Trick or Treat in the Heat...sort of.

This year our kids participated in an annual fundraiser for leukemia called Trick or Treat in the Heat. The event is in memory of a 5 year old boy named Ian who died of leukemia three years ago. His favorite holiday was Halloween and it didn't look like he was going to make it to the next one. So his neighborhood had Halloween early for him and all the kids dressed up and went trick or treating in the heat, since it's normally snowy and cold by the time Halloween arrives around here. Since then they have held the event as a fundraiser and we were lucky enough to join in on the fun. Except it was anything but warm out. The wind was blowing like crazy and it was quite chilly. But it was still tons of fun.
Below are the kids trying out some costumes.....thanks to Grandma Kay.

This is Asher as 'the Beast' and Shira as 'Belle the Beauty.' Only the bottom half of Asher's costume was a little small. You can really tell if you look close. Poor kid.

Since we also had the 'Cowardly Lion', we decided to combine the two costumes so they could go as Beauty and the Beast. But here Asher is demonstrating the not so cowardly lion.
And here is Asher as Superman!
This next shot was taken by our local newspaper. It was in the paper!

My kids are totally famous!

Siblings

Just a few shots of the kids in their pjs.

They had just had blueberry shakes....thus the mustaches.
Sleeping on the way home from picking blueberries.

Sky Diving...not us, just friends

We spent Saturday watching three friends go sky diving one at a time. We didn't realize it would turn into an all day event, but it was worth it. And I believe it turned out to be the nicest day of the entire summer. Next summer David and I plan on doing the jumping, but this time it was Grandma Kay, her dad Fred (who is 74, I think), and my good friend Kristi. We had a blast watching them and can't wait to do it ourselves.

This is Kristi coming in for landing.

Here is Fred, who isn't normally smiling. Isn't he handsome!?
This was the best! Fred is apparently a big joker and started off by telling his instructor his name was Hank. Then when the instructor was putting on Fred's harness he told him he would buckle him in but that he would have to make sure his 'package' was adjusted. Fred didn't miss a beat and replied, 'I don't have a package.' I was dying!
Kristi and Kay....Kay's shirt says 'Shut Up & Jump!'

Which they did. Grandpa Blake & Asher watching Fred jump.

David and Bohdan doing the same.

Labor Day

I know Labor Day was quite some time ago, but whatever. We had a great weekend. We went out to Palmer and spent the weekend with Kay & Blake. On Saturday we watched Kay, Kristi, and 74 year old Fred, (Kay's Dad) jump out of a plane (pics coming soon). On Monday David took off with Blake to go moose hunting for a week, and Kay, Kristi and I took all the kids (seven in total) to go to the Alaska State Fair. It was a ton of fun and a few of the pictures are below. The best part was talking Shira into getting on the swing ride with Asher, you know, the one where you just sit in a swing and it goes around and around? Once she got on and the thing started taking off she started freaking out and crying and screaming. As the thing would come around in our direction I would start yelling words of encouragement, which just made me look foolish, trying to calm her down. Asher, who was sitting right next to her, was oblivious to her terror and just enjoyed the ride. Once Shira realized it wasn't going to get any worse, she started to calm down, but not enough to move her freaked out eyes from focusing straight ahead without blinking. She just looked so scared and I felt so bad, yet couldn't stop from laughing because she was hilarious! The best part was when she tried to acknowledge us and wave. She would just fling her arm in our direction every time she came around, as if to give us some lame attempt at a hello, but never moved her eyes in our direction. I think you get the idea. My camera died, but Kay took some pics that will hopefully get posted when I receive them. For now you can check out the horse rides below.

The Great PumpkinShira hula-hooping. Can you see the focus?

The Alaska State Flag done with flowers.

Feeding Bohdan some.....something. Me and the kiddos.

The best shot of the day! Grandma Kay eating corn on the cob.