State Fair 2011

Once again we made the trip to the Great New York State Fair.  It is so wild to think that I have gone every year for the past 25 or so years!  The NYS fair time is always bittersweet though...although it is lots of fun it is also a reminder that another summer is coming to an end...which also means back to work for momma. Boo.

3 years out of these $10 etsy cow dresses! Go Momma!

Watching a momma pig feed her piglets.

I really think this pig was annoyed that I was taking her picture.  Maybe she hadn't lost all of her baby weight yet and wasn't up to having her picture taken...I can relate momma pig. sorry.

Levi loved the goats.

Thanks to Uncle Scott and Aunt Emily the girls got to go on some rides.  Momma is usually to cheap, I mean frugel to let the girls go on rides but their Uncle gave them ride coupons! Yay for cool Aunts and Uncles!

Relaxing in the horse tent.

And Sophie's favorite part of the fair...holding baby chicks. She was in love with this little guy.

But she was able to move on once we told her she could go pet a horse in the horse barn.

The Whitacres Heart the NYS Fair.

Abbie's special day

Abbie chose to go to the bounce house for her special day.  I knew she wasn't going to have much fun at the bounce house by herself so she agreed to share her special day with her sissies and her BFF (and cousin), Kenzie.

Fun was had by all!  

I have no idea what that is going down the slide with Ella...I am guessing a stuffed animal Sophie must have brought in.

Mommy loves you, Abbie!

dinosaur eggs

A while back I had posted about our trip to Salmon River Falls and having lunch by the lake after.  It was a very rocky coast and the girls loved throwing the rocks into the lake. 

While we were looking for rocks I began to call the very smooth oval shaped rocks "dinosaur eggs".  The girls quickly began to scoop up some of the "dinosaur eggs" to take with them in the car.  Actually one "egg" turned into a weapon when Abbie whipped it from her seat to the front seat during a tantrum (luckily it just missed Daddy's head...Abbie's dinosaur egg was then confiscated for the rest of the trip)...but that story is neither here or there.  Anyway...the girls played with their "dinosaur eggs" when they got home but never did it go in the direction that it did a few weeks later. 

I think it began by the girls starting to "pretend" that the eggs were real. Then Sophie took it a step further and began to "believe" they were real (I'm blaming the show Dinosaur Dan for my daughters distorted view of reality).   Sophie thought they were hatching since some of the rocks had little valleys in them.  So Sophie set up this little contraption before going to bed...

In the morning she had sworn that one had hatched and it was loose in our house...by the middle of the day she had moved on. 

Oh how I love to watch the littles play...I really do wish they could stay this age for just a little longer. 

one last trip...

For our last trip of the summer we once again tagged along with Daddy to Rochester.  Most people would never consider Rochester as a vacation destination but hey as long as there is a hotel with a pool then the Whitacres will vacation there...that's how this family rolls! :)  It all honesty though it ended up being so much fun (with the exception of a visit to a walkin due to a major bout of mastitis...ughhh!). 

We had so much fun hanging out by the lake after dinner one night...the weather was gorgeous!

I love when I can actually catch their real smiles.

And here it is folks...the next two pictures were my attempt at capturing all four littles...

this first picture captures their personality so well

Sophie-being annoying to Levi by playing with his ear

Abbie-just kind of there..not sure which way to roll at this      point...a meltdown could be very near but so could a beautiful smile...who knows.

Ella-taking this picture very serious b/c she knows how moody her momma can become if she doesn't get a good shot...trying to contain Levi with grace and determination

Levi- Mr. Grumpus pants who could care less

And two seconds later I had this...
oh. my. 
At this point I put my camera away.

The next day we took the kids to Seebreeze...we used to go there as kids so it was neat to be able to take my littles. 

This was their first ride...Abbie had no idea it went this fast so it took her a while to recover from this one...

She was much happier on the boats...

I loved this ride when I was a kid so I was thrilled when Sophie and Ella went on it with me...

Sophie loved it so much she wanted to go right back on it with Daddy.

From there we headed to the waterslides. I can't beleive how much Sophie looks like Abbie in this picture. 

Abbie wanted so badly to go on the kiddy waterslide but kept chickening (is that a real word??) out when she would get up there...then she finally did it.

AND...

LOVED it!

Levi wasn't sure what to think of the water shooting up from the ground.

So he gave it a try.

And then went to find mommy because he had enough.

love this shot of ella and daddy.

Sophie really wanted to go on the pirate ship..oh my...I really felt like we were all going to fall out.  I was scared and laughing throughout the entire ride-I felt like I had lost my marbles.  Look at those boys in front of us...apparently we should of chose those seats.

The train was much more enjoyable!

We had such a fun time...the girls are still talking about it.   We are definitely hoping to come back next year.

life

On days we weren't tagging along with Greg on a little trip we were usually home trying to think of fun stuff to do.  I only worked 1 day a week during the summer so I was loving the opportunity of spending most days with the littles. 

I tried to take pics of not only the "posed and pretty" shots but more of the littles doing things that I wanted to remember...like this one...

Sophie tore apart an insulated box that came to our house with Daddy's work stuff inside and made this outfit!  Oh how I smile when I look at this picture.  She was so proud...as was Mommy...look out etsy!

and this one

 sisters just hanging out watching the rain

and this one

my dear Abbie playing with strawberry shortcake dolls and my little ponies that used to belong to her Mommy when she was Abbie's age

I would still capture the cuteness of the "created" shot because there are certain outfits I just love on my girls

this being one

but I really tried to get more of those "everyday moments" since I know these moments are the first to fade in the busyness of life.

and I want to remember these moments...

even these moments.

because before long all my littles will be all grown and I want to be left with more than just the pretty posed pictures.