3 things in one

So a lot has happened this week and I haven't got a chance to post them until now. First Mara and Ben both had field trips on Thursday. Mara's Teacher has been reading a book in class (Trapped in Death Cave), and they went to go see the area where it described. They went to the Wichita Mountains Visitor’s center (we went to the mountains last week, but we’ve never been to the visitor’s center) Afterwards, they went to a small town north of Lawton, OK and walked around to see the sights of the book. Then, they went to a park to have lunch and play. David got to go since he was night flying this week and didn't have to go to work till later. Here are some pictures he took.

This first one is with Mara and some of her friends in front of a stuffed buffalo

Here is Mara standing on the "rickety" bridge. David said that the kids were afraid to walk over it because it looked so old, but apparently cars drive on it so it was pretty safe.

Ben went to a farm area where the teachers had set up different booths with different pumpkin activities. At one booth, they read them a book and they all planted a pumpkin seed, at another they took out the seeds and then carved it, and at another they just got to play with a whole bunch of pumpkins (sort them, stack them, roll them down a small hill). Ben had a great time. We also went on a nature walk and saw some deer. I got to go with Ashlee. I was worried that it was going to be too cold. It was cold, but we had gloves and a warm coat so it wasn't too bad. Ashlee had fun hanging out with the big kids. Many of the little girls there liked to "mother" her. It was cute. I of course forgot my camera so I asked someone to take some pictures and they haven't sent me them yet so will post them later.

Next is Ashlee turned 2. We didn't do anything big. Just cake and ice cream and opened presents. Here are some pictures of her blowing out her candles and opening her present. We got her a doll that laughs and cries. Each time it would laugh, Ashlee would laugh her head off.

Last, our little community here had a pumpkin rolling contest on Saturday night. The kids had fun rolling their pumpkins to a target. It took them quit a number of rolls but they both finally did it. After Ben did it he kept doing it. He probably did it about 10 more times. Ashlee wasn't old enough to do it, but she did like to walk right in the way for the where the pumpkins were being rolled and almost got clobbered by pumpkins a couple of times.

Mt. Scott

After our Stake Conference in Lawton, Oklahoma some people in our ward have a picnic in the "mountains" of Oklahoma. When I first heard about these picnics I thought...mountains in Oklahoma? But they are pretty decent for Oklahoma, nothing compared to the mountains in Colorado, though. The kids had fun. The mountains are in a wildlife refuge. They have Buffalo, elk, and long horn. The kids had a blast seeing the animals. They also enjoyed playing on the rocks on Mt. Scott.

Some more from the past...

Here are some cute pictures of Ashlee at the playground. As you can tell she loves the slide.