Blue Ridge Pumpkin Patch 2008

sunday was pumpkin patch day.  the boys and i drove up to blue ridge, georgia (up in the mountains for those not familiar with it) with my parents to ride the blue ridge scenic railway up to the pumpkin patch.  we did this last year and doodlebug loved it.  i mean, really, what boy doesn't just love riding on a real train?  it's about a 2-hour drive from our house so it makes for a nice day-trip.

last year, peanut was only 7 months old and cried every time the train blew the whistle.  we worried it would be the same this year b/c he is terrified of the vacuum cleaner, lawn mower and any other really loud noise, but this year he was very brave.  he did not shed a tear.  peanut seemed to enjoy the train ride, but i think his favorite part was running around in the pumpkin patch.  of course, at 19 months, that's pretty much all he wants to do these days is run!  it was fun to watch him run aimlessly around the patch so carefree.

unfortunately, doodlebug woke up on the wrong side of the bed so he was a grump for a good part of the day.  it seems sometimes no matter how perfect you want a day to be for your kids, it just doesn't always happen that way.  but that's okay.  doodle still seemed to enjoy it even if he wasn't in the best humor.  he loved the train ride and picking out the pumpkins.  he picked out 4 of our 5 pumpkins and he did a great job.  

my dad picked out the 5th pumpkin.  it was a rather deformed "bumpy" pumpkin that papa thought was a perfect one for pete.  pete didn't make the trip with us.  he went to the nascar race in hampton, georgia with his dad.  this is their annual outing which unfortunately falls on the same sunday as the pumpkin patch trip.  we missed him like crazy, but i know he enjoyed the day with his dad.  back to the bumpy pumpkin...it is probably one of the ugliest pumpkins i've ever seen.  when i told pete my dad picked it out especially for him he said he would carve it in my dad's likeness!  i'm anxious to see what this pumpkin looks like when we carve it tomorrow night!

we had a beautiful fall day in the mountains and i thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with my family (missing pete, of course).  i love to see the boys enjoying the outdoors and this beautiful earth God created.  that is one thing our boys can't get enough of...being outside.

we're carving our pumpkins tomorrow so i'll post some pictures of them along with the boys in their halloween costumes after friday night.    

A Good Week

as the title of this post says, this has been a good week.  the pictures above are from a trip to the park last sunday evening.  we have had some beautiful fall weather lately so we've been trying to get outside as much as we can.  the county we live in may be extremely overcrowded and way over-developed, but we do have access to many great parks.  this particular day we took a trip over to the suwanee town park down the road.  it's a big open park with lots of room for running around and riding bikes and it even has an ampitheater.  in other words, there is no playground. but the boys love it there b/c they can "run free" and they also get to watch the train go by every now and then which is a huge thrill in the toddler and preschooler mind !

this week i had a phone conference with doodlebug's teacher.  i'm so proud to say she had nothing but good things to report.  she said he is very well-behaved in class, always has a smile on his face when he arrives in the morning, he listens well and participates.  much like his teacher said last year, she says he loves arts and crafts and music.  he's shaping up to be a creative child.  hopefully more creative than i've ever been!  : )  she said there is a part of the evaluation where they discuss challenges your child needs to work on and she honestly said she could not think of anything for that part.  i'm so glad doodlebug is doing well at school.  i know he's smart, but sometimes i worry how he is when he's away from home b/c there are many moments at home that he can be a real toot.  it's a relief to know that he acts in a way that makes his mama proud when he's not here!  i really am proud of my sweet doodlebug.  it's wonderful to see him doing well at school and enjoying it.  as a parent, it's important to me to know my child is happy and gives his very best effort in whatever he does.

i should be hearing from peanut's teacher next week.  i'm anxious to hear her evaluation of him. my prediction is that she'll say he's quiet and sweet.  he really seems to enjoy school now.  he no longer cries when they take him from the car in the car line.  in fact, he reaches for them to get him out.  and on fridays when he doesn't go and doodlebug does, he gets mad b/c he can't go, too.  i'm thrilled to know that he enjoys it and seems to have fun.  he's still not saying anymore words, although he babbles more and seems to try to say some different words at least once.  he goes for his follow-up hearing test on monday. i'm praying for a good report and no hearing loss.

my next post should have some pictures of the pumpkin patch in blue ridge.  i'm heading up there with the boys and my parents on sunday.  pete is unfortunately not going b/c he had already commited to going to the nascar race in hampton with his dad.  it's kind of their annual thing and it's always the same weekend as the pumpkin patch.  we'll miss him terribly, but we'll be sure to pick a good pumpkin for him!  in blue ridge, they only have the pumpkin patch on one day.  you get to take the blue ridge scenic railway to a spot up by the river (i forget which river it is) and they have a whole bunch of pumpkins out.  each person chooses a pumpkin and it makes for some great pictures.  the ones i took last year are some of my favorite ones.  i hope peanut doesn't freak too much about the train whistle.  last year he would cry every time they blew it.  he's not too keen on loud noises so it may be the same fun this year!!  

i'm so happy fall is finally here.  down here in georgia it's the most beautiful time of the year in my opinion.  the leaves are changing and the weather is perfect.  it's so picturesque!

so i guess it's fitting to say....HAPPY FALL!!

Happy Anniversary in Savannah

last sunday through tuesday pete and i took a short trip down the road to savannah to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary.  our anniversary is actually tomorrow, the 19th, but we had to schedule the trip a week early.  in all the years we've lived in georgia, both now and growing up, neither of us had ever been to savannah.  how crazy is that?  i've always wanted to go b/c it looks so neat down there.  we've been wanting to take a trip with just the two of us that last two years, but it just hasn't panned out.  we finally made the commitment to do it this year and stick to it.  my only requirement was not getting on an airplane.  i know this may sound silly to some of you, but i just can't get on an airplane and leave the boys behind.  i have this horrible fear that the plane will crash with both of us on it and the boys will be left behind.  i know, there's more of a chance of getting in a car accident, but I don't care.  the plane crash scenario seems so much more horrifying.

so anyway, pete and i headed down to savannah early sunday morning and left the boys with nana and papa (my parents).  it rained all day and all night sunday, but that didn't stop us from walking around and doing some shopping.  our hotel was located directly across the street from the river front area.  it was a great location and a great place to stay.  monday, the weather cleared up and we had a beautiful day.  we decided to take the $10 trolley tour and it was money well-spent.  we went all through the historic district and learned some of the history of savannah.  i'm ashamed to say i didn't know much about the city so it was very interesting.  we even got a few recommendations for great restaurants.  

speaking of restaurants, we found some great places to eat and ate wwwaaayyy too much.  we did a lot of walking, too, so that made the overeating acceptable....at least that's what i'm telling myself!!  i mean, how can you possibly pass up seafood, southern food and a local brewery all in one trip?? 

we spent the rest of the day after our tour just walking around the historic district snapping pictures and just looking at the beautiful homes and squares covered with all the lovely live oak trees with the spanish moss dripping down.  what a breathtaking city!  and boy, don't i wish i could live in one of those old, gorgeous homes! 

tuesday we drove to tybee island which is about 12 miles from savannah.  what a quaint, sleepy little beach town.  we drove around a bit and then walked on the beach.  if there's a beach nearby, we have to see it...we just love the beach so much.  and, of course, we had to collect some seashells for the boys.

usually i'm not all that into shopping, but savannah had some great shops, especially antique shops.  i love to peruse the antiques sometimes finding an inexpensive treasure, but mostly wishing i could afford many of the beautiful things they have.  we actually lucked into this little art shop on river street and found two prints for the house.  one has two magnolias on it which is fitting b/c we have a beautiful magnolia tree in our backyard right next to the deck that we begged the builder to save when they were building the house....and they did.  it has beautiful blooms every year and we love it!  the other print is the neatest thing.  it's a scene of a little pond with lots of green around it and when you look in the middle of the picture you see classic pooh bear and piglet sitting together like best buddies at the edge of the pond with their fishing pools.  it immediately caught my eye b/c we are very sentimental about pooh bear in this house.  pete and i both love pooh bear and we've passed that on to the boys.  both boys had/have classic pooh bedding in their crib and they were both brought home from the hospital in adorable pooh bear outfits.  and of course, we all love that sweet song "House at Pooh Corner".  so it was a must-have.  now we just have to decide where to hang them.

and we had to bring home "souvenirs" for the boys and a little something for nana and papa for keeping the boys for us and for our neighbors for looking after casey while we were gone.  of course, you can't go to savannah without getting some salt water taffy!

it was funny, the whole time we were in savannah we kept saying that pete's mom would love it here.  she's always wanted to go to savannah, but i guess could never convince pete's dad to take her.  this place was right up her alley.  and then when we went to tybee island, we thought the same thing.  pete's parents love quiet beach towns (kind of how gulf shores, alabama used to be) where they can just kick back and relax, which is totally the kind of place tybee island seemed to be.  we planned the whole trip for them in our heads, now if we could just get pete's dad to take her.

we had a full two days and would love to go back when we have more time.  we enjoyed seeing the great city of savannah and enjoying its history, shopping and food, but most importantly, pete and i got some much needed time together with just the two of us.  it's so easy to put your relationship on the backburner when you have two young children and all the demands of daily life.  seeing savannah together was great, of course, but what i'll treasure are the good, long talks we had and just being together.  i have to say, so many people have told us that when you go away without your kids you ended up talking about them the whole time and not much else.  believe it or not, we didn't have that problem.  of course we talked about them, but we had so much other stuff to talk about and catch up on that they really didn't dominate our conversation. we decided a weekend trip is something we want to do every year just for us.  eventually i'll get over my silly fear of airplanes and we'll venture out further on the map, but for now, there's so much for us to see just within the southeast and within driving distance.  

but even as much as we enjoyed our time away, we missed the little munchkins like crazy.  i felt my heart ache a few times while we were gone when i thought about them or saw something that reminded me of them.  but i know they were in good hands with nana and papa and we are both very grateful to them for keeping them while we were gone.  i have no doubt they wore them out! 

More Frequent Posts

when i started this blog, I had every intention of posting a couple times a week.  well, that has not happened and i'm disappointed.  so i'm really going to try harder to do that.  i always have a lot to write and i end up doing several posts in one night.  it would make more sense to spread those out and do a couple posts a week, which is my goal.

but i must say, that this is all for my post tonight.  pete and i just got back from a short trip to savannah for a couple of days and i'm worn out.  my plan is to write about the trip and post some pictures this week...hopefully tomorrow : )!!

Stone Mountain

it has been so nice having some cooler weather lately.  this past saturday was the first one that we didn't have plans and the weather was going to be nice so we decided to load up the boys and head to stone mountain park.  of course, like any other outing, we had to make stops along the way, including lunch, so we finally made it there about 1:00.  thankfully, peanut had slept late, until almost 10:00, so he was good to go for a while and was not ready for his usual afternoon nap at 1:30.

we decided to walk up the mountain.  for those of you who aren't familiar with stone mountain, there are lots of different things to do there - very family-oriented - but our choice for today was the trek up the mountain.  it's not a bad walk up there at all.  it's not too steep, except for maybe right up at the top where they have the little handrail to hold onto to walk up one steep part.  it's mainly just navigating the rocks along the way.

this outing is right up doodlebug's alley.  he loves anything outdoors.  in particular, he loved climbing the rocks.  he was constantly saying he was climbing this BIG rock.  he would be huffing and puffing and we would ask him if he needed to rest and he would emphatically say, no, he was fine.  he was a trooper the whole way up.  once at the top, he was absolutely fascinated by the cable car.  they have one that takes you up and down the mountain.  for some reason when we went earlier this year he never noticed the cable cars, but this time we had to tear him away from them when it was time to head back down the mountain.  i guess i'll have to confront my fear of heights and ride them one day with doodle.

i'm sure you're wondering what peanut did on this trek up the mountain.  well, peanut had the best ride up.  we have a backpack carrier for him.  pete gets a big workout carrying him up the mountain.  we figured he was lugging an extra 35 pounds with peanut on his back.  he seemed to enjoy the ride, except for the last 20 minutes or so.  he was getting tired of riding in the carrier and he was getting sleepy so he started to fuss.  at this point, pete took off ahead of us b/c doodlebug was beginning to lollygag (as 3-year-olds do).  doodle and i finally made it down the mountain after he took a little spill on the rocks (at this point he was getting pretty tired) and scraped his knee and elbow.  but he was fine.

after the long afternoon of hiking, both the boys were pooped out.  peanut was asleep about a mile down the road and doodlebug followed shortly thereafter.  it was a fun family day.  i look forward to more and more outings like these as the boys get bigger.  i'm sure pete will be glad when peanut can make the trek on his own!!