Photo #207 Someone is Growing Up!

Well, we were going to wait until his birthday, but all of us were a little too excited to wait.  We flipped Jackson's bed.  He officially has an "up bed," as Jackson likes to call it.  Over Labor day weekend, Jackson had the chance to sleep in the top bunk of a set of bunk beds.  He did so well that it assured us that he was big enough for his bed to be flipped over and made into a loft bed.  I love it because it adds more play space in his room, but it does make me a little sad.  He's getting to be so big.

So, here is he new room!

Today, we also went to Oktober fest on the base.  It is put on by the German military so I was really excited to try a bratwurst and see how it compared to Johnsonville.  It was really yummy!  They also had a kids area where Jackson and Molly were able to get balloon hats!  Molly absolutely refused to let me take a photo of her with her hat, so you'll have to settle for Jackson wearing it.  :)  I think you can figure out which one is Molly's and which is Jackson's.

Jackson's has Winnie the Pooh (aka "a bear").

Photo #206 Molly Monkey

For about the past month, I have been taking Molly to a Mommy-and-Me gymnastics class.  It took her a few days to really warm up to it, but now she loves it!  We have so much fun and I'm even able to get a workout with her!

She isn't too fond of the balance beam, but she could hang from the rings and the bar all day long!  She also loves to run the vault track and jump on the tumbling tramp.  Over all, we have a fantastic time!  We are only going once a week, for now.  We'll see if that ever changes.

Photo #205 Beautiful Sky!!!

This weekend was the annual balloon  festival here in Alamogordo!  Initially, I thought the hot air balloons were only on Saturday.  Boy, was I wrong!  We saw a few on Friday.  Saturday was suppose to be the big day.  It was okay.  But Sunday!!!  Now that was exciting!!!  While sitting at the kitchen table, I looked up to see the following outside our back window!  The kids and I ran outside to see a fantastic sight!  Jackson and Molly squealed and cheered.  We even got one of the riders to wave and shout 'hello!' to us!  What a great start to a day filled with snotty noses and sneezing.

All of these photos were taken right from our backyard!
(The balloon rider on the right was waving to us!)

Photo #204 Sight Seeing

To get a little change of scenery and temperature, we like to take trips up to Ruidoso.  It's about an hour north of us.  I get a chance to go to Starbuck's.  Benny gets to visit a cute pet boutique.  And the kids get ice cream!  We love going up there and there is a BEAUTIFUL drive to get there.  Here are photos of a couple of the sights along the way.

This morning, we were also surprised to get an early preview of this weekends Balloon Festival!  This is what we got to see right from our backyard!

Photo #203 Bubbles Benny!!!

Benny continues to test my patience and still be a fantastic dog.  He lets the kids to anything to him and he just takes it.  Jackson has a habit of sitting on him, and Molly has an odd obsession with squeezing Benny's head as hard as she can.  And Benny?  He just takes it all.  All he really wants is attention.
Jackson is basically done taking naps, so he got to spend some quality time with Benny in the backyard.  The kids have a bubble blower and Benny goes CRAZY for bubbles.  Here are some fun photos of their backyard adventure.

By the end of their fun, Benny was plenty tuckered out.

Photo #202 No Rainy Day Blues For Us!!!

Jackson and Molly get SOOOOO excited to see rain!  For Jackson, it's the chance to play with his Toy Story umbrella.  For Molly, she's a lot like me.  She just likes the rain!

Photo #201 My Little Fashionista!

Oh Molly, Molly.  What a girlie girl she is.  I love letting her dress up!

She wore her cowgirl boots, necklace, bracelet, purse, and even brought her play lipstick and wand just to go eat at Arby's.

This morning, she put on some of her play dress-up clothes and shoes.  I let her wear the skirt while we took Benny for a walk, but I wasn't going to deal with the shoes.  :)

I love my little princess!  She makes my life delightful!

Photo #200 Art Gallery

We now have our own personal art gallery in our home!  I've been wanting to do this for quite a while, and finally found big enough frames at a reasonable price.  The artwork is just taped on the front, so I can update it often! :)  Enjoy!

Photo #199 First Family Vacation

We've traveled as a family before, but it has always been to visit other family, or taking advantage of a business trip of Jason's.  This past weekend was the first time we went anywhere, on our own, just for fun!  We were blessed to be able to use a friend's, parent's house to stay in while we saw the sights of Phoenix!  I don't remember the last time I had that much fun!

We didn't get in until midnight, so our first day was pretty relaxed (despite the late hour, Jackson still managed to shout "I want to sleep on the up bed" when he saw the bunk beds in their room).  We checked out a mall and let the kids play in a play area in the morning and then we all went to Chuck'e'Cheese's for dinner and more fun in the evening.

Saturday morning we took the kids to their very first movie in the theater!  We saw Toy Story 3!  Very cute.  That evening, we all headed to Chase Field to take in a Diamondback's game!  We were thrilled to discover they have "All You Can Eat" seats and that's exactly what we got.  They didn't have a huge food selection, but it was enough for us.  Jason was happy to see how focused on the game Jackson was.

Sunday morning we got some Starbuck's and headed to Ikea. We got what we "needed" and then a few other things. :)  That afternoon, I found an indoor mini golf place and we enjoyed some Red Robin for dinner.

Overall, it was an absolutely wonderful vacation!  I am looking forward to many more!

Here are some photos of our vacation and many more can be seen at www.picasaweb.google.com/themcginthys.

This photo makes me giggle.

Molly's very first baseball game!

That's right.  Cardinals fans are everywhere!

Jackson LOVES peanuts.  And he had an unlimited supply during the game!

Molly didn't watch much of the game.  Be she still had lots of fun!