Autumn Wrap-Up

When you look outside and see this....

you know you're behind on updating about our Autumn. It was a really pretty Fall this year, and we did so many things to enjoy the weather.

Evans Apple Orchard

With Aunt Amy and family and Grandpa Dave on perhaps the hottest day of the season -- Adam was a sweaty, dirty mess by the end but had so much fun. We never actually left the play area to go to the orchard itself.

Horse-Daze

This is a really neat event annually held by the county parks system. It features all kinds of horse-related activities and games, including horse rides, horse grooming, an equestrian course for kids to jump themselves, face painting, a hayride, food and more. The event raises money for the public horse trails around the county.

Pumpkin Run & Fall Festival

We'd been looking for a 5k for Adam to do, as part of the mile-per-year plan Michael has for Adam. Last year, when Adam was 3 years old, he ran his first 5k. Three years, three miles. This year we needed a four mile race, which don't really exist, but we found a small community 5k that also had a 1-mile family walk. The Pumpkin Run is sponsored by the local YMCA and was held in the quaint river town of Franklin, Ohio.

First up was the Family Walk, and Michael and Adam headed out quickly. Sam was itching to get out of his stroller so I let him loose on the course as well and he pretty much completed the distance all on his own.  Following this race was the Pumpkin Run with several costumed participants. Aunt Angie and Kevin joined us for this race. I pushed Sam and Michael ran with Adam. Four miles completed all on his own!

Following the race was the town's Fall Festival with street food, craft vendors, kid rides and presentations by local groups. It was a perfect Fall day to be outside enjoying the event, and cousin Jake was able to come play with us.

Halloween

Halloween snuck up on me this year, and once again I was staying up late to finish Adam's Halloween costume. He'd wanted to be a mummy for a long tim but the closer the day came he kept changing his mind. I made the final decision for him and threw together a mummy costume using liner fabric I had on hand, ripped it up and dyed it with tea, and attached it to a t-shirt and pants. For Sam, we recycled the frog costume Adam wore at the same age.

We had tickets to go see Garth Brooks in concert Rupp Arena at 10:30 Halloween night, so we drove down to Lexington to join the cousins for trick-or-treating before the show.

Mother Nature didn't tell Autumn that her season was over before the first snow fall came mid-November (4 inches!), and we lost a tree in our yard due to the weight of the snow and ice on tree branches that still had leaves.

Our November ended quite busy with Sam's birthday (2!) and an active Thanksgiving week with friends from Florida. Posts on those to come!