Fun on the Farm....

The morning after Nana arrived both Caroline and Nicholas had school field trips. Sadly, Nicholas' class already had enough chaperones so we weren't able to tag along... they went and saw the "Emperor's New Clothes" and Nicholas said it was a lot of fun. Caroline's whole first grade went to Steed's Dairy Farm and got to explore and have fun and the best part was Nana got to come with us!

Me & Caroline on the hayride.



The corn maze... Caroline, Daniella, and Daniel were the first group to ring the bell and get back out of the maze.

Ringing the bell....

The large slide...

Nana & Caroline decorating pumpkins at lunch...

Cheese!

MOO....

The tractor....

The jumping pillow.... was all fun and games till Caroline thought it would be a good idea to try and do a flip... then landed on her head... OUCH!

All in all it was a fun day on the farm. We got to see dairy cows, little chicks, pigs, sheep and have lots of fun with Caroline and her friends!

Boo at the Zoo!

Saturday after a busy day of playdates and birthday parties, we went with Julie, Barbara, Alex & all the kiddos to "Boo at the Zoo" at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. The kids were so excited to get dressed up and go have some fun with friends... I think they were the most excited to get colored hairspray in their hair!!!

Little Pink and Purple Fairy Molly :)


Spiderman Nicholas with blue hair


Daddy and the gang...


Alex, Barbara & Sarah

Caroline the bear..

Nicholas the Tiger..

BOO!!!

Molly trying to fit the big teeth in her little mouth....

The best part at the end... roasting marshmellows! Nothing like a sugar high before getting in the car and driving an hour home!

Our little Star!

Caroline's first grade class had their program tonight at school. This year it was "The Color Factory" Caroline got to be "Star Light" and had a small little speaking part. She was quite the "STAR" if I do say so myself!

Octoberfest

Last night was Octoberfest at Fort Gordon. One of my fondest memories from living here back in '05 was going to Octoberfest. We tried to go last year and were sadly disappointed.... the weather was awful and when we got there, they were out of German food :( I was super excited when the weather this weekend was supposed to be cool and sunny. We took the kids just around dinner time (5pm couldn't come fast enough yesterday) and we headed over to the base. First stop was beer, then German food. Even Caroline ate some schnitzel. There was also a great little carnival section and the kids had a blast going on the rides. Even Molly was game for almost everything! And Nicholas, who wouldn't even consider going on a ride at SeaWorld this spring, went on everything he could!!!! It was hard to get the kids to leave and come home!

(This pic isn't Octoberfest, but I couldn't resist) Nicholas came home from pre-school dressed as a fireman.. SO CUTE!


Caroline and her schnitzel.... makes me wish we were moving to Germany :(


Molly on her first mini-rollercoaster. She was SO brave and climbed up into this ride all by herself. It was super tiny so and adult couldn't have fit, and she did it alone. Proud of my baby girl, but hate that she's getting big enough to do things like this on her own...


Caroline and Nicholas in the front... the fair wasn't crowded so the kids got to go on as many rides as we could fit in... perfect!


Silly little girl in Caroline's hat. She wore it all night long :)

Molly and Caroline on the hang-gliders

Daddy, Nicholas, and Caroline on the bumper cars

Riding jet-skis

Molly on the airplanes... she was SO happy!

One last ride on the caterpillar together...

Not sure how much you can really hear the music in the background, but imagine German music :) The kids loved dancing to the music..... too cute!

Charleston Battery

The kids and I were lucky enough to go up to Charleston with our friends the Allens. They're brother in law works with the Charleston Battery soccer team and the team was in the finals of their division. It was a nice weekend and a fun time hanging out with some friends. I think the kids had a blast too!!!

Caroline and Sarah


Nicholas & Jack


Molly....

First Day of School!!!

So we missed the first day of school being back in WA....

The kids look "thrilled" in this pic... oh well! Hard to believe that Caroline is in 1st Grade, Nicholas is in 1/2 day Kindergarten, and Molly is in 3 year pre-school.... Thankfully they all have wonderful teachers and hopefully this fall will be a great experience for everyone!!!

Seattle

We decided since it's our last day here to take the ferry to Seattle and go meet Joe and all my sisters and husbands and kids and go have dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. Sadly, the weather did not cooperate again with our plans, but we all had fun anyway.....

Nicholas on the ferry..


Kids with Nana on the ferry. Just as we got on, it started to rain :(


Molly and Caroline


Having fun and playing...

The City!!! Looks like a winter day... not the beginning of August!

We met Joe at Pike Place Market.... Caroline & Nicholas on the market pig..

C & N checking out the clams and fish...

Molly and Uncle Ryan

LOVES!

Molly & Aunt Kendra

Watching the train go by.....

It was nice to be able to spend one last dinner with my family before we go back to Georgia and then on to TX. We had such a wonderful trip that flew by way to quick! I keep crossing my fingers that we'll be able to come back next summer!!!!

Another one...

Another post with no pictures..... What a weekend it has been! So not the way that I thought it would go down! Joe was late, and I mean LATE getting in to Seattle. His plane was supposed to arrive at 6:30pm and he didn't make it to his hotel back in Seattle until almost 3 in the morning. Needless to say, I was on pins and needles ALL night long as to what the news would be..... it was NOT good! My nerves got the best of me and I was in for quite a shock. We had given the Army a list of 5 places we would like to go, and our result was one that was not on the list... Looks as if the Karhan family is moving to El Paso, TX! AAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!! As I tried to make sense of all of it, I had to pick myself up and put on a smiley face, for it was going to be a good day regardless of the bad news. We had a Forest Ridge Neighborhood reunion at my parents house. There were about 15 adults and 20 kids (rough estimate) and it was a blast. The weather could have cooperated a little bit better, no, a LOT better, but regardless, it was awesome to catch up with all the people I grew up with and to see all of our kids getting to know each other and play together. There were even 3 sets of twins among the group. I was fortunate enough for Joe to have been able to catch a ride down with Katie and Ryan and come try to console me. I was also lucky enough to have my parents keep the kids so I could go back to Seattle with Joe and spend some time with him. What an adventure this army thing has turned out to be!!!!!!!!!!

No pics :(

I never managed to upload the pics that my mom took for a couple of days while we were home. The kids and I headed up to Seattle on Monday for a couple days to go hang out with Courtney and the Twins. The weather was decent enough to take the kids to the eastside to go hang out a spray park. They had a lot of fun running through the water and climbing on the big orca. We had dinner at home one night, and out another night. My kids really enjoyed being able to hang out with the twins and see Aunt Courtney and Aunt Kendra. It was a sad reminder of how much it stinks to live so far away!!!

Thursday was my birthday... big 35! So not exciting this time around! At this point, I don't think they really need to be! Court and the girls met us at the zoo for the afternoon with Nana. Another decent day in the NW and the kids enjoyed seeing the new tiger cubs that were on exhibit. We had a nice dinner with Nana & Papa and then Court and I met a few friends down at the Green Turtle for a couple drinks and then off to the Tide's. It was nice to be with friends on my birthday... Later today is the big day for news! Joe is flying in to Seattle and we should find out when he gets here where our next "home" will be!

More fun with friends

This trip just keeps getting better and better! Another wonderful day with friends! Saturday was filled with pedicures, beer, and live music in the sun and fun running into long ago friends that I haven't seen in a while. (it would be a ton better if Joe were around too, but he'll up on the 6th for a few days in Seattle)

Me, Sommer, Becky, & Julie!


Mike, Paul, Becky, Sommer & Julie

Today we went to the new Sehmel park in GH... such a wonderful park for the area... wish it had been around while we were there. I also got a great suprise when Curtis and Janelle decided to swing through GH and come say hi!

Caroline giving her favorite boy a hug!

"the gang"