Rick Kulp Family: October 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

The bigger my children get, the more fun Halloween becomes... and the busier! This year, Aubrey had Western Day at her preschool, complete with a train ride and a parade. Andrew had Spider Day at his school where they went to all the different Kindergarten classrooms and did a different activity in each room. Both of these events were at the same time which meant Rick and I had to tag team, he went to Aubrey's and I went to Andrew's. Then tonight we had our holiday tradition of beignets, using Halloween cookie cutters and then it was off to trick or treat. I don't know who's more tired, the parents or the kids! Happy Halloween!

Western Day apple game.

Lining up

Group picture

Choo Choo Train

Waiting for the parade to begin.

Marching with Madeline.

Andrew's class listening to Mrs. Cook for instruction. He's on the back row, last one on the right.

Andrew creating his spider out of blocks.

I love my little man!

Pirate girl!

hmmm...

Davis as a skeleton ninja- he made it up himself.

My little Ninja, who later changed into a skeleton.

All 3!

Halloween Beignets! YUM!

My little helpers.

YUM!!

Don't you love how they're color coordinated?

Love the expression on his face! Haha!

Aubrey and Sally the Witch!

Seth & Aubrey (still not sure what he was).

My good friend, Jan.

The skeleton Ninja and his friend the...?

"Trick or Treat."

There they go...

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Pumpkin Carving

Andrew has been begging to carve his pumpkin and plant some pumpkin seeds for weeks now so today while Rick & Davis were at the game, we thought it would be the perfect time. In reality, Andrew just wanted me to carve it and he took the seeds, he thought the whole thing was disgusting. Aubrey, however, enjoyed every minute of getting her hands in "all the goop," and wouldn't let me touch her pumpkin! They're so funny!

Getting "the goop" out.

Andrew writing his name on his bag of seeds. He counted out 20 for everybody.

Aubrey loved every gross second!

Andrew with his pumpkin (he wanted me to make it look just like the plastic one on the ground which is HUGE pressure if you know Andrew, but I ended up doing just fine. Whew!).

Aubrey drew the face herself and I cut it out.

(Sort of) raking leaves

Both Andrew and Aubrey have been learning all about fall in school and reading lots of books with raking leaves so today they decided to give it a try. They were going to make the "biggest leaf pile ever!" That lasted all of 10 minutes for Andrew, who decided to let his sister do all the work while he sat in his chair, ate his lunch, and watched! Haha!

Both working hard...

...but Andrew decided to let Aubrey finish it up. He even let her jump in first, how kind of him! :)

Football Game

Rick's name was drawn at work yesterday for 2 tickets to today's Carolina game against Tennessee and he took Davis. Davis was a little torn since Pa is a big UT fan, but we talked about how he lives here now and it's okay to root for the home team so he wore his Gamecock t-shirt with pride!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Field Trip with Andrew

Andrew is having a wonderful year in Kindergarten and I am having a wonderful time sharing it with him. I love Kindergartners and have really been enjoying my time with them this year. Yesterday, I helped chaperon a field trip to a very fun farm. It was the perfect fall day with cool temps and falling leaves. The fun part was loading the bus with a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds who had never ridden a bus before, God bless those patient teachers! The field trip was fantastic with hay rides, pumpkin picking, sheep, potbelly pigs, horses, donkeys, and even a couple of peacocks (don't worry, Nana, Andrew didn't touch them). We had a blast and everyone was completely worn out by the end. Happy Fall!

Excited for his first bus ride!

Hay ride! I promise he was loving it, there was just too much to look at.

My group with their pumpkins. Marley, Tyler, & Andrew.

Marley & Andrew. He may not be looking but at least he struck a pose!

Mrs. Cook's class. Aren't they cute?

This was the most patient donkey ever!

We loved this sweet pony. It had the most beautiful blue eyes.

Just for Nana.

We loved these sheep!

Very big potbelly pig!

This lady was great, she obviously works with children frequently. She was telling them how a pumpkin grows. I even learned a few things!

Petting a baby chick (another one for Nana).

Love this! Mrs. Cook is on the right and her assistant, Mrs. Sample, is on the left.

Lunch time!

Worn out!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Sea World 2012

This year for their birthdays, the boys decided on a family trip to Sea World (Columbus Day usually falls near their birthdays and they're out of school) instead of birthday parties and we couldn't be more proud of their decision! We had an amazing time! We left on Friday morning after Andrew's Fun Reading Friday and Davis' math test (Andrew's was more fun). We stayed at a very fun hotel that had bunk beds for the kids. They each took turns sleeping on the top or bottom bunk or the sleeping bag on the floor. Since the last time we visited Sea World, we ran out of time in 1 day, we decided to break it up into 2 days with a trip to Downtown Disney on our second day. We were able to go to the Dolphin Show and the Shamu Show on the first day and the Pirate/Sea Otter show & a funny pet show on the second day. Andrew and Aubrey loved the kid-sized roller coaster, Shamu Express, and Davis & Aubrey loved this gigantic net climb. No one complained even once about all the walking and it wasn't too awful hot. Downtown Disney was fun, too, with an awesome trip to the fabulous T-Rex Cafe! There were all kinds of robotic dinosaurs and a meteor shower went off every 15 minutes. We also visited the Lego Store for the boys and a Disney Princess Store for Aubrey. It was a great trip and everyone agrees we should go somewhere next year. Maybe Disney World? Stay tuned... :)

So excited about the bunk beds!

Ready to go in to Sea World!!

It's become a tradition for us to have a family picture taken at the Dolphin Show.

Dolphin Show

The Orca Show was next.

They were amazing!

Incredible what they can do!

Oops! These are dolphins. Still beautiful creatures, though! :)

Dolphins or Orcas, it didn't matter, Andrew was fascinated!

Aubrey & Andrew being silly inside a Great White's jaws.

Andrew climbing to the pirate ship.

Rick & Andrew at the top of the pirate ship.

In front of an orca statue.

These guys on stilts were fascinating!

Sometimes we got a little silly! :)

Enjoying the Manta Aquarium.

They were fun to watch!

Aubrey & Davis checking something out.

Waiting for the next show to start.

Aubrey working her way across this crazy net climb. She's fearless!

See how high up it is?!? She's one of those little people up there.

Davis stayed with her the whole time, what a great brother! She's in the pink & he has on the red shoes.

"Look, Mom, we made it!"

One of our favorites, the pirate/seal show. It's hilarious!

The seals were great!

The kids also rode their very first roller coaster. Davis HATED it, Andrew liked it, and Aubrey LOVED it!

Out of order, but Davis and Aubrey at the top of the net climb on the second day.

No visit would be complete without a trip to the gift shop. Davis actually waited to spend his money until he got to the Lego Store in Downtown Disney, he's holding Andrew's Spotted Manta.