So my kids are little gamers. I know TV bad, computer games bad for young children. Moving past that now. Both my kids love computer games which isn’t surprising considering their parents. Desmond adores our XBOX360 and is quite good with the controller now, he is actually better at playing Toy Story 3 then I am now. He also finally figured out how to use the mouse on the kid computer so he will open up Starfall, Reading Eggs, Playhouse Disney or PBS Kid website and play games there by himself or to entertain Eloise. Which is kind of nice. I should probably go ahead and find the controllers for the Wii to see how he does with it, since there are some games on it we have that I think he would quite like.

Anyways back to Lego Rockband. Desmond has always been a fan of the Rockband game, and we got the lego version which is nice since it has a no fail super easy mode. So here are the two small ones a few weeks ago both playing along and watching as DH played. I had a picture of Eloise rocking on the drums too, but it didn’t come out right. Anyways here are the cute ones.

So on Saturday, rather then being a good Jew and going to temple to celebrate Yom Kipper, I should really find a temple, maybe by next year, we went apple picking. 35 pounds of apples and hour or so later we were done apple picking. Now of course we need to figure out what we are doing with 35 pounds of apples, we’ve been eating them, which works, but it is a lot of apples. I do have a recipe for freezable apple pie filling that we might try this weekend.

Anyways both Desmond and Eloise had fun apple picking, Eloise mainly just ate an apple and wandered around, Desmond was big on helping us pick the apples, he was actually fairly helpful since he could get in areas that larger people couldn’t so her got some nice apples. Here are the two of them having fun apple picking.

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I know I haven’t posted since early August, but I just haven’t really had the time to post, to much going on watching the small ones and going out of town for my brother and sister in laws wedding and such. I will try to post a bit more now that we are slightly less busy, other then Desmond having something to do every day but Fridays and Sundays! Eloise’s schedule at least is a bit quieter with her having Gymnastics on Wednesday and then going to my in-laws on Friday.

Anyways I posted a couple of recent photos, I am probably going to go ahead and skip posting a lot of the summer pictures I have left to post, I will try to post some of the pictures I have from my brother’s wedding here, though they are already up on facebook for those that are my friend on facebook. Desmond made an adorable ring bearer!

Anyways we have enjoyed our busy summer, but it is nice moving into fall and ending up with slightly less busy fall.

Desmond started preschool last Tuesday. He had class Tuesday and Wednesday and then off on Thursday for Rosh Hashana. He starts back tomorrow and actually goes all three days this week, the only time this month, due to various Jewish holidays that happen this month. Anyways Dan takes him in the morning and he starts at 7am in the before preschool care program, and then I pick him up at 12:15, it works out nicely since it means I only need to put Eloise in the car once a day for a pickup and it also means she can sleep in and doesn’t have to get up to take Desmond to preschool. She is not a morning toddler!

Anyways Desmond had a lot of fun at his preschool the first two days. He knew the set up somewhat from summer camp, which I think helped some. He has really enjoyed himself so far though. Dan did comment that he was not overly happy with him in the mornings dropping him off, but since he takes his Buzz Lightyear with him he is okay after a minute or two. Which is nice.

Anyways here is his picture in the parking lot on his first day of preschool. He looks thrilled doesn’t he?

So on Saturday we went to RenFest. We wanted to get a couple more of the dolls (plaids) that Eloise and Desmond loved from last year and the vendor was only there this past weekend and the weekend before. We got both small ones 2 more dolls, which they both love. Desmond takes one with him everywhere.

We arrived after Desmond was finished with his gymnastics class and we brought the carrier for Eloise since it is not a great ground for a stroller and let Desmond walk. We probably should have brought a carrier for him too since he was quite done by the time we left. We got there and got their dolls first off, Desmond happily carrier his blue doll and red doll around for the rest of the trip, Eloise had one of her’s in the carrier and the other in my bag. We then wandered a bit and found the ponies! We let Desmond get in line for the ponies while Eloise stayed on Dan’s back and took pictures. Apparently the entire time Desmond was on the pony Eloise chanted “horse, horse, horse, horse!” So Dan checked how big they had to be to ride on the ponies and was told Eloise was big enough. We actually left the ponies and figured we would come back and let her ride and Desmond have his second ride. We did a couple of other things at the fare and then headed back to the ponies, where Eloise got her ride. She chanted “horse, horse, horse, horse!” the entire time she was on the pony and was happy to go a second time on the pony, if she had had her way we would have never left and she would now own a pony to ride.

Desmond really enjoyed his two rides as well. Dan got a couple of good pictures of Desmond on the pony and a couple of okay pictures of Eloise, so here they are on the ponies.

Here you can sort of see Eloise doing her “cheese” face, whenever she sees a camera she says “cheese” grins and squeezes her eyes shut, it makes it hard to get a good pictures of her. Though she is adorable when she does it.

So I know I haven’t posted in awhile. I just haven’t been in the mood. We’ve had a very busy summer so far and it isn’t over yet. This weekend and next weekend we aren’t out of town, but the next two weekends we are gone again, one week for my brother’s wedding, and the next back to Sesame Place. Desmond has also had camp 4 weeks so far, and he has his 5th and last week this coming week. It has just been busy here.

I am going to try to post more since I have a bunch of pictures from June to post and possibly even a few from July and August, though I haven’t taken a ton of pictures in July. I will be taking a bunch when we are down for my brother’s wedding though I am sure.

Anyways, yes I am still alive, I have just been busy and not really in the mood to sit down and post recently. I will try to post a few times at least this month though no promises since it is a busy month as well. It will be nice when fall hits and things slow down, hahaha! Well at least weekends away will slow down, the whole preschool thing is going to be new and exciting though!

So we’ve been to Sesame Place three weekends so far this summer and will go back at least 2 more times, maybe 3 this season. We are getting our money out of our season passes! Anyways, Desmond and Eloise don’t really know any of the Sesame Street Characters since we don’t watch the show. Which means that Desmond has decided the park is called the “Parking Lot”. As in “We go to Parking Lot and I ride roller coaster and water slides.” or “Daddy come home and drive to Parking Lot, ride roller coaster.”

Apparently we have not been taking my child to a fun amusement park called Sesame Place, we’ve been taking him to an amusement park called Parking Lot! Dan and I crack up now whenever he says he, but he won’t be corrected. So Desmond loves going to the parking lot!

Here are a couple of pictures from the parking lot of our first two visits. I haven’t downloaded the pictures yet from our most recent visit, which was tons of fun since we met up with friend’s from a message board I am on that have children his age.

Desmond on blast off, it is a ride that goes up and then free falls down and goes back up and down. He loves it!

Desmond enjoying the small 2 foot deep at the highest wave pool. Both Desmond and Eloise love this.

Desmond trying to get his hands to fit in the hand prints of Ernie. Not that he has a clue who Ernie is, but he loves trying to get his hands to fit.

Eloise enjoying the water in the wave pool. Eloise is not a big thrill ride child. In fact she is not a huge ride child. She will do the carousel if she can sit on the bench, but she isn’t overly happy about it. She likes the tiny kids area with big bird’s nest and she loves the wave pool and the other water attractions that don’t include water slides. She also likes the sand. Other then that though, she would rather not go on anything, she didn’t even like flying fish which is basically dumbo, but with Elmo as the ride cars, and she hated the tea cups! She spends a lot of time watching Desmond, since he is a little dare devil and loves all the rides!

Desmond and me on the roller coaster. This is the best picture I have gotten and I try every time. Well best picture Dan has gotten, but the ones I have of Dan and Desmond on it aren’t any better.

On the baby waterslide.

Eloise on the carousel the first time. She tried a horse, but halfway through the ride she wanted down and has refused anything but the bench since.

How Eloise spends a lot of her time at the park

Desmond looking for fun rides to do

Eloise moving a block in Big Bird’s Nest one of the few things she likes.

We have had a ton of fun at Sesame Place so far, it is a great place for Desmond. Eloise is not as thrilled with it, but she does have fun, even if she does have to wait awhile when we get there as Desmond goes on the roller coaster 3 or 4 times in a row. We normally split up fairly quickly so that Desmond can do a bunch of rides he likes and to let Eloise do something other then sit in the stroller. They both have fun though. The season passes were definitely worth it.

Here are a couple of pictures from an earlier trip to Sesame Place. We are in the hotel room and Desmond is reading Blue Hat, Green Hat to Eloise. He can “read” this one since he just goes along with the pictures.

Our yearly father’s day tradition is to go out in the morning and pick either blueberries or strawberries depending on what is in season. So this year we went out to pick blueberries since strawberry season was basically over. Both Desmond and Eloise had a blast, Eloise had a lot more fun this year then last year at 3 months old. They both picked some blueberries and ate a ton of blueberries fresh off the bush.

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Why Desmond only gets to paint once a week or so, at home!