Sunday, October 12, 2008

Almost a month since my last post - so sorry. At least I am doing better than I have with the babybooks! October has been jam packed with fun. We took a trip to the mountains with our friends, the Whites", went to the fair, and also went to a corn maze and picked out pumpkins as well.

The mountains were beautiful and the weather magnificent. I don't think we could have asked for a better weekend. Our friends have a little girl - Lauren - who is 7 and a little boy - Jason - who is 4. The kids had a blast playing together and having a sleepover. Our first day/night we explored the cabin, went to the playground, went out for pizza and enjoyed ice cream. After the kids were in bed I got to play my very first game of dominoes and I really enjoyed it. I probably liked it so much because I had a landslide victory and more enjoyable were the laughs we all shared, well maybe not so much for Chris but I will play you again in dominoes soon for your revenge. Saturday was off to an early start with kids very excited about a trip to Tweetsie Railroad. It was our second trip this year and it was even more fun to go with friends. Landon tried some new rides like the Twister and the Tilt-a-Whirl. Ella and Eli didn't try any new rides but they enjoyed the day just as much. I got to ride the tilt-a-whirl and twister as well and although fun I wasn't standing in line as much as Landon. I did enjoy riding the ferris wheel twice with Lauren as it wasn't Chris or Ginger's favorite ride by any stretch. The dads left early for a trip to the App State game while Ginger and I kept the kids busy or vice versa. Eli took a very brief nap that day and after he woke Ella climbed in the stroller for a nap that she could have slept through a tornado without being disturbed. This provided Lauren, Landon and Jason all the time they wanted to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl which was probably about 6 times in a row. I was so psyched that they all loved it so much as once was enough for my stomach and I dont' think my belly laughs were near as cute as theirs. After all of the fun it was easy to get the kids to bed and resting.

Sunday was another gorgeous day so we headed off for a hike. The leaves were early in their colors but it was absolutely gorgeous. The hike was wonderful on large clear paths. I thought we were going to be in for it as Ella complained of being tired of walking within the first 5 minutes. She ended up doing better once we came up with some creative distractions. Eli wanted to climb anything he could but since his stride isn't so long he was passed around and carried 98% of the time. Even though we weren't in church that morning it was amazing to feel God all around me in the sights and sounds. Something that is so spiritual to me isthe awe of nature.

After that weekend it was hard to get back into the swing of things on Monday but we adjusted. On Tuesday we headed to the fair with our friends Joel, Keri, Rami and Ada. We went together last year and luckily Eli was riding in the stroller this year instead of my belly. He enjoyed the sights and sounds of the fair but was a bit too small for all of the rides. Landon enjoyed as many rides as he could in the time we had and of course rode with Rami on the rollercoasters that they met the height requirements on. Ella wasn't about to ride the rollercoasters as the firetrucks were just about to send her over the edge.

As the weekend approached we made plans to go visit Nannie, Pops and Gammy. Another gorgeous weather weekend. This time we made our way to a corn maze that was in the shape of the United States. We enjoyed a hayride and some snacks before heading into the maze with our list of 20 questions to seek out the answers hidden throughout the maze. This meant "game on" for Landon. There wasn't a specific pattern to where they were hidden and there were lots in the "dead ends" so you had to check the entire maze. We lost Nannie, Gammy, Ella and Eli after about 30 minutes of wandering. Ella and Landon were excited to point out any corn they could find for the first 15 minutes but after reminding them that they would see corn the entire time they lost the enthusiasm. That left Pops, myself, and Landon running through the maze looking for answers. Aroung and hour and a half after starting we finally happened up the last answer we needed - Landon read the answer with as much excitement in his voice as the first one we found. After he read it to us he said "do you think we could ask if we can do it again?". Pops eyes were as big as silver dollars and I quickly came up with several reasons that we couldn't do it again right now but that I would try to bring him back sometime soon. Of course that led into when, today?. So I see another corn maze adventure in my future but hoepfully this time we could remember where some of the answers were.

I hope you all have had as much fun as we have this October. The fall weahter has been fantastic and I am looking forward to prettier leaves every day.

I forgot to mention that in the middle of all of this Landon had his Taekwondo testing and now has his yellow dragon belt. This is a picture of him and his friend Ty.