September rolls into October

Without any further apologies - actually, without any apology whatsoever - I am going to catch up on some photos from the last month and a half.  You know, that month of September?  The one that was here for about a day in between August and October?  Yeah, that month.  It was busy, and here are a few pictures to prove that it did indeed last more than one day.
On Labour Day, we went to Safari Niagara with Mom and Dad M.  It turned out to be a pretty chilly day, but thankfully it didn't rain on us, and we stayed relatively warm - except for poor Dad who wore shorts.  We were pleasantly surprised by the wide variety of animals there, and the boys especially enjoyed the treat of hearing the lion roaring several times during the day. 

Riding the train around the park

White Siberian Tiger

 I think this lion was the boys' favourite!

Hippos lounging.  Aaron randomly started talking about these hippos this morning at breakfast, talking about how they were under the water, which they were when we saw them the second time

 One of my favourites, the weirdly elegant giraffe!

 Aaron the hippo!

 Warthog

 Camels, one with a saggy, lumpy bump

 And then in mid-September, we celebrated Nate's first birthday.  Yeah, I know I already did a post about his birthday, but here are a few photos of the celebrating that we did.  I can't take credit for all these photos, as some of them are mine but other ones came from Mom VD or Bethany.

Nate's cake!  I actually forgot to take a picture (gasp, shock, shame) 

but Bethany saved the day and took one for me!

We took the kids to Port Dalhousie for a ride on the carousel.  Looks like Mommy gets to ride on the sleigh.  Again.  We've been to the 5-cent carousel several times now, but I have not yet had a ride on an animal, despite my attempts at coercing my children into thinking it is fun.  Peter and Nate were much more content to ride in the sleigh, so there I sat as well. 

 See?  It is FUN to ride the animals.  If only Daddy's 

enthusiasm could be contagious for the kids!

 Aaron was brave enough to take a ride by Grandpa's side

 Enjoying a quick stop by the beach.  I really like this shot!

 I think he might have enjoyed his cake.  Just a little... 

 Cake went over pretty well with this guy, too.  Note the empty fork and the bite of cake in mid-fall, haha!

 I could use some more of that cake stuff, Mom!  It wasn't half-bad!

Four lions, roaring ferociously.  Thankfully we have a gate on our 

deck to keep them out, or we would all have certainly been eaten alive!

Danielle, Lauren and I had a sleepover to celebrate our birthdays.  How fun!  Nate came along with us and helped Danielle to a  fabulous victory in a new word game, giving her many solid tips

 Also in September, our copy of "Cars and Trucks and Things that Go" suffered some serious and disappointing damage at the hands of a delinquent napper.  This much beloved book required some delicate and lengthy surgery and has been repaired to a somewhat less glamorous version of its former self. 

 I took advantage of a beautiful fall morning to take the boys to Happy Rolph's to see the animals and feed the ducks.  We all had a good time, and I think we'll be going back there more often. 

 I'm sure this little guy can't wait to be walking on his own!  He's doing really well right now with that, walking a good number of steps between obstacles, and I don't think it will be long before he abandons crawling  and adopts walking as the new mode of transportation.  In the meantime, when I take all three boys out, he has to be content to sit in the stroller.  

Peter carefully ripping up his bread for the ducks.  I didn't get too many pictures of this, as I had to keep a close eye on Aaron, who kept trying to sneak the nasty old bread into his own mouth instead of feeding it to the ducks. 

Can you guess who this might be?  He gets into EVERYTHING!  Excuse the messy picture.  I had blockaded the computer tower off with a laundry bin and a chair, but Nate figures, why not crawl under the bed to get there instead?  If Mom blocks it off, it must be worthwhile breaking into.  Perhaps I should attach a dust cloth to him and send him under there on a more regular basis...

 It is fire prevention week in St. Catharines, and we walked with the boys to the fire station by our house on the weekend.  They were excited to sit in the fire truck, see all the hoses, and even ride on the boat!

 Aaron gets at turn.  Just as we were getting ready to go, they received a call and we watched them get ready to go, and take off with the sirens going!  Pretty exciting.

 Getting a tour of the truck

On Thanksgiving Monday, we went to Queenston Heights with Rick and Elaine and their kids.  The weather was so gorgeous, and we enjoyed walking around the park and spending some time at the playground. 

 Peter made sure Thomas didn't get lost

 I thought perhaps if I buried him in a basket of toys, he might stay in one place and out of trouble for a few minutes.  He seemed to be pretty happy in there.

It is a never-ending job for a Mom to try to keep her kids clean.  Every time I turn around, there is a new mess to clean up.  Of course, messy playing is usually the most fun, so I have to let them get into the mud sometimes.  It's too bad the weather is cooling off enough now that I can't just clean them off with the garden hose anymore, haha.  But seriously...when this much dirt can accumulate ONE HOUR since I last swept the kitchen, how am I supposed to keep my house decently clean? 

 Especially when this little monkey wants a ride on the 

vacuum every time I try to clean up the mess?

 They play outside... and get covered in chalk.  Aaron!  You have a blue nose!

And then Peter sees me taking a picture of Aaron with his 

blue nose, and proceeds to grab the chalk and colour up his 

own nose so that I'll take a picture of him too...

 But how can I deny this sweet child the endless joys of the 

sandbox?  Because obviously, he is in his glory covered in dirt.

 Lots of fun to be found in the dirty outdoors...

And there's the dirty indoors too.  Nate enjoyed his first Oreo, and I think he'd agree that the post-cookie-doekie-cleanup was worth it.  I was pretty impressed with how he ate it, as he carefully separated the two sides just like his brothers were doing.  Is it just a natural instinct to eat Oreos that way?  I found it very interesting that he ate it that way. 

 This mess was pretty sizeable, but so was the happy-factor.  The older two had a LOAD of fun with a bucket of water in the sandbox this week.  Judging by the forecast, they won't be playing with buckets of water too much more until the springtime when it warms up again out there.

Dirty boys headed straight inside to the tub.  When I shook out their clothes outside, a pound of rocks came flying out of Peter's pant pockets.  I think day by day, we are relocating the gravel from the playground at school to our house via the boys' pockets, and my poor washing machine has washed a few more rocks than it probably should have.