A baby lizard

 Logan and Daddy caught a baby lizard in the front yard.  It was running and jumping all over the place - even on Logan's arm!

Dmitri came down to play with it, too.  I think the lizard was happy to finally get back it the grass - away from the boys!

Kayaking

The four of us went kayaking at Highland Bayou Park (close to Bayou Vista - south of our house) on Friday.  I was a little nervous, since there were alligator habitat warning signs posted everywhere.  We didn't see any alligators, but we did lots of birds and fish jumping out of the water.  It was a really fun time!

Ridin' around

The kids have been out playing in the cul-de-sac again.  They've been just ridin' around.

Here, Kayleigh chillaxes as her brother pulls her in the Gorilla Cart (a cross between a wheelbarrow and a wagon).  Doesn't she look like a little Dickinson starlet?  heehee

Kayleigh takes Sadie for a ride in the small F150.  She has mad driving skills - as in get out of her way, woman driver!  But she is getting better!  She is no longer content just to let Logan drive the truck, she wants a turn now.

Daddy made it so the Gorilla Cart could be hitched to the F150.  So now, they kids can have their own little hayride (minus the hay).  The only thing they were not so good at was backing up the trailer.  That's okay though, a lot of adults can't back up a trailer.

(Bapa's blog) Fishing and Throwing Rocks

On Tuesday morning (October 4) we all went to Lake Coronado in HSV to fish from the dock.  Logan is holding up a fish he helped Gram catch. Notice that he already knows to hold the fish toward the camera so it looks bigger than it really is.  Good fisherman!

Kayleigh is OK to hold the line with a fish on it.  Just don't ask her to touch the fish.

I love this picture.  Kayleigh's actions show she wants nothing to do with the fish Logan is holding.  "Get that thing away from me!"

After we came home, we went over to Lake Sophia to let the kids throw rocks into the water.  Kayleigh has great form and focus.

On the way home we stopped by our neighbors' house, Gene and Bev, to see the wishing well they have in their yard.  It has a pump in the bottom that recirculates water - looks neat!  Logan was very interested in learning how it worked.

This was our last full day with Logan and Kayleigh.  We had a great visit with them.  Thanks to Shane and Karen for letting the kids come for a visit.

(Bapa's blog) Arkansas Railroad Museum/ 03-OCT

On Monday we drove to Pine Bluff, AR, to visit the Arkansas Railroad Museum.  The museum had multiple trains that we could climb on and look inside.  Here's the entrance to the museum.

 

Logan enjoyed ringing the bell at the entrance.

Logan is ready to turn the brake on the car.

Kayleigh is ready to drive the train.

Here are the guys on a restored caboose.

Here we are in front of the wheel of the last steam engine (#819) produced at Pine Bluff.

This is the last steam engine made in Arkansas.

 

Here they are at the railroad crossing.  There's no stopping these two!

 

The museum also had a small train that Logan and Kayleigh had fun riding.

 

The museum also had an old fire truck.  Logan enjoyed driving it.

After we finished at the museum, we went to a local park for a picnic lunch.  Logan and Kayleigh liked the swings.

After we finished at the swings, we headed over to the slides.

Even Gram got into the sliding act.

We had a fun day and great weather for our visit to the Arkansas Railroad Museum.  We can recommend it as a place to visit. 

(Bapa's blog) Sunday Afternoon Picnic

Sunday (October 2) we went to church at Barcelona Baptist Church.  Logan had so much fun that he didn't want to leave!  After church, we had a picnic at the DeSoto recreational area that is close to the church.  Logan enjoyed climbing on the rope structure.

After some climbing and swinging, we ate our picnic.  We're digging in.

Kayleigh enjoyed her veggies and dip.

Logan is eating his mac and cheese.

After lunch we headed over to the big slide.  Logan is ready to slide.

Kayleigh is heading down the slide.

We're all finished.  Kayleigh and Logan are shaking off the table cloth and getting it ready to pack.

What a great day at the playground!

My favorite artwork

The kids have been enjoying school, and bringing home a lot of art projects.  Here are some of my favorites:

Logan's handprint sunflower.  I love sunflowers (they're happy), and this one is even better!

Last Thursday, Logan did a picture of his family.  Ms. Jennifer said he would have worked on it all day if he could and was very focused on this project.  He told me when we got home that he made sure to color our house red (which it is), but he didn't have time to make our backyard.  I'm not sure what the scarecrow is for, but that's okay.

This is Kayleigh's Number 2 coloring sheet.  Ms. Debbie and Ms Angie had them do some stamping.  Apparently, K had a GREAT time doing that.

They both are really enjoying school, and are both doing really well on their memory verse for the month, "Honor your father and mother. Exodus 20:12"  Kayleigh says it as well as Logan.  Logan knew it after one day - amazing little minds!

Flachman Family Vacation - Waterpark at the Villages

On the afternoon of October 8th, we went up to Flint TX (close to Tyler in East Texas), to the Waterpark at the Villages.  We left around noon, thinking the kids would sleep some in the car.  Hahaha!  Mommy and Daddy are so funny to think they would sleep.  So we listened to Jeff Cosgrove all the way up.  So much so, that Logan and Kayleigh were singing "Let's Stick Together" for the last 15 minutes.  Really, it's not that long of a song, they just get stuck in "do-loops" on occasion.

Then, as a distraction, Daddy started throwing a Gatorade bottle around the car.  Super fun!

On Sunday, all us heathens skipped church and went to the waterpark.

Even Baby Abby (or Abby-grail, as I like to call her) had fun at the waterpark.

Logan trying to flap away!  Look at that smile!

Grandpops looks out over his brood, making sure they are all having fun.

Daddy and Kayleigh get ready to go down the blue (slow) slide.  Kayleigh was a little trepidatious the first few times down the slides, but she got used to it and had a great time!

Kayleigh would get off the slides and jump with excitement each time.  Shane was keeping up her, and he let her go down the slide in front of him.  By the time he got off the slide, she was around the structure and up the stairs ready to go down again!  It was hard to remind both kids to "walk" instead of running around.  They were excited!

Kayleigh did have fun in the wave pool, especially when the waves were off and it was more like a regular pool.

"HI!  I'm getting a ride from my favorite Daddy!"

Logan and Shane at the end of the orange slide.  Logan was a little slow getting out of the slide, so he got knocked down by Daddy.

Daddy and Grandma - they look alike, huh?

Monday, the waterpark was closed.  So we went down to the paddle boats on Lake Palestine.  Kaykay is ready to go!

Grandma, Mommy, and Kayleigh all were in the same paddle boat.  Amazing that we all fit in it!  Grandma pedaled with K-bob in her lap - not the easiest thing in the world...

Aunt Monica and Keegan went with us.  But they picked up some snacks, so everyone wanted to ride with them...

Kayleigh finally talked Aunt Monica into taking her...she ate snacks and actually pedaled!

The boys, Keegan and Logan, had to get off the boats and go explore this excavator.  Good times!

This is the building we stayed in - the Hileman/Flachman clan had the whole top floor! 

Being around all the cousins wears Daddys and girls out!

Apparently, it wears out Grandpops, too!

While everyone slept, Logan and Grandma played games.  Not real games, but just 3 year old time killers...

After naps, we went to feed the ducks.  Daddy and Grandma did buy duck food, but also brought some Trix cereal to feed them.  The ducks didn't particularly care for the Trix, but the fish really liked them!

Logan was asking, and asking, and asking to go on the paddleboats (or as Kayleigh called them, the "tattletales" or "tattle-boats"), we finally relented and had another go on the boats.  Logan actually helped pedal, which Shane said was a great help.  We have a video of Shane asking Logan if he's pedaling.  "You see my legs going up and down?"  "Yes, I see your legs going up and down," Shane acknowledged.  "That means you and I are pedaling."  First of all, good job little man on the pedaling; second, good use of grammar!

And of course, we had to go to the shore so the kids could get out of the boat.  Shane laughed, since this was the same shore (just a little further down) where we were feeding ducks.

The boys fed the ducks more Trix from the paddleboat.  They were super excited, then swam away when they figured out they were cereal.

The girls actually fed the ducks with duck food.  But we only had three ducks follow us.  Lucky ducks...no, really!

A family photo - glad we're all looking at the camera...

A better family photograph.

I don't know which one I like better - I love Kayleigh's munchkin grin in this one, but Logan is being Mr. "Cheese"y.

We may have had to go home early (Monday night, because Daddy had to work Tuesday night), but we had a blast!