A Day to Remember!

A few weeks ago, our family began talking about a birthday party for Emma's Great-Great Uncle Ray. He would be turning 89 this year, and my cousin Sharon wanted to have a "90th year" surprise party for him. What we didn't realize was how many of our relatives would be there...including our family in Tennessee. When we found out the triplets were coming, we were ecstatic. It had been 5 years since we went to Knoxville to see Kendall, Clark, and Emma Claire. The kids were all under two at that time, so none of them remembers their brief encounter. We've watched the kids grow through blogs and Facebook updates, but of course it's not the same as a real visit! My cousin Kim, their mom, suggested a kid-friendly get-together before the party. We chose Cosi, a science museum in Columbus. The triplets and Emma Grace (as we called her for the day, to tell the two Emmas apart) all enjoy museums, and none of them had been to Cosi before, so it was quite a treat. The kids all got along well and interacted easily with each other. Afterwards, we headed to Uncle Ray's party, which was held at an Olive Garden near his house. He was genuinely surprised, and the kids especially loved ducking behind the table and shouting "Happy Birthday!" It was great to visit face-to-face with our extended family after so many years apart, all while helping Uncle Ray celebrate! It was truly a day to remember!

Awesome October!

We had a fun fall! As usual, time flies when you're having fun, so I'm combining the pictures of several events. The highlights: Emma watched her friend Jessica cheerleading at a football game. Emma's Brownie Troop had a camp-in at their leader's house (not pictured). Emma and I visited Aunt Linda and Grandma Coe in Circleville, then we went with Mom, Dad, Jason, and Kristen to the Circleville Pumpkin Show, where we watched the Parade of Bands including the OSU marching band. Our church held its annual "Trunk or Treat" festivities. We enjoyed activities at Devine Farms, including a barrel train ride, corn maze, sliding and crawling in the hay barn, and picking out gourds and pumpkins. Emma's dance studio had a Halloween Dance Party with games, crafts, and of course a dance-off. We went back to Kings Island to enjoy "Snoopy's Halloween Party" like we did last month (although this time Emma wore her Elsa costume). We enjoyed trick or treat by decorating cookies for our family, canvassing the entire neighborhood, and carving pumpkins. Finally, Emma enjoyed a Fall Party with her class at school. As you can see, October wore Emma out!

A Cotton Candy Costume and Other Sweet Stuff!

The last weekend in September, we decided it wasn't too early to get started on fall fun! We went to Kings Island, where we spent most of our time in the kids areas. On Saturday we visited Dinosaurs Alive, where many of the dinos were dressed in their own halloween costumes. On Sunday we went to Snoopy's Halloween Party in the water park area. Emma enjoyed a pony ride, a tractor ride, petting zoo, inflatable twister game, hay maze, indoor maze, bubble dancing, and games. Emma even won a few prizes at the games booths, including a stuffed frog and poodle. They also had small tents set up throughout the park where the kids could trick or treat! The highlight of our visit, however, was the costume contest. Emma was one of about 30 contestants, and she finished in the top 3 dressed as cotton candy, which was selected as most original costume! We were following the carnival food theme, since she won for her popcorn costume last year! She won a backpack filled with Kings Island souvenirs. More importantly, she and I had worked together on her homemade costume and it was great to see our hard work pay off!