Camping Trip and Fall Fun in Cincinnati

My dad called me a few months ago and asked if he could take my boys camping in October, so this past week, we made the trek to Cincinnati for a week of fun.  Growing up, every year around Halloween, we always went on a father daughter camp-out with my dad and some of our family friends, so I was excited for the chance to let Harrison experience camping!  I feel like we have been gone a lot this fall so we haven't been able to do all of the fun fall things that I always look forward to, so we spent the week in Cincinnati, knocking them out.
First up, was Berger's farm for the pumpkin patch.  During the week, they only do tours for big groups, so we had to be there bright and early to go with all the day care groups.  Harrison had so much fun running through the corn maze...(he was running so fast I couldn't get a clear photo)

and Davis loved the Burger Farm train...

Next up was the puppet show hosted by Mr. Burger, who Harrison kept calling "Mr. Hamburger".  It was really cute and Harrison got really into it.

They handed out popcorn and juice to all the kids (and adults), sang songs and had a really interactive, fun show.
After the puppet show, we loaded up for a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch.  Everyone got a free small pumpkin that was included in our tour, so we all got to pick out a pumpkin once we got to the patch.

Harrison was on a mission once we got there, he jumped out of the hay ride, ran to the patch as fast as he could and he picked out his pumpkin...then tried filling his bag with more.  Davis was just watching us like we were crazy.
It was such a bright day so getting pictures was a little difficult...

We spent most of the week just relaxing at my parents house and playing with granddaddy's trains.  For some reason, after the first few days, Davis started having a hard time sleeping at night so Grandmommy got some rare cuddle time with my little man...

Julie came in town on Thursday night with her boys so Friday, we headed out for the campsite.  Harrison always gets so excited to see his cousins, so he was a happy camper (pardon the pun). 
Jack drove in my car with Harrison and I and he kept talking about how excited he was to "go to the forest", so when we got there, he made sure to tell his mom that he couldn't take his medicine in the car, he needed to take his medicine in the forest.

Excited about their first camp-out...

We took a little hike in the woods, set up the tents, built a fort, made dinner over the fire, roasted smores and by that point, we were all exhausted so we all went to bed.  I knew Harrison would love everything, but I was nervous about the going to bed part.  We had two tents set up and the original arrangement was that my dad was going to sleep in one tent with the boys and my sisters and I would sleep in the other.  Harrison got really upset when everyone was laying down and didn't want to go to bed.  I'm pretty sure it was because he was nervous and scared so I was able to get him to calm down by getting him to sleep in my tent with me.  Julie then moved to the "boys tent" and I think we all had a rough time sleeping that night.  It was really cold outside and despite our warm sleeping bags, it was hard to stay warm.  But, we all made it through the night and I think the boys really enjoyed it!

Aunt Liz, Granddaddy and Harrison

Slumber party!

Mission accomplished!

Believe it or not, the fun wasn't over yet.  The day that we got back from camping, we went to my Uncle Jay's for a family halloween party.  They spent a lot of time decorating their house and they did a beautiful job...here were a few of my favorite decorations...

I love these lanterns...I'm thinking you could transform regular lanterns for halloween to imitate these...

Davis hanging out with the big kids, watching Wall-E.  It was a fun night and was nice to get to spend some time with my aunts & uncles!
Thanks mom and dad for hosting us, we had a great week and I know Harrison will be talking about his camping trip for months to come!

Weekend of Fall Festivals

What a weekend!  Since Lance was out of town, I was originally thinking it was going to be a low key weekend without much to do...boy was I wrong!  It started on Friday morning, we had a fun play date at a friend's new house.  It was a beautiful house and it was the first time in a long time that we had our entire group back together!  I only thought to take one picture, of Davis and his little buddy, Kate, who were born 2 days apart...I think they make a cute couple, don't you??

That evening, we went to the Pumpkin Trails and Tales festival in downtown Kennesaw with my friend Renee and her two cuties, Reese and Sam.  The kids had a blast and again, thanks to my broken camera, I didn't get too many pictures.  It was a perfect little festival for the kids - it had the playground that they love, puppet shows, costume contests, a few jumping castles, and candy, candy, and more candy!  I feel like we don't go to too many festivals because they can be kind of overwhelming trying to keep track of the kids when there are so many people.  It felt like it was our own little festival because there were not very many people there at all...bad for Kennesaw, I'm sure, but great for us moms!

I brought the kids costumes b/c Harrison has been begging to wear his all week.  Of course, Harrison didn't want to wear it once we got there, but Davis had so much fun toddling around as Rex from Toy Story.

Harrison loves this playground in particular because it is right next to the train tracks so you can watch the trains when you play.  The last few times we have gone there, we haven't seen too many trains, but the kids got their fair share last night!  I think about 4-5 trains came in the few hours that we were there!
Davis' favorite part by far was the Dum-Dum that he got from one of the baskets.  He had never had a lollipop before, but as soon as he reached for it, he went to town figuring out how to get the wrapper off so he could eat it.  He did a great job but was covered in sticky lollipop druel by the time he was done with it.  He was a man on a mission and didn't make a peep until he was finished!

Davis won "Cutest Costume" in the costume contest that night...I'm pretty sure just about every kid who was in it won some type of award, but we were excited nonetheless!  I definitely think he was the cutest, but I guess I am a little biased!

The next morning was Harrison's school's fall festival.  He has been looking forward to this for a while and was extra excited that his grandma was going to come with us.  Thankfully Renee warned us about how long the face painting line can get so we made sure to head there as soon as we got there...Harrison loved his spider web that he picked out!

As soon as he finished his face painting, it was time for the kids to sing the songs they have been practicing.  Harrison was especially excited because one of the songs that they were singing for us, is a song that his grandma taught him a little over a year ago.  It has always been his favorite, so he was all over it!  He got a little stage fright when it was go-time, but thankfully Ms. Christy was there to the rescue to calm him down and get him in the mix.  I was able to get a video of the song - he is right in the front middle...

They had a ton of jumping castles set up, little carnival games, a hay ride and a petting zoo.  Harrison loved everything, but spent the most time in the petting zoo.  They even let him pick up a bunny!

Davis liked looking at the animals but did not want to get too close!

Harrison did just about every activity there was to do, but his favorite part was, by far, the cotton candy and the candy that he would get for doing each activity.  He was so funny, this morning, he made sure to tell me that they were going to have candy at the festival so he would need to bring his pumpkin trick or treat basket.  When he would finish each game, and the workers would tell him to pick out a treat, he would first run to get his basket before picking out any candy to put in it.

After the festival we came home so Davis could nap and then we headed over to Grandma's to eat dinner and take some pictures at their neighbor's house.  They have a neighbor who gets really into Halloween and puts up some great decorations.  The kids always love looking at everything they have, so we thought we would attempt to get pictures with the kids in their costumes...again, Davis was the trouper, but Harrison was not interested in dressing up.  He has been telling me for months that he wants to be a ghost, but I think the costume is hard for him to keep straight...I am playing trial and error trying to figure out the best way to get this costume to fit right.  I feel like everyday I am tweaking some part of it.  Hopefully I will get it right by next week!
I had to start by showing a video of Davis walking in his costume...He just looks so cute waddling around in his dinosaur costume!  (If you listen closely, you can hear him say "dog", his first word.

One of the coolest things they had was this machine that was a mix between a bubble machine and a fog machine...it made white bubbles that were full of fog, so when they popped, it looked like they turned into smoke!  I need to find one, the kids loved it.  Here is a short video to try to show how they work...

Harrison and the spider...

Boo!

Its been a fun-filled weekend full of outside Fall activities.  This is my very favorite time of year and I'm glad that I have been able to enjoy the beautiful weather with my little pumpkins!

What a week

After our fun weekend in Tuscaloosa for Alabama's homecoming, I asked my parents if they wanted to come spend a few days with us in Atlanta since they drove down.  Not wanting to miss an opportunity to spend time with their grandbabies, they jumped at the offer.  So, we had a fun, impromptu week!  Harrison always gets so excited, partly, because he loves spending time with all of his grandparents, but also because that means he gets to spend the night in  mommy & daddys' room!  My parents were a little under the weather so we didn't do anything too exciting, but we had so much fun just visiting and spending time together.  We hit up all of their favorite stops while here, including The Whistle Stop.  We have always loved this restaurant, but Harrison and Davis especially love it because of the train that runs around the restaurant.  We always have to make sure we are sitting close to the button that starts the train!  For some reason the day we went, Davis decided that he was going to be a fireman and wore this hat all morning!

Davis' new favorite thing to do is to read books.  He has a basket in his room and as soon as he wakes up in the morning and after naps, he heads straight for his basket.  I caught a cute picture of him playing the other morning...

I wasn't great at taking pictures this week, but we did get a cute video of the boys playing.  I put their chairs on either side of the TV so that they would be out of the way and who knew this would turn into a fun game.  I took a video because it is easier to see the fun than try to explain it!  This was a big hit and they are still enjoying it, as we speak!

We finished up the week going to yogli mogli and watching the bama game at Lance's parents house and overall we had a great week and a fun visit!  We are heading up to Cincinnati soon so Harrison didn't have as hard of a time as usual when it came time for Grandmommy & Granddaddy to leave. 

I had to include one other picture from today.  I went outside this afternoon around 4 to bring in our recycling bin and to get the mail.  I asked the boys several times if they wanted to come help (they usually do!), but no answer, and when I came back in, I found them here:

Playing together and having so much fun in the "fort", ie, the dining room table.  They have been playing nicely for about 1.5 hrs, I think this is a record!!  It is a beautiful evening, but I didn't want to spoil the fun!  I think, as a parent, one of the most fun things to see, is your kids playing together!  I just hope that as the years go on, they continue to be buddies!

The Pledge of Allegiance

We were driving home from the park this afternoon, and while stopped at a light I read Harrison's letter from his teacher describing what he did this week at school. It mentioned that they began to learn the Pledge to the Bible. When I asked him about this he said, "Yeah, we said that but I didn't want to say the Pledge of Allegiance today", so I said, "do you know the Pledge of Allegiance???" and here is what he said...

It's always so funny to me to think of all the things they do at school that you don't know about!

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Roll Tide Roll!

 

This past weekend was Alabama’s homecoming, so we took the boys over for the weekend.  My entire family was there, including my little sister and her new husband, so it was fun to get to see everyone!  We made it there a little bit later than planned on Friday night, but we were able to make it for the tail end of the bon fire.  Every year, they do a pep rally and then light a huge bonfire on the center of the quad.  Harrison was really excited and I think a little nervous at the same time, when I told him we were going to get  to see a bonfire in the middle of the quad!

The next day we headed out around 11 to watch the parade.  The boys always have so much fun out there, and this year was no exception.                         

After the parade we headed over to see all of the lawn decorations on sorority row.  They have a competition every year and of course, the A.D.Pi house did  not disappoint!

I thought it was fun to see that the A.D.Pi’s were paired up with Lance’s fraternity (the betas) this year.

Our sorority is getting a  new house sometime in the next year or two, which is going to be amazing, but it makes me so sentimental about the house that I lived in for 3 years in college.  So we walked through the house and took a few pictures…here is a picture of us right where Lance and I met , a little over 13 years ago.  That just sounds crazy to say!!  It’s a fun story, but a little long for this…

We stopped on our way to the house by the stadium and got the sweetest picture of Harrison with my mom…

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the quad.  Both boys missed their afternoon naps, which I was really nervous about for Davis, but they did amazing!  I could tell that they were both exhausted and of course, they fell asleep as soon as we got to the car, but we all had a great time…Davis spent most of the day carrying around this football -

There were a few boys that were right next to our tailgate and Davis wanted to play with them so badly.  He kept walking right through the middle of their game, just laughing away with no fear of being tackled!

Harrison got to play on some of the jumpees with his daddy and then they all played for a little while before Lance headed into the game…

I took the boys back with my mom and had a nice evening “watching” the game…and by watching, I mean chasing kids and glimpsing at the tv every 30 minutes or so.

I guess I should mention that Alabama did win the game, although they did not play as well as I think everyone has hoped.

The next morning, Davis took a little spill off of the couch which was so sad, but the silver lining was that I was able to get him to cuddle in my arms and take a nap.  I honestly can’t remember the last time he just sat still with me because he is such a wiggle worm, so I enjoyed every minute of it.

It was a great weekend, filled with family and fun and it always goes too quickly! 

Like Father Like Son

We had a little bit of a rough weekend in that we found out last Thursday that Lance's grandmother, Allene Newberry Eley, passed away.  She was Lance's last living grandparent, so it was a hard weekend.  We went to a memorial service in Decatur on Saturday and drove down to Arlington, GA to lay her to rest with her husband on Sunday.  It was a difficult but beautiful weekend, full of love, family and dear friends and we are glad to know that she is reunited with all of her loved ones in heaven.

With the process of putting together the memorial service, Lance's parents had some old pictures out over the weekend.  They have been telling me for a while that Davis looks so much like Lance, and I finally got to see what they meant today.  The resemblance is incredible!  I took pictures of the pictures that really stood out to me and I put them in a collage with a few photos of Davis - here is the result...

Grandma/grammy will be greatly missed!  We love you very much, may you rest in peace!