Another Great Soccer Season Begins

We had a great start to the Fall Soccer Season! We got some fancy new Nike uniforms this year, which look awesome! And the league started an Under 4 year old division, which is a Mommy/Daddy & Me Practice, so Sierra started playing this season. With Mom's help on the field, she has been doing great! Avery has continued to get better and she scores multiple goals every week!

Sierra's First Day of Pre-School

Sierra's first day of pre-school went great! She was so excited to go to school! When we dropped her off, she went right in without even looking back. The only time she cried was when we picked her up and said it was time to go home. She cried because she didn't get to play outside at all (because it was a rainy day). Now she asks almost every day, if she has school. And on the days that she does have school, that hour in between dropping Avery off at the bus stop and taking Sierra to school is the longest, because she is all ready to go and just has to sit and wait for her turn!

The Spencer Fair 2011

We had another great time at the Spencer Fair. This year Gramma and Grampa were in town for it, so they got to experience the fun with us. We also met up with Gracie and Jack there, so we had lots of fun on the rides with them. As always, it was a great time!

Avery on the Merry-go-round

Avery wanted to try out some "Big Kid" rides this year

Daddy going down the big slide with Avery & Sierra

Here we are with our beautiful face paintings

Jack & Sierra on the motorcycles

Avery & Gracie in the airplanes

Sierra & Jack cruising in the cars

Avery's First Day of Kindergarten

Avery had her first day of kindergarten on August 28th. So far, she has loved every minute of it, from the bus ride to all of her new friends. She did great on her first day, she didn't shed a tear, which is more than I can say for myself. She has five friends from our neighborhood who watch out for her on the bus. And she already has several best friends at school, Jackie and Colin. She loves all of her teachers! And she has even gotten to know the school nurse after falling on the playground chasing the boys. I am so excited that she is so excited and happy at school, although I can't say I'm not surprised.

Avery with her teacher, Mrs. Dawson at orientation

Getting ready to walk to the bus stop

Avery & Sierra

At the bus stop with her friends

Lining up for the bus

And there she goes

Fun Stuff We Did This Summer

Here are some pictures from some other fun stuff that we did this summer. The first few are from Avery's camp. She went to Camp Foskett for a week. She went there last summer, but she was in the little kids group so it was only three mornings. This year she was a Running Bear and she went five days, all day. She had a blast!

Avery at the playground before camp started

At about 9:05 A.M., the bugle sounds and all the campers run up the hill

The campgrounds with the lake in the background



These are pictures at the zoo where our friend Cameron had his birthday party

We got our faces painted

And pet some animals

Posing with the zebra statue

And Sierra on the merry-go-round

And here we are in New Jersey for Cousin Brady's First Birthday Party

Our Visit with Nana & Grandpa

Nana and Grandpa made a trip out to the East Coast for my Cousin Kristen's wedding in New Jersey, so they spent the week with us for some fun. We started out with a day in Boston. We took a tour of Fenway Park which was really fun. It was really intersting to find out all those fun little facts they give you and they were very nice, even though we brought in some Yankees fans! Then after a nice lunch we went to Boston Common, which is a huge park (the oldest park in the United States, in fact) right in the middle of Boston. The girls had fun at the playground and getting some ice cream. It was a beautiful day!

Avery & Sierra in Fenway Park

After me and Nana and Grandpa got back from New Jersey, we took the girls to Davis' Farmland. We had gone there with them in June and Avery saw a sign for their Fall Corn Maze which was going to have a Pirate theme this year so we went to check it out. Now this corn maze is like nothing you have ever seen before, it is huge. It was fun for about the first hour because they had a zip line, a little 4-hole putt-putt course, and a sling shot, which the girls loved. After the first hour I was getting very anxious to get out of corn. And after 2 hours, I said just get me out of here. So we cheated a little to get out, but the girls got their silver coin for a treasure when we got to the end. And it made for another fun visit with Nana and Grandpa!

Avery in the stockade

Heading out into the corn

Sierra getting her sling shot ready

We finally made it to the treasure chest!

Our Trip to Maine

We had a great weekend up in Maine with Uncle Joey, Aunt Jenna, Alex, Stacy, and Aunt Jenna's parents, Don and Sue. We had so much fun last year when we went up there, that we pretty much did the same things as last year. We swam and played in the lake. We all went tubing off of the back of the boat and had a blast! We did some fishing again this year, except that this year was much more successful than last year. All of the kids caught at least two good size fish! Avery and Cory went kayaking, Avery even paddled by herself a little this time. We had a traditional Maine Lobster Bake complete with Smores on the open fire for dessert. It was such a great time, we are already looking forward to doing it all again next year!

Sierra on the crocodile float in the lake

Stacy and Avery getting ready to go for a ride

Sierra cruising along with Mommy behind her

Alex, Avery, Stacy, & Sierra hanging out at the house

Sierra showing off her prize winning fish

Avery showing off her big catch

Uncle Joey tried to get Stacy to kiss her fish. Ewwwww! (She wouldn't do it, by the way)

Daddy & Avery getting ready to take a ride

Daddy & Sierra out on the open water

Avery & Sierra even went out, just the two of them

Daddy & Avery coming in from a nice kayak trip

Fourth of July in Pennsylvania

We had a great vacation for Fourth of July at Gramma and Grampa's in Pennsylvania. We spent most of the time swimming at the pool, the weather was perfect all week! We also celebrated Sierra's Birthday with a pirate cake.

Ahoy, Mateys!

Here we are with Aunt Jacey and Uncle Paul

And with Gramma and Grampa

Having some fun with sparklers

Catching lightning bugs

Avery & Sierra mesmerized by the fireworks

Here we are at Build a Bear Workshop

Avery jumping off the diving board at the neighbor's pool

Sierra's Turn


We also had a really fun day in Pittsburgh! It started with a tour of Heinz Field. We got to see every inch of the stadium, including the locker room, press box, and suites. After the tour, we needed a little down time, so we went and saw Cars 2 to get a little rest. Then, we went to the Pirates game at night. It was the girls first baseball game. They especially loved the mascot, pierogie races and, of course, the cotton candy. We had a great time!

Heinz Field

The Steelers Locker Room

Testing out the lockers (Avery is sitting in Hines Ward's Chair)

Down on the field...well, next to the field. We were told to stay off of the grass.

Here we are at The Pirates Game

Back at the Pool, swimming with Grampa