olivia getting her tattoo!

Cute!

 All of the Colts-past and present being introduced!

Here is the link to the video where they show Chris, Beth and Jake!

http://www.fox59.com/sports/wxin-20110723-colts-on-new-cba,0,4901398.story

Penguin Palooza!

We stayed overnight in Cincinnati and spent our last vacation day at Newport Aquarium!  We had heard very mixed reviews of this place with some people saying it wasn't any good to others saying that it is really nice.  We were very torn to say the least.  We ended up deciding that we should just go and see for ourselves.  The results.... we liked it! but... it is REALLY overpriced.  They have some great exhibits and interesting animals to look at, but it costs way too much for the size of the place and the length of time it takes to go through it.

So, what did we see? 

Rocky!  We met him outside before going into Newport.  

Obviously you can tell that Olivia LOVED him and didn't want to let him go! 

We also saw the Penguin Parade where they brought out some penguins for us to look at up close!

We also got to touch some animals--like this Horseshoe crab, a spider crab and some sharks...

well, not quite this big!

They had a really cool jellyfish exhibit!  Hi kids!

This is an American crocodile in a really cool exhibit where they were on both sides of a walking path

and could swim underneath the path which was glass! 

 I can't remember the name of this guy, but he was really cool!

Stingray shark swimming above us!

Jake with the puffer fish!

Sharks!

 

 Penguin friends!

Maybe you can tell from these pictures that we were just a little bit tired from our trip!  It was really 6 days long since we went to Tennessee and then to Cincinnati.  We did have a great time though and the kids are already asking when we are going on another trip! :)

Roller Coaster Fever!

When we got back from Tennessee, we went to Cincinnati for a couple of days!  The first day we went to Kings Island!  This is the kids first trip to KI or to any amusement park--with the exception of Disney World.  Jake has always been afraid of roller coasters and heights.  He thought he was ready to tackle that fear and he did!  Both kids loved the rides and we just had a great time! 

Ready for the day!

The below picture is of a roller coaster that all 4 of us went on!  It is called Flying Ace Aerial Chase.  

As you can probably tell, you are sitting with your feet dangling off.  It is a pretty fast ride with some good turns.  

Both kids (and the adults) liked this.

This ride is called Surf Dog.  It is a giant surf board that holds 36 people! 

It goes both up and down the sides (look at the second picture) as well as spins around on the base of the board. 

It was pretty intense--especially for a 'kids' ride! 

This ride was the kiddy version of a free fall ride. 

This one was very mild and did more bouncing than it did falling.

 

There were also many rides that Olivia could ride but Jake could not.  Olivia got to fly the Red Baron plane....

  

and ride on the Whirlybirds...

 

and hit kids on the bumper cars!

Jake got to ride on the White Water Canyon but Olivia couldn't ride on that.   

We also went on the Woodstock Express which is another kid friendly roller coaster and the very first roller coaster for both of the kids!

Also, we went on Boo Blasters!  This was a spooky house with black lights and neon ghosts trying to scare you.  

Your job is to shoot them as you ride along.

 We also all went to the Eiffel Tower to take in all the sites on the park!

  

 We really had a great time there and the kids are now experienced roller coaster riders!  

Our trip to Disney World next summer should be a blast!

Rocky Top!

We went to Tennessee to visit with Chris' family.  We decided that we would take the kids to Knoxville for part of a day to see the University of Tennessee.  Chris has been a fan for many years, and Jake now loves them too.  He says that he will be a student there when he is old enough--we'll see. ;) When we arrived there we found the famous Neyland Stadium which is where the Volunteers play football, we went to the gift shop.  We talked to the employees there and asked about getting a tour.  We were told that we would have needed to arrange that in advance.  He also told us though that the gate was open on the side and we could go look inside.  We did.  Chris and the kids also walked down to the field to look around.  We got to take many pictures of the stadium and inside the concourse area as well.  It was quite exciting for both of the boys.