da da danta danta da da Circus!

All week long Kristin has been singing theme song from Madagascar 3, 'da da danta danta da da - circus!', so suffice it to say the girls were very excited to go to the circus today. Abby actually got a little confused and thought we were going yesterday and was more than a little disappointed to find out otherwise. Dad on the other hand kept telling Mom, 'Stop singing that circus song right before bed and then expecting everyone to go right to sleep.' Again, by the time Saturday rolled around we were all ready to go.

As any occasion involving Dad is wont to do, we started the day off with a fancy breakfast. We had popcorn and a new dad creation called a 'circus pancake', which Abby informed me was a actually a doughnut. You'd think that fact that I made it would be enough to establish what it was but you'd be wrong. After breakfast I overheard the two of them re-enacting breakfast only this time Abby was informing the Barbies that they were actually having a giant doughnut not a pancake.

Hamming it up here ...

Anyway, after some morning playing it was finally time to make the trip.

A little too excited for our own good here.


At least one of us is having a great time.

Next up were the acts, there were quite a few over the two hours we were there. While none of them photographed super well we have a few highlights.

We started off with horses and camels.


The ring dancers were Mom's favorite.


Nora was thoroughly un-impressed by the acrobatics.




Not sure what to call this one but it was my favorite.




Everyone was having a great time by intermission.






The elephants were Nora's favorite. On the way home Abby said she might grow up to be a clown in the circus someday (Aunt Jenn will be thrilled). Nora said she would definitely grow up to be an elephant.


And finally, the motorcycle ball of doom.

All in all we had a great time. We couldn't have asked for more from the girls and I think we made quite the memory.

An Unofficial Start to Fall

At times summer is a dirty word in our house (at least to everyone not named Dad) so it's with great enthusiasm that we've recently welcomed the unofficial beginning of fall.

Our first sign is certainly going back to pre-school. Abby is thrilled, she's been telling us literally from the first day of summer break that come fall she'll be able to go back to school and then proceeding to ask how long that will be again. She's going three days a week this year and loving it.

First day!


Nora was a little less excited about the first day of school than her sister

Second up Abby's enrolled in her first ballet class as well, she's getting to be a busy kid.

Our little ballerina


Lined up with the class - so excited to head into the studio!

To celebrate Labor day the girls made rocky road ice cream from scratch. Abby, Nora, and I are huge fans of anything involving ice cream (lately our regular sundae runs have been the highlight of our week) and I must say this could be the best ice cream I've ever had.

Here we are getting started, yes our garage is a little crowded at the moment.


Before long everyone else headed off to do more interesting things.



The girls helped by adding the nuts and marshmellows while Mom handled the home-made carmel sauce.


Here we are about to enjoy the fruits of our labor.


Nothing beats home-made ice cream on a hot day.

If it's not the best it's easily the richest, I think the one pint we made included at least two cups of both whole milk, heavy cream, and various sugars. It's awesome, the girls and I were all walking around with big grins the rest of the evening.

And of course, with the start of fall comes football season. I've been preparing the girls for weeks that soon we'll be watching the 'football movie' Sunday afternoon instead of our usual Disney rotation. At the moment they're doing okay with the idea. Here they are intently watching the first Colts pre-season game (okay probably a toy commercial) with me.

All we need now is a little break from the heat, until then I guess we'll just have to rely on chocolate ice cream to keep cool.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

School starts on Tuesday, so we're enjoying our last few days of summer before we get back into the fall routine. Today's enjoyment came in the form of something I've been wanting to do for awhile now - kite flying!

After Dora this morning (because we can't do anything until we've watched Dora) the girls and I walked over to Eisner Park to fly kites on the baseball field. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), not all of the pictures I took saved to my memory card, so you can't see Nora's initial reaction to the kite. But Abby was pretty excited to try flying.

First, you have to take off running.



If you get a lucky gust of wind, the kite might really take off!



Keep running, but be sure to watch the kite. Seeing it fly is the fun part!



All the running might tire you out, so you can sit down to take a break. Then your sister might decide it looks fun and she wants to try.



That kite string can be tricky!



After a long morning of kite flying, you're definitely ready for a snack at the park.

Abby's 1st Haircut

After 4 years, it's finally time to say goodbye to some of Abby's baby hair. We went this morning for her first ever haircut.



There it is - baby hair.




Super excited to get a haircut




Watching someone else get a haircut while we waited - luckily, he was a good sport about it.




Here we go - in the chair!




Testing out another chair while we wait




She was pretty impressed with the hair clips; apparently even Fancy Nancy would love them.




The back view




Halfway there!




All done!




Before




And after. (It's not actually that uneven. I just couldn't get her to hold her head straight.)


Abby's pretty ecstatic about her haircut. She's been grinning and giggling and telling me how much she loves it all day. And I've lost count of the number of trips she's taken to look at herself in the mirror. She's decided that she now looks like Rapunzel.