The Big Backyard

The Memphis Botanic Gardens has a new thing called the Big Backyard. It is way too cool and on Wednesdays after noon it is free to get in (although next time we go we will pay to go because it was quite crowded and would be well worth the price you have to pay to get in). Kelley and Will went with us, we had such a good time.





a little clubhouse


music house


hanging laundry (why is this so fun everywhere but home)


Kaitlyn took Will in this house and said "come on, this is like in the three little pigs", I guess that would be the house made of sticks.


Kyle drew his name on the chalkboard house.


playing music




Kyle put this hat on and kept saying "I'm a cowboy"


Kaitlyn really took to Will, she carried him around and played with him really well. And no she does not need another little sibling so don't even bother commenting that!


big treehouse









We will definitely make more visits to the big backyard. There is so much to do there. I am not happy with most of my pictures. The sun was right in the way so the lighting was terrible for most of them.
They also have a simulated rain station but that deserves a post all to itself.

Bartlett Festival

Going to the Bartlett Festival each September has now become a tradition for us. This was our 3rd year to go. We love this fair. They usually have hot air balloons, which is the reason we started going in the first place, but this year it rained so much that I supposed the ground was too saturated for them to roll out the balloons and inflate them. The balloons are my favorite part so I was disappointed but there is still plenty to do and the kids always have fun.






Kaitlyn got her hair done at the Sweet and Sassy booth and climbed the rock wall.





Then we went to ride some rides. They love this.









There was a group raising money for Breast Cancer and you could beat on the pink car. Kyle of course wanted to do this.



And with all the rain we have had lately, there was actually a pretty sunset while we were there.

1st soccer game of the season

Kyle had his first soccer game of the fall 09 season this morning. I am so excited that he has moved up to the next league and now we play at 10:15 as opposed to 8:30. We only had 4 of our 6 players and the other team only had 2 of their players show up. They play 3 on 3. So we sent one of our players to their team so we could still play. So all 6 kids had to play the entire game (they normally switch every other round). They were so tired and sweaty by the time it was over.

Kyle scored 4 goals and did not want to stop playing.









Playing goalie


He really needs a haircut if he is going to get all hot and sweaty

PTA Program

Kaitlyn performed with some of her class at the PTA program tonight. She was so excited to do this. They sang several songs.










Jim Jaggers (from News channel 3) was there promoting his Go Jim Go campaign for Lebonheur (apparently his son goes to Bartlett Elem.)

Helicopter ride

At the Delta Fair yesterday John saw the sign for helicopter rides and said he had never done that so we should. I said whatever. Only two people could ride at a time so he and Kyle rode, then Kaitlyn and I rode. The ride was only about 2 minutes around the perimeter of the fair but well worth it.











When I got on I handed off my bag and camera to John. There was no door on the helicopter so I didn't want to risk losing anything. But I was so mad that I didn't have my camera up there. I could have taken some cool pictures. Oh well, I guess we will have to ride again next year!

Delta Fair

We went to the Delta fair again this year today. I am so exhausted. We got there about 12:00 and did not leave until around 7:00. We ate before we went and then went to eat right after so we would not be tempted to purchase any of the over priced food there. We found a coke machine inside one of the building that had canned cokes and water bottles for 60 cents so I bought a few of those. We got the kids wristbands so they could ride as many rides as they wanted, so worth it.

First they rode some kiddie rides.













Then they rode some of the "big rides". I was surprised that Kyle wanted to ride these and figured after the first one that would be it for him. But he rode several with Kaitlyn.











We also rode in a helicopter but that deserves a post all to itself. Then we watched a roller derby, some motorcross guys, and a demolition derby.









Kaitlyn and Kyle also fed the goats.





Here is the midway, I didn't think it was too crowded but this makes it look like it was.