What's Up With the Paines?

I wanted to share some photos of the kids -----> they are literally growing so fast! And then I remembered this old blog where I used to post stuff. I'm a little rusty on how this works, but here goes!

Allie began 1st grade this year, and was enjoying her math work on this particular day.

Rowan is doing preschool now, and loves activities that involve play dough!

Silas' teacher took this picture during his first week of 3rd grade.

We adopted a kitten (the second time this summer, but the first kitten went
to live with my parents) and named him Cole. He and Rusty became tentative friends. 

One week when our science unit was on flowers, Allie got an edible flower for lunch.

Rowan's edible flower.

The kids love playing with these pattern blocks,
and make some amazing designs!

We rolled some flower petals in water to make colored liquid.

In late September we did the Walk-for-Life to support the Pregnancy Resource Clinic.
Nate and the kids ran across the finish line and someone snapped this photo for their website.

Our beach vacation to Ocean City, NJ in mid-September.

Silas had a blast in the ocean all week. He barely left the water's edge. 

Some days were chilly and windy thanks to Hurricane Jose, 

but we got several beautiful beach days at the end of the week.

A family photo on the boardwalk during the hurricane 

(thankfully it went far out to sea and didn't cause too many problems).

Beach Bums

We called Ocean City our home for about 10 days this summer, and the kids truly became beach bums. They never tired of the beach, sand and surf. In fact, Silas practically became one with the sand––he would literally lie down in it and rub his face in it. Probably some kind of sensory-seeking exercise for him. Allie enjoyed the beach as well, although she didn't wear quite as much sand as Silas did. Whenever we came back to the house we were staying, clean-up was an extensive process.

Besides the beach, we also visited the Cape May Zoo, which was a surprisingly awesome zoo. There were baby snow leopards frolicking around, giraffes, tigers, bears, and many other animals that you could get rather close to. The kids also loved the carousel and playground there. Visiting the zoo will probably become a yearly tradition!

Some other highlights include lots of walks on the boardwalk, going on rides at Pirates Cove and Wonderland Pier, testing out equipment at a local playground, and eating lots and lots of pasta and pizza from the local take-out restaurants!

Pictures can tell more of a story than words, so I'll let them do the rest of the talking.

One of the kids' favorite activities was digging holes in the sand with Nate.

And then, of course, climbing in the hole!

Silas  beginning to cover himself with sand.

Allie trying out monkey bars for the first time.

This is a cool series of Silas with his chair in the water. 

He sat for a long time while the waves splashed over his legs.

The tide gradually rose until...

...Silas was sitting in water. He didn't seem to mind!

Jen put Allie's hair in pigtails for the first time.

Riding the carousel at the Cape May Zoo.

Jen helped the kids make rudimentary sandcastles.

Allie enjoyed the pool that Nate made in front of our spot on the beach.

Cute picture of Silas and Nate.

On a rainy day, we took the kids to Wonderland Pier.

One of many rides the kids rode while it poured outside on the boardwalk.