Exhausting the children

First, take them to a family reunion in Southern California. Oh yes, that's pretty fun. Plus, hanging out with the cousins all day for a week will ensure deep sleep for everyone.

But to really wear them out,

take them to Disneyland!

You can try Splash Mountain, but don't sit in the front. You will get really wet. Trust me. I have "a friend" who found out the hard way.

Then look for the Kindergarten class mascot in the gift shops.

Even if your three-year old is tall enough to go on Big Thunder Mountain and begs to go, don't take her. She will not like it. (Not all grandmothers like Tower of Terror either - weird.)

If the seven and eight-year old cousins want to go on their first upside-down roller coaster together, let them. It gives their moms in the car right in front of them an extra bit of adrenaline.

Skip Playhouse Disney if you are over 4.

(Do those guys look like brothers or what?)

At the end of the day, be sure to have a strong dad.

If he is a superstar that will help.

When you finish your days at Disney, do your homework.

Now that's what I call a great trip. Thanks for the fun, everyone!

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters!

Before we go to bed we always check on the girls and re-tuck them in their beds. Lately we've had to search for them because they move - a lot - like, into different rooms.

The first time we found them all snuggled up they were in Emily's room. She has a double bed but they were all on one side! They actually slept like this all night long.

It was pretty cute, but not as cute as . . .

the night when they Charlie and the Chocolate Factoried themselves. Can you even find three girls in there? Three girls in a twin bunkbed is pretty impressive. They are really good at playing Sardines, by the way.

8 is great!

No, no one in the family turned eight. It was our eighth annual pumpkin patch trip with the Workmans. To be perfectly honest, this is not the easiest way to buy pumpkins. The prices have gone up (WAY up), it's not close, and it's usually super hot when we go. That's OK. We usually get some cute photos along with some pumpkins and it is never, ever boring with C&G+5 around.

There must have been a strong wind when I took this one.

This was the best photo we got of all 38 of our kids. How many of you are lucky enough to get to wear shorts and flip flops to your pumpkin distribution centers? Please, come visit when you get tired of the snow.

We were so roasting hot after picking our pumpkins that we decided to cool off with a nice ice cream cone at Rite Aid. Yes, Rite Aid. They are extra cheap and really, really big there - and that's just what we were looking for.

This is the best photo of our family I've seen in a year - and it's of us sitting against the wall at Rite Aid after sweating to death at the pumpkin patch. We need to take more family photos.

Superstar!

We've already established that Scott is a superstar. How super is he now? He's so super he's half-way made of iron!

After a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run he was still smiling. Wow! He says he might be done with that race but I've heard that before. In just over a week he'll be running his third marathon.

Who knew I'd married such an athlete? I didn't. Scott didn't know it either. My husband is a superstar and I love him. You know what - he loves me too, even if I pose like I'm in the Mrs. South Placer County pageant in his finish photos. That's love.

Oh, so festive!

We took the girls to the Scottish Festival again this year.

We saw some of this.

This kind of weirds me out, by the way. I did like the Roman section though but I'm not sure why the Romans were there in the first place. Hello, remember Hadrian's Wall - they built it to keep the Scots out of Roman Britain. How soon they forget . . . anyway. I got to throw a spear in their camp and I was really good at it.

We also watched the strong man festival. They were not so impressive. They were mostly just, how to do you say it politely, round. The strong women were awesome - not round, just buff - and fun to watch! Emily is planning to compete next year.

Heidi and Molly agreed that the shave ice was the best part of the festival. Dying the tongue is always a fun and festive event. Also, shave ice stops the whining.

I love how this kid is looking at these guys like they're nuts and the nuts are giving the kid on a leash the same look.

Next year we're getting Scott a kilt.

We tried to exhaust her

Ayuka came to our house last weekend. Her school did a week-long tour of California. OK, not all of California. She got to see San Francisco and Universal Studios in LA. Just the staples I guess. Luckily for us, there was also a homestay program so the students could live with American families. She was only at our house for 36 hours and we did our best to give her a homestay to remember - or at least to help her be thankful she's Japanese.

As soon as we picked her up we took her right out to get a hamburger. In her questions about America she wrote, "Will Americans eat hamburgers all the time?" Yes, dear Japanese student. We do. We especially like them with bacon because bacon is like a little hug from God.

We've got spirit, how about you?!

Next we took her to see American teenagers in action - the local HS football game! I had some friends who brought their Japanese students too so we all sat together. I wish, wish I could speak Japanese because I would have loved to hear their true reactions. All of the students were very polite and I really couldn't tell if they were having fun or not. They just smiled and nodded a lot when I asked them questions. I'm going to take that as a yes, it was fun.

This photo was taken on the first cold day of the year. I'm starting to think it was also the last cold day of the year. Whew! I'm roasting here! Also, can you see that Heidi was profoundly influenced by Mugatu's final collection?

The next morning we took Ayuka to go see some California produce. Every time I go to Denios I kick myself for having been away for so long. I LOVE the produce section. You can find all kinds of things you pay double for at the grocery store AND then lots of freaky looking Mexican and Asian fruits and vegetables you can't find anywhere else. Come over. I'll take you. It's been too long already.

The rest of the day we wore poor Ayuka out by taking her to the mall, going miniature golfing and best of all, we sent her with some friends to go to a Stake Dance! I think she had fun. Again, there was lots of smiling and nodding, so who knows. I know she liked the Sonic drink she came back with.

Sayonara, Japanese kids! We'll see you next August!

So I guess it's fall . . .

I have a hard time with the first day of school in CA. When I was a kid it FELT like fall. The leaves were changing color and the long pants and the sweater your mom bought you were actually weather appropriate. Today was 107 and I don't think the traditional Minnesotan back-to-school outfit was on anyone's body.

My kids are Californians. Yeah for new traditions!

Since I made Heidi a new school dress the other girls decided they wanted one too. Molly's is a cupcake dress and Emily's has Japanese dolls on them. She's all about Japan these days. Really. This week a Japanese exchange student is coming over and she can't wait. Notice that Heidi is still wearing her school dress (but the reverse side of the last time it appeared on the blog). She has been to school three days and has worn that dress three times. I wonder when she'll want to wear something else. (Also, that reminds me, I have to go change the washing so I can get the dress out for tomorrow. Done. Isn't it fun to do chores together?)

Check this kid out! She looks so grown up to me! She's in second grade and I cannot believe it. We are so excited about her teacher and her classmates. I asked Emily what she wants to learn this year and she told me "cursive and multiplication". OK then, here's to a year filled with cursive and multiplication!

Cute little Molls started Kindergarten today. She has the same teacher Emily had and we couldn't be happier about that. When Molly went into the classroom she sat right down on the rug. Apparently she didn't want to waste time coloring or playing little games. She was ready to get down to business. She has lots of cute friends in her class and gets excited to talk with them. I hope that she will learn to NOT talk for at least part of the day.

Happy fall!