Bring it on Fall!!

September is here, it's back to school for Big-Bug (his first "real year" of school and he is SO excited for kindergarten!) and it's state fair time in the northwest! The Bugs and I joined a good friend of ours and her two little boys at the fair last week and oh man did we have fun!!  We started our trip with a European-style circus show with trapeze artists, gymnasts, acrobats, jugglers, clowns, contortionists and musicians.  It was absolutely amazing and so impressive to think about the amount of dedication and self-discipline the performers must have to reach that level of skill-mastery.  The kids were really into the flashier performances, but their interest waned a bit when the more delicate, slow acts were on the stage.  They were boarder-line too young to appreciate how awesome it truly was! I, on the other hand was completely in love with the whole event!  Something about the combination of the music, the choreography was so magical!  When the music started and the show began I actually felt myself tear up - I definitely want to see more circus shows!  My husband promised to take me to see Cirque du Soleil when we got to Vegas (whenever that may be! haha)

After the circus show we spent the rest of our day viewing animals, riding ponies and carnival rides, sliding down big slides, riding a barrel train, eating ice cream, holding a python and walking through a petting zoo.  It was a great time!

The kiddos loved these goats!

That same week we took a camping trip with my whole extended-family on my mom's side.  It's an annual tradition and always a ton of fun.  Since Baby-Bug has been having a really hard time sleeping away from home lately, we decided we would all enjoy ourselves more if we only stayed one night at this year's camp trip.  Thankfully the camp ground is only about 2 hours away, so it's not too bad to go up one day and down the next.  On this trip Big-Bug and Middle-Bug discovered they can swim unassisted in a pool with their life jackets on (prior to this realization they used to cling to my husband and me like little monkeys!)  Once they experienced the glory of "real" swimming, there was no getting them out of the pool!  While we were camping we also enjoyed a lot of great conversation with the family, a nice camp fire and the kiddos even had some toasty s'mores!  Maybe next year we will be able to stay all three nights :)

Ready for dinner!

Since we've been back from camping we have enjoyed a breakfast pajama potluck with some friends from our playgroup and I hosted my monthly book club meeting that same night.  It was a long, busy day- but so much fun!  We also took Big-Bug for his classroom open-house and had the chance to meet his kindergarten teacher.  While we were there, countless older students popped into the room just to say "hi" to their old kindergarten teacher.  I LOVED seeing this, obviously this is a woman who is well liked by her students and it reassures me that Big-Bug will have a great year at school.

yummy over-night breakfast casserole!

Tea Party Table set for a themed book club meeting :)

Today we attended another great play-date with our fantastic playgroup, a Teddy Bear Picnic at one of the local parks.  We have done this in years past and it is always so cute to see all the little kids with their favorite stuffed animals :)  Today was no exception and as an added bonus, a lot of the snack items were adorable too!  There were Teddy Grahams, biscuits shaped like teddy bear faces with sesame seed fur and raisin eyes and smiles and great big ginger bread teddy bears with icing details (very impressive!)

Favorite Teddies (and animals of other varieties!)

We are forecasted to have temperatures in the upper 90's this weekend (maybe even breaking 100!) so it looks like we are getting a last-blast of summer weather.  BUT....starbucks already launched the pumpkin spice latte....so I say: Bring it on Fall!!