PARTNERS!

Well we have become a 2 car family again after 4 years of one car! "Batman" our black CRV is now complete with his crime fighting partner "Robin" our new little Mini Countryman.

P.S. Both cars were named by Grayer! The black car has always been Batman so when he saw the new car was red, he got excited and said "Mom, now Batman will have Robin"

P.P.S. Depending on the day Robin might also be Mario:) After Grayer thought about it for a day or two he was torn because Mario is red too!  

School Time!

Grayer headed off to Kindergarten the beginning of this month! 

I literally was in tears for most of the day but he was full of excitement and smiles!

He is attending Brooks Hill Elementary School.

His teacher's name is Mrs. Barkau, pronounced: Bar - cow... 

A name he informed her was funny upon their first time meeting. (It was one of those embarrassing moments as a mother when your child is speaking and you can't control what is coming out.) 

We are now a month into school and Grayer is still loving it. He loves Mrs Barkau, is making many friends, and he tells me his favorite part of school is recess and riding the bus home!

First Day of Kindergarten with a Mario shirt and.... 

a Mario backpack!

First Bus Ride Home
I take Grayer to school in the morning and was actually planning on picking him up from school too, but he so badly wanted to ride the bus that I gave in and let him ride the bus home! 

 

Canoeing

I think it was during one of our many walks along the Erie Canal this past summer that Grayer starting asking to go on a boat ride on the Canal. So "teasingly" we called up Grandpa Christensen and asked him to bring his boat on out to New York so Grayer could go on a boat ride on the Erie Canal!!!
Well, the last day of summer Grayer's wish came true and we went canoeing on the Erie Canal. We have a wonderful ward here in New York with members who will do anything for you!! We had many offer for us to borrow their canoes but we took the Carmack Family up on their offer because they live right on the Canal and we wouldn't have to transport the canoe! So we left Finden (he would rather swim in the water than ride in a canoe) with the Carmack's daughter, Lizzy (one of my Young Women) and off we went!! It was so much fun and very peaceful the scenery was beautiful and it was fun to have Grayer by ourselves where we could just talk to him!

Family VACAY!!!

So before summer was over we wanted to take the boys on a little family vacation! As we were brainstorming fun places to go we realized that all the "fun" we were planning was going to cost us way more than we wanted and it was stuff that we didn't need in order to have fun. Luckily, as we talked we realized that all our boys really care about at this stage in life is: 

1. A hotel with a pool 

2. Being with Mom and Dad

3. Exploring new places

It's not about the money we spend, it's about the fun together time!! So we decided to slim down a grand vacation to a small jaunt down the road to Syracuse where we got a hotel for a few nights. The Boys were in Heaven. It had a pull-out bed, a French Toast continental breakfast, and a pool! 

What more could you want?! 

  

Syracuse also happens to be the home of Destiny USA, which is a giant Mall; and it did happen to be my Birthday over out little trip. So we got in a delicious Birthday dinner to The Melting Pot and a little Birthday shopping at the Mall:) 

Other adventures we had were a trip to the Zoo and a day at a fun Water Park (I didn't get any pics at the water park because I didn't want to get my camera wet -dang it) 

We love Red Pandas, we wish they could be pets!!

 We had a great time together!!!

Clogging Show

Back in August I (Susan) had a clogging show at the New York State Fair in Syracuse. It was super hot that day, but it was lots of fun to be on the stage dancing with my awesome clogging friends!!!

Okay so not the most exciting pictures, but I like them for my memories.

So I saved the best pic for last, Finden enjoyed watching Mommy dance while he ate his Cheetos!!! 

N

Another Trip to Stony Brook!!

Here are some pics of our 3rd annual trip to Stony Brook State Park!! 

We love this place! Come join us next year:)

I love his Thumbs Up!! 

Finden did not like the loud waterfalls. He hid in between Andy's legs and cried:(

But when we left the waterfalls he was all SMILES!! 

Grayer and I took a little "hike" by ourselves to a little waterfall that we had never done before. As much as I hate my boys growing up, I have to admit I love that Grayer is old enough to be more adventurous with me!! 

2nd Tooth Gone

Grayer lost his 2nd tooth back in July!! This tooth loss was great because it was done the right way, meaning it was NOT knocked out of his head!!! 

The Gilchrist Fam goes Camping

Yes you read that right... we went camping!!! 

It was a first for our family since we have had kids. Grayer had been begging but we kept telling him "No" because we didn't have a tent or anything to really camp with. But then the thought occurred to me (don't ask me why it didn't occur earlier) that we could probably borrow a tent -duh!

So I called up my good friend here in our ward and she let us borrow a tent, air mattresses, and a baby-backpack for hiking. 

So we set off for Keuka Lake, which is part of the Finger Lakes here in New York. We had a blast!!! We set up camp, went swimming in the lake, played on the awesome play-ground, made a delicious dinner of  hot-dogs, roasted S'mores and Starbursts, and slept snugly in our tent! The next morning we made a delicious tinfoil breakfast of hash-browns eggs and sausage, and ended our adventures with a nice hike!!  

The boys loved playing in the tent!

Beautiful scenery 

Finden kept putting his face in the water, then would get upset that he got wet. Silly Baby:)

Cute Brothers!

Grayer loves monkey bars and will work and work at them until he concurs them or at least until his arms give out! 

YEAH FOR CAMPING!!!