So my Mom has a glass door, and then this gate that sits about, what, 6 inches away from it?

And Jonas climbed through the cat door and into that space in order to pet George.  When the cats go through the cat door, then then easily slip between the bars of the gate to get to the other side. Getting Jonas out was a bit more... complicated.  (The screaming!  Oh, the screaming!)

Nothing a little snuggle from Grandpa Vic couldn't cure, though.

Vroom vroom vroomy vroom! Boobah at the wheel!

That was pretty fun, but do they have any swings around here?

Yeah, baby!

Here he comes!

And there he goes again.  The simple pleasures in life.

What trip to Great Grams and Poppy's house would be complete...

... without this picture?

Great Grams bought the kids a "lemonade stand".

Basically a big cardboard box and markers.

Jonas was in HEAVEN.

Violet prefers to water the flowers.

And pose for beautiful pictures. (Only 3 years after I took this picture in the same spot.  Man, where did that baby go? )

Back in the "house"...

Jonas cannot BELIEVE we are letting him color on the WALLS!

And on his leg, and pants, and arms, and ear...

Ah, yes.  This is where "watering the flowers" deteriorated into "soaking myself with the hose."

Look at her!  I had to strip her and wring out her clothes.

See?  No clothes.

And none for you either, you follower.  Just because your sister is doing something dumb doesn't mean you have to, you know.

Now it's time for the harmonica concert.

Sounded kind of like someone playing the harmonica,

accompanied by a parliament of screech owls.

Yes, I had to look up what to call a group of owls.  All hail Google.

That Mr. Matt. So very generous.

Even going so far as to let the baby win! 

Meanwhile, in this corner...

We seem to have a fairy princess.

Or maybe it's a disco princess. So hard to tell sometimes.

Awwww!  Trying on the flower girl dress for the first time!  I think it's a winner.

As are these shoes.  Seriously - have you ever seen anything more precious?

Suz took these pictures.

Why we have clothing optional pics of the kids on the stairs is anybody's guess.

Hunter (HUNTAH!) learned pretty quick that under the table was the place to be when Jonas was eating.

This is Jonas, sitting with a block house I built for him.

This is the picture of the house that Aunty Suz took, because she thought he built it himself.  He was not yet two years old.

After a tram ride from parking lot C...

and a quick look at the park map...

It's time for the rides!

Busch Gardens, baby!

Woo hoo!

Um, Mom?  Is this safe?  To let the three year old drive?

In an effort to beat the 186 degree heat, Aunty Suz buys rocket pops!

Mmmmm.

Artificial dyes.

We loves em.

This is after cleaning up with a  wipe.  The sticky washed off, the color did not.

Twink: Eh, so I'm blue.  Whatever.

Boobah: WHAT?  I'M BLUE?!?

They looked like this for the rest of the day.  Awesome.

We played at this park for about 13 minutes.

At 14 minutes, they started complaining that it was a "really really BORING park."

Hard to compare to Busch Gardens, I guess.

GASP!  It's Marilyn Monroe!

Aunty Suz generously donated this to Madam's costume collection.  Spoiled rotten.

COUSINS!

Cousins on a tire swing! Does it get any better than this?

The child-free Aunt and Uncle look on, wondering, "Is this whole weekend going to be about playgrounds and children's menus?"

The Big Kids decide that swinging is for babies,

and retire to the sandbox.

Babies nothing! Swinging rocks!

The little kids stay put.  Little kids loooove swinging.

All little kids.

Here we have some pictures that Aunty Kim took with her far superior camera.

Look at that picture!  I obviously need an upgrade.

There were like 9 shots of us, and not a single one had everyone (or really anyone) looking at the camera and smiling and looking great.  So I picked the one where I looked the best.  As website admin, it's well within my rights to do this.

Couch potatoes.  Look at them - all completely hypnotized by Yo Gabba Gabba. Pediatric dentists should have TVs playing this show in the exam rooms.

This thing was so, so awesome.

It was this huge, bouncy pillow of air.  Far superior to any trampoline.

What farm tour would be complete without a tractor ride?

Make that three tractor rides.

Hey, are you sure you're qualified to drive that thing?

Pumpkin patch pictures!

Holy cow - sibling luuuuurve!

Everybody now - "Awwwww!" (Love that pirate pumpkin in the background.)

Hey!  Where'd your little hug buddy go?

Ooh.  She's found someone else to hug.  Harsh.

This is a picture of the Princess feeding a calf some lettuce.

This is a picture of the Princess feeding a calf some lettuce, while I rush past the animals as fast as I can go with a toddler strapped to my hip (I'm not a fan of touching livestock.)

Note to self - if you want a picture of the kid looking in your direction, you should stand with the milking demo BEHIND you.

Hayride time!

Please note - after witnessing the milking demonstration, we all opted for a free mini-pumpkin over a free chug of milk.  Eeech.

Hey! They had chocolate milk in there!  What am I supposed to do with this pumpkin, anyway?

Mmmmmm.

More dye.  Yummy.

Whoa!  The little toy tractors were one thing...

Kiddo sized giant bouncy pillow of air.

So. Much. Fun.

Don't worry, Jonas got in on the action, too.

He just needed a little help.

Oof.  That's harder than it looks!

I took the kids to meet my grandparents in Georgia, and somehow left with only this one picture.  In my defense A) my uncle was there snapping away, and about 582 pictures exist from our time there and B) I was keeping an eye on Jonas in a house with a brick fireplace, breakables, and guns.  Love this shot I did get, though. :)

It's a pirate!  ARRrrrrr!

Ah. It's our daily round of "torture the dog."

This princess is not the dog torturer.

The pirate on the other hand.... (Poor, poor Huntah!)

Fine.  I'll give him a break and go for a quick motorcycle ride.  You  need anything from the store?

The many emotions of Jonas. He's SAD!

He's HAPPY!

He's incredibly PISSED OFF!

Whyyyyyyy is he anything but ecstatic?  He has a cupcake with orange frosting, for crying out loud!

Oooh! So I do! NOM NOM NOM.

Taking pictures in an aquarium is incredibly difficult.  They're either blurry..

or ugly.  Blegh.

But look!  They have these big shells set up to pose with! Photo op! (Well - it would be if you had cooperative kids.)

Ok, a little blurry, but I love this one. That fish was SUPER fast!

Yay!  The aquarium has a playground!

Hooray!

Hallelujah!  We love a playground!

Uh oh.

Well, this whole water feature playground would've been a lot of fun to play on...

...had it not started pouring 5 minutes after we got there.

The Twink quickly finds a safe place to hide from the rain.

I'm good!  You guys go find your own shelter!

Mid-sneeze.

Trick or treat!

This is how it works - we go to the Disney Store...

And Madam picks out her costume...

and then the rest of us fall in line.

Meet the White Rabbit.

Tweedledee...

and Tweedledum!  HAhahahahaha!

We went all out on Jonas's costume.  Ears, check!

Bunny tail, CHECK! :)

Cutest bunny in the world.

No idea what's going on here, but Alice and I both look SHOCKED.

Tweedledum (heh) makes a quick call to the Mad Hatter to find out where he's at.

And we're off to the mall for trick or treating (and, ok, maybe some shopping.)

C'mon, guys! FREE CANDY!  Let's GO!

At the end of a very long night. Happy Halloween!