Air Show

Gavin loves planes. Due to our home being in a flight path for DFW, he has long been able to identify a plane. Early this summer, he would point his index finger to the sky to indicate a plane overhead. As he has become more vocal he says "plane" or "airplane." We knew that a trip to the Ft Worth Alliance Air Show would be a great way to spend a day.

The gates opened at 9; the show started at 10. At 9:20 we were walking into the show with our friend Jimmy and his kids, Hayden, Landon, and Peyton.

We walked around to look at and inside planes. This is a CJ130. Dave's brother, Mike, worked at Lockheed when this plane was unveiled. Somewhere, there is a picture of Dave and me at the party Lockheed hosted for the plane.

Dave and Gavin wait their turn . . .

. . . to walk into the belly of the plane.

Gavin and I head into a big helicopter. (That's all I can tell you; it's a bit helicopter. Could be a Blackhawk; I really have no idea.)

Gavin and Peyton discuss which plane they like the best.

An Osprey . . . (OK, I did learn something, just not what kind of helicopter that was.)

An old plane. (OK, maybe I didn't retain a lot of information.)

Another plane. I can tell you this one is a biplane. That's all.

I did learn that we'll go again. When we go again, we'll:

1. Purchase VIP parking online in advance before it sells out. (Shorter walk for $5 more.)

2. Arrive at or around 9am. (Shorter lines to enter the show.)

3. Take ear plugs for everyone. (Wow the F16's are loud.)

4. Take snacks in. (Yes, they're contraband, but I have a small child. He needs snacks. We packed our own today, worried that security would see them when they looked at the diaper bag. No one checked the diaper bag.)

5. Take chairs.

6. Always have an extra battery for the camera.

--Miranda (even though I'm using Dave's log in)

The Itsy Bitsy Spiders

Dean and Gavin are itsy bitsy spiders for Halloween this year. Lindsey and I found these adorable costumes and accept that next year they might have opinions of their own regarding their Halloween costumes.

Friday evening we met in downtown Grapevine for Main Street's trick-or-treating. Before heading to Main Street, we let the spiders run around at FUMC to get accustomed to their extra legs (and padding).

Once on Main Street, I tried to let Gavin walk when it wasn't too crowded.

We met up with two other co-workers and their daughters. Here, Ellie poses with Gavin and Dean.

There was a fire truck available for perusing and a nice fire fighter to greet the boys.

Gavin loved driving the fire truck.

A quick pose of the CHHS staffers and their goblins.

We will definitely hit Main Street for trick-or-treating next year, but we'll get there promptly at the 6pm start. Our 6:45 start was a bit too late, given that it got dark soon after we got there and that I had to leave to head to a football game.

His Very Own Backpack

And he loves it! Gavin wore his backpack around the house last night until we had to pry it off of him because it was bathtime. The boy definitly knows what he likes...and isn't afraid to tell you when he doesn't want to give you something of "his".

Gotta call my peeps and tell them about the cool new backpack.

A New Roof

We finally have our new roof! Our roof has been a real pain ever since we moved into this house. There have been several leaks that we never could seem to find and fix. Then one day I decided to get motivated and call our insurance adjustor to come out and inspect the house for hail damage. We did have a pretty bad hail storm about a year and a half ago that I never called about. Well, come to find out....we did have "severe" hail damage. That damage was partially to blame for some of the leaks that we had been having.

Around 10:00 on Tuesday morning the roofers finally showed up and got to work. They actually did a really good job, and were walking up and down the 45 degree roof pitch like it was nothing.

Old grey shingles are coming off.Almost done!

We decide to go with a darker shingle than the light grey that was on the house. This one is called Colonial Grey, but it does have a bit of brown in it too. We both really like the color change, and are pretty anxious to find a new paint color that will compliment well withe the new roof.

A Weekend in Pictures

We are short on time as usual. So here are some images that we snapped of the boy over the weekend. Enjoy!

Gavin likes to actually build things with blocks. Tearing down the tower is fun too....

Nothing like a Sunday afternoon drive.

And a walk after church is always nice.

G invented a new way to eat a hot dog at lunch today.

He is a fan of dipping too....no matter what combination. This was hotdog and queso.

After lunch he literally attacked an apple. He is a fruitaholic....

Poor apple...

Then it was time for a little fall cleaning. I have heard of people cleaning their houses naked, but I never thought that I would see someone doing it in my own house.

Good thing he is such a cute devil.

State Fair Fun

We need to get used to the notion that we will be attending every Texas State Fair as long as Gavin has any say in the matter. We used to go every other year because it is pretty much the same stuff with the exception of a few new fried items every year. Gavin seemed to have a good time last year despite being only seven months old. We were accompanied this year by Matt, Lindsey, and Dean. We also got to make new friends with Lindsey's sister Lesley and her family.

We started out by giving the tractors a test drive. G wasn't real happy when I told him that we had to get out of the big tractor (backhoe).

G driving solo...he also had a tandem ride with Dean in the smaller tractor.

Next stop was the "On the Farm" experience. This exhibit was for kids to do some chores "on the farm" and in return they get paid one dollar which they were then allowed to spend in the farm store on a snack. Here is Gavin looking pretty cute in his apron while carrying his basket and watering can.

Feeding the (fake) chickens with corn that we got from the corn bin and harvesting an egg.

Driving the tractor with the feed for the cattle in the back. Gavin is making sure his load is secure before putting it in drive.

Gavin was paid handsomely for all his hard work and scored some Sun Chips in the farm store. We stopped to have some fun on the way out.

While all the playing is fun and good....the real attraction to the fair for most of the adults is the food. The Texas State fair is known for all the different strange fried foods that they offer. Travis was nice enough to share a piece of chicken fried bacon with me. It wasn't too bad...the tornado taters were pretty tasty, too. Other fried items indulged upon by our group included fried cheesecake and fried beer. It was reported that the fried beer was horrible...not a big surprise if you ask me.

Next on the list for the boys was the petting zoo. There were hundreds of animals in the petting zoo: everything from camels to zebras to emus. Gavin got to gaze in amazement at the animals and made his animal sounds when he saw an animal that he recognized. From an adult perspective it was a little sad to see all the big animals presumably sedated - just about all of the large animals were just laying there with their heads down or were asleep. Thankfully the kids didn't seem to care...the goats were a hit with everyone.

Piggie hinies...

This was our photo shoot attempt with Gavin, Dean and Emma. It was a gigantic failure. Herding cats would be easier in comparison.

We then went in search of some of the bigger animals. We found the sheep, cattle, and horse barns. All the kids enjoyed looking at the animals. Baa's, Neigh's and Moo's were common sounds coming from the little ones in our group.

Then it was time for lunch. Dean seemed to really enjoy his Flecher's Corny Dog.

Miranda and I always have to have at least one corny dog every year. I tried the jalapeno cheese corny dog this year - it was yummy.

Funnel cakes were the desert of choice after lunch. Yummy but very messy too...

All this fun might have had a something to do with a couple tired little boys.

We also got to see Big Tex again this year. He doesn't seem to age at all from year to year. Disregard the (insert word that Daddy is no longer allowed to say) in the background.

We also swung by the butter sculpture and some of the craft exhibits on the way out. Everyone had a great time, but by 2:00 it was way past time for naps. Gavin lasted for about 10 minutes in the car and then started his 2 hour afternoon nap.