Bri and Hunter, One Fall Day

Here's some of the fall fun we had last week.

The boots don't hamper Hunter from climbing
the ladder to Grandpa's car.

If you're going to slide into leaves, a little raking is
required first.

As an added touch, Hunter covers part of
the slide with leaves.

He buried his legs in leaves, then asked,'
"Did Evan do this?"  (i.e. "when he was here)

HUNTER HAS FOUND A CRICKET!!

Little cricket, do you want to play?

Little cricket, do you want to play on Grandpa's car?
(He climbed all the way up holding the cricket
delicately in one hand.)

Meanwhile, Bri was keeping toasty warm inside,
playing all kinds of imaginary things with her
airplanes and other toys.  These are talking
airplanes that can assume ANY character
(especially Cruella deVille and others from
101 Dalmatians).

Hunter comes in to warm up and joins right in.

It had been quite a while since we had pulled out
the Sit-and-Spins.  They were a big hit.  I tried to
persuade Hunter to ride with Bri like Jennifer and
Amanda once did, but No way, Jose. My idea is
that two kids may slow it down, but it balances
things so they don't fall off as quickly.  Of course,
falling off is half the fun.

We soon headed back outside, Hunter leading the way.
No cricket this time.

"I'm on the top of the WORLD!"

The windshield makes a mini-slide.  Hunter finds
it's harder to climb up in boots than it is to slide down.

 

Fall's not over, and I hope to spend a lot

more time outside on these glorious days

with these fabulous kids.

Grandkids: Halloween to Veterans Day, Part 3

Here's the lovely altar that greeted folks

at Beulah Hill Baptist Church's homecoming

this past Sunday.

Now, on to the grandchildren.

Claire and Evan love the new Dalmatian game, too.

All smiles.

Kids love to jump, especially into leaves.

And Claire loves for her hair to stream in the wind.

Look out, Grandma.  Evan is a monster.
But his growl is worse than his bite.
He might hug you to death, though.

We're always trying to think of some new fun.
How about climbing a ladder to the roof of
Grandpa's station wagon?  Never did that before.

It's a winner of an idea.

Claire says it's a playground AND a car.

Quick, Grandma, snap it before somebody falls off!

Happiness is . . . sitting on the roof of an old car. ??

That windshield is sure a short sliding board.

Who needs a ladder.  Claire knows another way
up AND down now.

If this was an apple tree we could pick apples.
But since it's a maple tree, we'll pick maple leaves.

Soccer is HUGE in the Kirby family.

Everybody knows that only the goalee can touch
the ball with his hands.  But there's no rule against
sitting on the ball.

No grandkids in this picture.  But in late afternoon
when the kids had gone home I was putting up some
toys.  I finally spotted the birds that had been loudly
chirping all afternoon.  Can you spot them?

Grandkids: Halloween to Veterans Day, Part 2

No, this is not a grandkid.  It's not even

something our grandkids would taste!

But it's a yummy recipe Judy tried last

week with acorn squash, stuffed with rice,

pecans, hot Italian sausage, fresh sage, and

shredded cheese.  Delish, especially with some

 grilled peppers, onions, squash and peppers!

I just had to squeeze this in!

Now for the main attraction, the grandkids.

Claire and Evan loved a new yard sale game,
Swinging Snakes.

Evan, I hope that snake's not poisonous.

Evan invents Snake Solitaire.

Spinning tops have a hypnotic effect on children.

I shared a vintage video of WWII era Superman cartoons.

Claire and all the children LOVE this aunthentic
NASCAR tire that a lady gave me at the recycling
center.  It's so wide it doesn't easily topple over, so
they push it all over the field

Push OR kick, that is.

Baseball season doesn't have to end with the World Series.

Evan multi-tasks, cooking and conversing.

Grandpa, no peeking!

Claire and all the grandchildren love to work.
But like in Tom Sawyer's white-washing the
fence episode, it doesn't seem like work to them.

When you're jumping in leaves you have to empty
out your boots once in a while.

Never do anything the easy way.

What form!

Please, let's not let the immovable object
collide with the irresistible force!

While Claire drives us to the beach, Evan climbs
the seats.  Lucky thing we don't enforce all the laws
on private property.

Now we're off to Granny's Doughnuts!

Bri is rolling that tire up the steepest hill around
so she can chase it down.

Did you know that picking the red berries out of
magnolia cones is a lot of fun?

The latest thrill is a 101 Dalmatians game where
three puppies climb stairs, then coast down a track
to start all over again.  Bri fixed it so it would work.

Hunter loved it, too.  It also became a part of
their imaginative play.

Anything Bri did, Hunter had to do, too.
But not necessarily at the same time.

Any NASCAR drivers in search of a new pit crew?

Hunter would rather be a back-seat driver than
a front-seat driver any day.

And the kids don't mind if Grandpa has a little
fun along with snapping these pictures.

More pictures coming!