Ames visit the C-L-E

~LOVE their matching shirts~

October brought a HUGE surprise! Kailey, Shawn, and McCoy came for a visit. Kailey came last fall and it was a blast. i was sad she wasn't coming again {and tried to talk her into it} but little did i know she had a surprise visit planned. She ended up telling me about ten days before she came because she was worried about a few 'logistics' of the trip. we ran, and ran, and ran all over, which was a BLAST but it made the trip go WAAAAY too fast :( last year we had two little babies who napped 2 x's a day and were a little harder to go out with. this year we held nothing back, and neither did the 1 1/2 year olds! The three of them arrived late saturday night {10/2/10}.

Sunday we went out to Patterson's fruit Farm for apple fritters and yummy apples. we love it out there. the fall leaves had just started to change. after Patterson's we drove through the 'country' and ended up in Chagrin Falls.

racing stollers down the hill~

lots of running involved all week

lots of chasing each other as well

this is what i got when i asked ej to get by mccoy for a picture~

Sunday night we decided to head to Niagara Falls on Monday so we rented a mini-van and headed out. there were a few meltdowns from the back seat but all-in-all the kiddos did great!!! we put them in the back seat with the DVD player and loads of toys- it was great! it rained pretty much the entire day but we made it Canada and back in one piece.

nate LOVIN' the mini-van

LOVE ej's hair- pulled out her piggies but they had to hold hands :)

the drive~

At Niagara Falls

our mini-van

downtown Niagara- Canadian side

Tuesday we met shawn's family {they live in Columbus} out in Amish Country and discovered a new place out there. Nate had to go to school that day, but i knew we had to take him back there. it was so much fun. Emersyn L-O-V-E-D the petting zoo {shocker, i know} and kissed many, many of the animals. she was covered in all sorts of germs and slobber but she was in heaven. we just wiped her down with antibacterial :)

she loved the goats~

this horse would nibble on her hair and she'd just laugh....

Wednesday evening shawn flew out so we hung around the house and caught up from all our running around. Kailey and McCoy stayed through Saturday. we went to parks and played and let the kiddos spend time together hanging out.

ej doing yoga with Kai

ej and mccoy LOVED jumping on the air mattress together- and did it quite often. they would crash into each other and fall all over the place and just giggle. it was an activity that occurred multiple times a day. seeing ej with him made me SOOO happy. it broke my heart to think that they don't get to play together more than a few times a year!!! ej loves her cousins so much and her face lights up every time sees them. hopefully soon we'll be able to see them on a regular basis. by the time he left they really were best buds! mccoy constantly wanted to hug ej.... and chase her..... and have her chase him.... they were too cute! hopefully they will be as good of buddies and andi and dallin who are just about the same age too.

McCoy LOVED hugging ej.... she was alright with it most of the time :)

....both on VERY important calls

tickling mccoy