Apple Picking

We went apple picking back in September. We didn't stay long because it was cold. But we did get five bags of apples and still haven't used them all.

We let Zach climb a ladder to get some apples in the tree. He loved it of course, and didn't want to climb back down.

At first Zach just took the apples we were picking and putting them in the bag. But after we showed him how to pick the apples himself there was no stopping him.

First day of School

I'm sorry this picture is sideways. It's been so long since I've used this that I don't remember how to turn it and I'm on a time crunch.

Zach started going to Nursery School a couple of weeks ago. We thought it would be best for him to be able to socialize and get out of the house. So he goes to Busy Bear Nursery School 3 days a week. He wishes he could go every day. His teacher, Ms. Sherri, is great. She's been able to keep him involved. I don't know how she does it. Anyone who has experience trying to teach Zach anything knows that he has perfected the art of ignoring.

Unexpeced Weekend

So we aren't going to Myrtle Beach this weekend due to a couple of things that make this all work out for the best. Still sucks. But oh well. Earlier this week I was giving Brylee a bath in the sink and Zach decided he wanted a bath in the sink too. As you can see he got what he wanted. I couldn't resist. The thought of him bathing in the sink was too funny to pass up.
This is one of the reasons we didn't go this weekend. Zach woke up with his cheek swollen from a bug bite. And later this morning his ankle swelled up as well. He is now on Antibiotics, steroids, benadryl, and gets cortizone cream put on the bug bites. Hopefully this will work otherwise we get to go spend atleast 10 hours in the ER again.
I included this cause I think my baby is cute. She saw me taking a picture of Zach and wanted in on the fun.

Too much Harry Potter?

I think it's cute.

Mom's visit

My Mom took a break from being the family backbone and came to visit me. I can't tell you how much I loved having her here. It helped keep me sane while Jake is at JRTC. We did lots of stuff and had a blast! Mostly the stuff we did was to entertain Zach, but we had fun watching him have fun. We took him to Chuck e Cheese. It turns out that you can get coupons which made going there cheaper. Zach liked going on rides, but there were two games that he wanted to do over and over again. He really liked the ducky game. All you do is press a button and an arm punches out and knocks over a duck. And you're supposed to try and knock over as many ducks as you can. I tried this game a couple of times and it turns out Zach was better than me. The other game he loved was a kid sized version of a hoops game where you try to get as many balls in the hoop as you can. Unfortunately Zach is too small for it and we had to hold him up.

Mom soon found out that Zach needs a couple hours of outside time every day or he goes crazy. So we made sure to take him to the playground. I really like this picture. Zach tries to push Brylee on the swing all the time. This is the first time she's ever enjoyed it.We made sure to go to Raleigh to see the Temple. For the record, it was actually beautiful and sunny while we were there. I don't know why the picture doesn't show it. I had heard the Temple was small, but I didn't realize how small. The Stake Center next to it is bigger. But still, it was beautiful. Just outside post is the Fort Bragg Fair. Mom came at the perfect time. We took the kids a couple of times. It was only $5 to get in and all the rides were free. Zach had fun on a bunch of rides. What's funny is that most of the rides he didn't smile on. If you don't know him you'd think he wasn't enjoying himself. But, as his mom I can tell you he did. The slide was one of only a couple rides he smiled on. Mom said she could hear him giggling all the way down the slide. The first time he went with me (which almost didn't happen, because he dived to go down the slide as soon as we got to the top and I had to catch him) and the rest of the time he went on his own. The other ride he LOVED was the race car ride. It would put-put around like a normal kid ride. Then whip around on the corners and it looked like he would fly out. The guy operating the ride got to know Zach real quick. Every time he would unbuckle Zach, Zach would run and climb into another car. So the poor guy had to carry Zach off the ride every time. And Zach went on this ride A LOT.Thank you mom for visiting us. I don't think you know how much I appreciated it and loved having you here. And for the record, anyone else is welcome to visit. It's beautiful here, but I really prefer having family around.

Family retreat

We had our Family Retreat over Easter weekend. It was so much fun! We stayed at this place called the Wolf Neck Inn. This place was great. It has a mini golf course, indoor water park, and some sort of interactive video game that kids can play throughout the hotel, and we got $150 gift card from the army to use within the hotel. We attended a couple of the classes that were available from the Chaplins, but we spent most of the time at the water park. We actually took a lot more pictures than what you see here. We spent some of our gift card on a waterproof camera so we could have some pictures of our fun. However it turned out to be a piece of crap and these pictures are the only ones to have come out at all. And I took more than twenty. Needless to say, I am very much upset by that.

The water park was great. It had a little kiddie area with slides and squirt guns. Unfortunetly they shut it down for some reason about 15 minutes after we got there. So we spent the rest of the time in the wave pool. Zach loved it. He couldn't get enough. Brylee didn't mind the water as long as it didn't get in her face. I'm hoping the next family retreat is there again.

Easter

We celebrated Easter early this year. We're going on a family retreat this weekend and decided trying to bring Easter along with us would be too much trouble. It was an interesting day. I realized the night before that I hadn't talked to Zach about the Easter bunny. I talked to him about the reason we celebrate Easter, but not the Easter Bunny. However; all we had to do was mention that there were presents waiting for him downstairs and Zach headed. Like all kids he loves presents.
We kept the gifts small. Brylee got a couple of toys and a book. She loves playing with them. She doesn't do anything but chew on them. But at least she's enjoying them.Zach loves his presents too. Although when he first saw the presents he went strait for Brylee's even though his were closer. He got sand toys and chalk. He loves playing with them outside. But it took awhile to get him to to even look at his. He was way more interested in playing with Brylee's. A little disappointing, but what can you do.