Family Time and a Grand Opening

As the fall continued, and we kept having great weather, we enjoyed LOTS of time at the little playgrounds in our neighborhood and the huge park that borders our HOA. The kids like to play outside as well, but haven't quite reached an age of independence outside, or with play in general. So I am always thrilled when we have visitors who can entertain and play with the kids! The second week of October was full of fun, because a lot of family came into town for Kade's baptism. We had people sleeping in our guestroom and playing at all hours of the day...just the right kind of crazy :). 

Here is my mom's token Costa Vida grandkid picture. I'm not sure why we always round up the kids with Grandma here, but it is her favorite restaurant in Boise, and we love going when she comes to town! Eight kids, with 5 under 3 was a trick to get all sitting at once...here are the two shots I got :).

That evening we were playing at the house, and loved this 'bonding' moment between the boys :). Carter spent about 15 minutes just following Justin around (they were both crawling at this point), pulling himself up and then sitting on him until he scooted away :). At least they were both comfortable to watch the show!

Kade's baptism was wonderful, and it was so great to see so much family and have that special day. What a handsome kid!

Afterwards we went back to the house for some family time, which ended up with 8 kids on the trampoline (most of the time unsupervised), with all the grownups inside chatting ...

Saturday morning we went to another of Kade's football games, which are always a blast. I am really bad at taking pictures of the game, but I always get the sideline events! Today Carter was entertained by stroller wheels (for a LONG time), and Teag chugged an entire can of water, in a Dr. Pepper can. He was SO excited, I am pretty sure he drank half before realizing it wasn't soda.

This is the first year that I can remember that I was unable to attend an OSU football game. Every game that we watched on TV was a little bittersweet, but we really enjoyed the score this week!

(No that wasn't the score, but yes we did win that week, so it's all good!)

The next weekend was the grand opening of The Village at Meridian, a new mall right next to Amber's house. We weren't sure what to expect, but I read of Rapunzel, free samples, and cotton candy (I was sold by cotton candy). We definitely couldn't miss this event! True to expectations, it was great! There's aren't a lot of stores open yet, but there are a couple great restaurants, and a WAY nice movie theater. Outside they have a huge fountain that has a coordinated-to-music show every hour. It was a great time!

The kids were SO excited about the fountain! I love Carter's face below...I just wish I had actually captured his whole face in a picture!

Free face painting! Could it get any better?

And just before leaving we got balloons made for the kids. Carter got a ninja sword, and Olivia got butterfly wings. We had a great time, and decided to go back a couple days later with Alex's parents!