State Fair, Asa's Birthday & Labor Day Weekend Trip to St. Louis

Okay, so I know that this is SO late.  But I had a legitimate excuse.  I couldn't upload any pictures from any of my cameras or phones until this last week when I got the port fixed (thank you Best Buy).

So, between now and the rest of the week, get ready for some major blog action!  Starting with:

The State Fair.

Now, there's a little back story here.  Brandon and I go to the fair every year.  Usually once together as a date, enjoying all the delicious foods, and a second time with the boys, enjoying all the fun stuff there is for kids to do =).  But this year was EXTRA SPECIAL!  ALL (and I mean ALL) my siblings were in town!  This is extremely rare, the last time this happened was my rehersal dinner for my wedding!  We had just enjoyed a day floating on a river, and the next day we all got ready and went to the fair.  Not to mention, on our family day there, one of my favorite bands was playing, and my dad recieved a blue ribbon for his amazing stained glass art!

Check out that Blue Ribbon!  Way to go Dad!

Some of my nieces going down the Big Slide (a Leonard Family Tradition)

My sister, Mary, and niece, Allison (St. Louis)

My Giant nephew, Maxon (seriously folks, he's huge... but super cute)



The Entire Gang (-Asa & Zach, Lizzie & Addison): (first row)Val & Nate, Jonathan & Shawna, Christine & Nathan, Me & Brandon, Annie, Mary & Adam, (second row) Nate Jr., Gracie, Maxon, Maggie, Emmett, Allison, Tommy 



My Wonderful Boys

This was before the Tenth Avenue North Concert started, they were wiped out!

Next up:

Asa's 4th Birthday!!!!

I can't believe he's 4.  This is very cliche to say, but it seems like it was just yesterday that I was holding him for the first time and seeing what God was capable of.  God gave me one great son when he blessed me with Asa.  Asa is smart, funny (a class clown), sweet, forgiving, and an amazing big brother.  We are so thankful for him. 

Breakfast with Muje (upon request =) !)

A Trip to the Zoo with some great friends!

Discovering an ENORMOUS preying mantis outside our front window.

Overall, it was an excellant birthday, we had so much fun celebrating it with doing some of our favorite things (breakfast with Muje, the Zoo, and discovering bugs).  We ended it with Little Ceasar's pizza and ice cream!



And last but not least:

Labor Day Weekend Trip to St. Louis

I didn't get as many photos from this trip as I would've liked, but we were having too much fun =)  My sister, Mary, and her family live in St. Louis, and we love to visit once or twice a year.  This was Emmett's second time going to St. Louis, but the first time all four of us went.  Here are some fun pictures =)

Grants Farm

Slushies!

Rub-a-dub-dub, 3 Cousins in a tub!

We went to Grant's Farm on Saturday, which is becoming a favorite for our two small families.  We enjoy the train ride, seeing all sorts of animals, and feeding goats.  We also seem to miss the elephant show, haha, but we made up for it this time with slushies =)
On Sunday, we took a ride on Adam's (my bro in law) boat.  We went out on the Mississippi River, which was super fun.  We stopped for a picnic on a small island, and let the kids play, and Emmett got to sit in the river for the first time.
On Monday, our last day, we went to Ekhart's Farm, which is a very popular apple orchard on the Illinois side.  We had so much fun playing on the tractors and bouncy houses and kids rides.  Then we got to pick A TON of HONEYCRISP!  Our Favorite!

Overall, it was a very fun month for our family, and we were so happy to be able to spend time with all of my siblings.  I am so thankful that I have such a large family, and that we get to have vacations like that every-so-often.  I'm really thankful that my kids have cousins their age, and I look forward to more fun vacations as they grow up.