GA State Fair

This year the GA State Fair moved to the Atlanta Motor Speedway, only 15 minutes from us. I'm not sure why it moved and I'm not going to take the time to research at the moment. I don't care anyway, since cute pictures to highlight the memories we made are all I need.

Cotton Candy!!! She was SO EXCITED.

Nick and Addy on the carousel

Sweet girl

I think this was Addy's favorite ride

Julie and Addy, just before we watched the Monkey Jockeys. Monkeys riding on dogs around a little track. None of us were sure what to think about that. They were cute though!

Kid swings

Maddox on the fish ride

My favorite face of the night

Getting ready to ride the weird dragon coaster

Never a good sign when the ride starts going forward up a little hill... and then comes backward to the starting point. Even worse when it does it SEVEN. MORE. TIMES. That's right, a total of 7 "attempts" of button pushing by the guy running the ride. Had it been anymore than a kiddie ride I would have promptly gotten off! Nick and Addy moved to the back of the ride to distribute the weight, and we finally got to go around. Lailey didn't like it by that time since the starting and stopping had made her wary (for good reason! Me too!). And then the ride wouldn't stop! Perhaps the guy felt bad that it hadn't worked well, or there was no one in line, but poor Lailey kept saying to me "I wanna get off!" but I just kept encouraging her and laughing. Well, we lived to tell the tale. And this, friends, is why I do not ride the big fair rides, thankyouverymuch.

Can you see her face? My usually thrill-seeking kid was not going to ride this again.

This calf's name was Sadie! 

There was NO way that sheep was getting her cotton candy!

See Maddox, they're sweet! (And then it tried to eat my hair)

Goat with a mouthful of hair

He kept laughing at the adorable goats (I want one!) but I didn't succeed in getting a picture.

Here cow, eat the food I finagled from some unsuspecting girl. No, really!

Unintentional hilarious picture!

I really like ferris wheel pictures

See, told ya.

Okay, last one.

This is not a ferris wheel. It's a puddle. With a ferris wheel in it.

Kiddos with their giraffe hats the guy at the duck pond game so generously gave them (valued at  .9 cents each)

Davey Finishes the ATL Marathon for the Second Time!

I'm so proud of my hubby! He set out last year to complete his first marathon. Most people do a half marathon (13.1 mi) first, but he went for the full 26.2 miles and did amazing. The Atlanta Marathon is known for being a difficult and hilly course, but he accepted the challenge once again and has made us all proud.

Having fun in the beautiful weather

Maddox climbing and watching 

Addy, Eli, Whitney, and Maddox (and their new cousin, due next month!)

Addy and Lailey

Shelley and Maddox

Last year the weather was FREEZING! This time, I was prepared with coats, hats, gloves...and as you can see Lailey had to push her long sleeved shirt up it was nice and warm in the sun. Beautiful day for a race.

Here he comes, wearing his Xero Shoes

Davey gets a lot of attention for his footwear while running. People are always shocked to see a runner clad in very thin sandals. For anyone who is curious, they're called Xero Shoes. They are intended to mimic barefoot running, and obviously Davey loves them. Check them out if you're interested. I have run short distances in mine and I really like them as well. Significantly cheaper than running shoes, they also last much longer as well. Since he puts in so many miles training, they are a very economical choice for us.

Shoes are "fresh" from the race...with grit still on them! 

Close up of the unique medal from this year

Almost there!

He did it!

Lagene ("Grammy") wasn't able to make it last year since she had just had back surgery, so this year was special because she got to be part of Team Dave.

It really takes a whole family to make a marathon happen. I may not have run the miles, but between us we had to juggle taking care of the kids to make the intensive training schedule work. 

Authentic family picture

3 Akin kids...soon to be FOUR in November. (Congrats to Eli and Whitney!)

Halloween 2013 - Rapunzel and Flynn Rider

I absolutely LOVE costumes that go together, like entire families dressing up in the same theme. I don't know why, but I love it. Someday, all of us will have to dress up, but this year I was good to get one costume made (really just one part) and then we used what we had for the rest. If you haven't seen the movie, Tangled, well, you should. It's one I truly enjoy watching with my kids and the music is fabulous. And I'm picky. 

Anyway, Lailey received the Rapunzel dress last Christmas, and it's beautiful. I convinced her that she should be Rapunzel for Halloween. The dress is gorgeous (and I didn't have to make it!) and it's not going to fit forever. Once she was convinced, the logical choice for Maddox was to be Flynn Rider...

And what a handsome little Flynn! I did make his vest, which I'm pretty proud of. I would say I'm an intermediate seamstress, but I didn't think that the vest could be too bad. I took another vest he has for sizing and went from there, piecing it together from Pinterest pictures and movie pictures. There were some COMPLICATED patterns online. Mine was much easier, and I was so pleased at how it turned out.

The infamous Ghostbuster with Flynn and Rapunzel

Grammy kisses

With cousin Addy (as Aurora - Sleeping Beauty) and grandparents

My little buddy

Princess Ariel (friend Mia) joined in the fun at our church's festival

I don't do spinning rides. Thankfully, the Ghostbuster does!

Here is a video of us digging out the pumpkin guts for our jack-o-lantern. Maddox didn't like touching it, which is why he's not in the video. Lailey was all for getting messy, but that should surprise no one. I carved a nice and simple Mickey Mouse this year, but apparently didn't take a picture.

Trip to the Fire Station

About a month ago, Lailey and I were returning home from grocery shopping when my car unexpectedly cut off while driving and I coasted into a fire station. Great place to end up, right? The firemen looked at my car, and then it started up again (the problem has since been identified and fixed). But before we left they gave Lailey a tour of the place, including a fireman's hat and stickers. She loved it, and we promised to come back another day when little brother could come. That day came today. 

It took the kids a second to warm up, but as the friendly firefighters ushered us back to the garage where the big truck sat, they were in awe. They got to climb in the truck, check out all the equipment, and ask questions. Well, one of them asked lots of questions.

The firemen were so friendly and the kids had a great time.

Definitely the highlight for Maddox was "driving the big truck." He was so happy sitting there, and he almost threw a fit when we lifted him down, but the prospect of climbing up the big stairs to go see where the firemen live distracted him.

Lailey's favorite part was probably seeing the pole from the top. They both kept trying to inch forward to see the pole, which made the firemen pretty nervous. But I knew they wouldn't try to leap in the hole. Well, Lailey might.

 He even slid down the pole so they could watch.

Another fascinating thing to the kids were all the knobs and meters and levers on the side of the truck. They wanted to see what they all did of course, but the firemen explained that that would let all the water out of the truck. 500 gallons worth, to be correct. Well, then the kids kept saying "Let the water out!" Maddox especially. They were really curious about the water. But no, we can't empty the firetruck.

What a fun - and free - little adventure! The firemen were so nice to us. If Maddox's new love (besides music and drums) becomes fire trucks, we may be heading back here soon.