pickerel-tastic!

jarrod's real parents reiterate that if he doesn't want to hike the red loop he can go wait in the f-ing car.

after a much-needed spanking, jarrod decides he does want to hike the red loop after all.

ethan rides his invisible hoveround until the darn thing runs out of juice... grape juice.

ethan pulls down a tree to slow potential attackers such as bears and cheetahs and other native wildlife.

looch n' chan go off alone.

looch the mooch, takin' a free ride.

pickerel's picturesque pickings.

looch the mooch makes jerd her turd.

shortly after taking this photo, we lost the kids for about an hour. thanks person who found the kids!

fall's fleeting foliage flourishes.

before we left, ethan wanted to know if pickerel lake had sand and if we could go swimming.

c'mon.

really?

chan n' looch take off their colors for this photo.

ethan proves he is still cute.

ethan shows looch how to break dance.

ethan pinches a loaf while jarrod and lucia sing the last ten seconds of the national anthem.

jarrod, ethan and lucia then discuss what just went down.

cute.

ethan quickly transforms into super-ethan as evil chan and her fat little monster attempt to take over the forest. 

view from the top.

"i've had enough"

it makes me nervous.

autumn: aman park style

a couple of weeks ago, jarrod and i kidnapped ethan and took him on a leaf-stompin' adventure through aman park.

this tree trunk had a seat cut out of it but, being the rebel that he is, ethan went the more risky route.

what a looker.

at this point, jarrod and i saw our chance and ran shouting, "good luck finding the car, dingus!"

poor winter; always has to follow this.

ethan and jarrod show off their throwing rocks right before throwing their rocks. down the ravine.

family photo complete (thanks for the kid alessia and jim!)

yet another example of throwing rock expertise takes place in front of my very own eyes.

c'mon!

fred's gardens... again

lunchtime... ethan was pretty excited because i made him a peanut butter and jelly, something i rarely do in an attempt to expand his palate.

ethan and jarrod go exploring

jarrod and lucia spot their prey.

"hey man, forget about the water, let's get outta here..." 

ethan recreates a photo taken of him last year in this exact spot (see alessia and jim's blog for said photo).

"buh" said lucia, in regard to every single pumpkin she saw.

ethan and lucia share a laugh while the headless man waits.

we would ask lucia to bring us the "ball" and lord did she try. i only wish i got a video of this.

ethan typically doesn't love having his picture taken but there was something about this pumpkin field that brought the vain celebrity out of him.

jarrod and lucia fun time!

cecca forgets once again that videos should not be shot lengthwise. even with the neck-craning, it's still cute.

fart prize!

this jesus mosaic was pretty awesome.

"buh" lucia said repeatedly, in her androgynously smoky voice meaning, of course, that she would like that we bring her to the ball or the ball to her immediately. 

ethan and jarrod discuss the future of their relationship while alessia, like usual, pretends not to eavesdrop.

ethan sits down for his lunch.

alessia scavenges for food.

jarrod and his interesting perspectives.

lucia's top priority in life is spotting/holding onto balls (you know exactly what kind i am talking about, pervert). here, she seems to have caught one in her sights. If only her driver cared.

we all loved this piece... it looks like a pixelated image but is actually many different cubes of wood painted to give the effect of pixels.

a forest made out of encyclopedia pages (don't tell dad).

we also all loved the piece behind lucia. you can't see it, but there were prism like things hanging in front of the wall piece, so when you stared through the prism the image on the wall would become distorted. Ethan put it best when, after seeing this piece, said, "it kind of makes me happy."

lucia and her mother go exploring.

ethan and jarrod pretend to be involved in this piece but really they continue to discuss the future of their relationship, something we determined would be more appropriate at home or in a private setting.  

we also all loved this barn.  too cool.