Another fond memory I have of fall is apple picking. I'd only been a few times, but I remember loving it. I decided I really wanted to take the boys apple picking. Unfortunately we missed the peak of the season, and I was told that there wasn't much out there. So, we decided to go pumpkin picking. I really had no idea where to go, so I spent what felt like forever online trying to find a close sort of nearby. I found one in Shakopee, so that's the one we picked. It was pretty nice, they had a bunch of Pumpkin's out front (in retrospect we should have just taken one of those. So of course, we took pictures with the pumpkins!
Then we grabbed a wheelbarrow and headed out into the Field to pick our pumpkins. They had a tractor ride, but it just drove in a circle around the fields, not too exciting.


They Pre-cut all of their pumpkins off the vine, so in the main area the only ones left were already rotting. Which was pretty gross. So I ushered Hunter towards the back, and we were able to find some pumpkins that seemed some what ripe.

Then on the way back Hunter and Phillip did a corn maze. Hunter liked it, but they were only in there for a few mins, so I can only imagine it wasn't too big, which I guess is good for little kids.

All in all, it was a good place for our first time. I would like to try a different place next weekend, maybe one of the farms a little further out. Next year I want to start early, and find a few favorite farms to buy fresh produce from. Hunter had a good time though, and that is really all that matters.

Leaf Pile

One of my favorite memories growing up was raking leaves in the fall. My favorite part, of course, was making a massive pile, and jumping in, but I also liked the mind numbing act of raking as well. There is something about making disorderly messy things look nice that has always appealed to me. My family would beg to differ judging by my room growing up, but it is true. Jobs like scraping paint, raking leaves, washing grout etc have always made me a little excited. In any case, this was the first year that Hunter would be able to make a "jumpable" pile. He was excited, but did not really know what he was in for, so he was pretty apathetic at first.

This is him sweeping the driveway.


Raking leaves is a lot easier when you can make many little piles, and then walk around picking them up.
Making one huge pile is a pain in the butt!

This is our pile;

At first when I told Hunter to jump in, he would just kind of walk in and then do a small hop. It wasn't until I jumped in that he finally caught on to the whole event, and really went crazy. He would jump in and bury himself. We buried each other and then the other person had to "be scared" when we would jump out. We also played hide and seek with "sheildy". (His shield he got at Renfest).

It was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed the familiar smells, feel in the air, etc that I have not experienced in a long time.

Walk

Tonight, I finally got my family out for our first "Family Walk". I have been on a few walks, but this was our first with Phillip back in town. The best way to do this was to suggest that we walk to go get ice cream. Since I can not eat ice cream, this was a healthy choice for me, lots of exercise, no calories. When we got there I decided to eat a plain cone, which was not as satisfying as I thought it would be. We had so much fun. I love the smell of Minnesota in the fall, and everything was so beautiful. The trees are changing colors, and the clouds were amazing!

I got to tell Hunter all about fall, how the trees change colors and how squirrels are running around like crazy hiding nuts for spring. We also collected "nature items" to be used for a rubbing. Hunter had no idea what I was talking about, so he didn't really get excited about it, until we were home and saw what I meant. He did collect one leaf which he promptly named "Leavy". He brought Leavy along for the entire trip, leaving him outside of stores, and picking him back up when we left. This is a picture of him with Leavy.


We went to "Sur la Table" first, to satisfy my need to shop, even though I was good and did not buy anything. Then we went to the Edina Creamery. Hunter got cotton candy ice cream. Tobin slept through the whole first half of the walk. He woke up once we stopped moving in the Creamery.

I made us take the long way home, so I could check out the hours of the bakery I used to work at. Hunter tripped and hit his knee, so he had to be carried a few blocks, but other then that, it was a very nice trip. We got home and Phillip and Hunter worked on the rubbings. Tobin of course had to see everything they were doing!

The nicest part is once we got home, Hunter was a million times calmer then usual. I really think he needs more activities in his life. Now that we live somewhere with sidewalks and things to do, I think we will be able to do more things like this, and hopefully grow stronger as a family.

Solids

Hunter was an eater. He always loved his food, any kind of food. Tobin is not a huge fan. He will eat solids only if he is starving, and it is a chore to access his mouth. He also rubs his eyes a lot, usually after he has gotten a nice load of food onto them, thus basically finger painting his face. Tonight we found out, that he may just be a picky eater, since we tried banana and he just loved it. I guess I shouldn't worry too much, since he doesn't NEED them nutritionally. It's just weird to me that he could take them or leave them.

Here he is after a rub down.

All clean!

Bananas!!!

First Day of School take Two!

So, of course now that we are in Minnesota, Hunter had to switch schools. Luckily the school he is going to didn't start until the 9th, so he was able to start school with everyone else. Unfortunately Kindergarten here is only a half day. He was really excelling with an all day curriculum, so I will have to try hard to keep him stimulated in the afternoon.

The major difference between the schools is that he gets to ride a bus. He was so excited. I, on the other hand wanted to vomit. Everything went smoothly, until I got home and saw his water bottle sitting on the table. It is a horrible feeling to realize you forgot something for your child. I'll have to start making a check list!

ROAD TRIP

Oh man, a twelve hour trip just isn't the same when you have two kids. Our little weekend excursion was quite an adventure. I was lucky that my wonderful husband agreed to ride in the car with the boys, so the only thing I had to hear was the wailing when I would be on the phone with him! The trip started out fine. We decided we were going to take it extremely slow. We had seven hours of driving to do the first day, and we were planning on taking up to twelve hours to do it. We started out rough, five minutes down the road Phillip pulls over. Tobin is screaming. We take him out, I calm him down, and he burps. Then he's fine. Phew, so we get back on the road. The first two hours Tobin was asleep, so we drove straight through. After that we had to stop about every hour. Tobin had about two screaming spells. One he fell asleep as soon as we pulled over, so we kept going, and the other we pulled over. Both times it turned out he had pooped, and of course was extremely uncomfortable. After about five poops we came to terms with the fact that he had diarrhea. Perfect timing. So, from then on, every time he started fussing we pulled over to check for poopies. Three mins from our hotel he loses it. Phillip pulls off to the side of the road, and I run over to help. We lay him down to change his diaper and he starts screaming even more. This time he wasn't poopy, so we were confused. I decided to nurse him. While I was nursing I got a feeling I should kinda push on his back to see if that was why he screamed so hard when we layed him down. Sure enough he started whimpering. When we took him out and looked at his back he had two marks on him from the car seat, beneath the padding! Every time we put him in his seat he started screaming, we had no idea how we were going to get to the hotel! Finally we decided to fold up a blanket, stuff it behind him, and pray that he would keep calm enough to breathe all the way to the hotel. We finally made it. As soon as Phillip unloaded everything, he ran right to walmart and bought the cushiest car seat they had. I have learned my lesson that a car seat is not something you want to "save money" on! The person who took Phillip's reservation had forgotten to include that we had a dog, and that we needed a roll away, and since there were no more "pet rooms" We had to sneak Dexter in the back. (They still were able to charge for a pet of course) Phillip took Hunter swimming for about ten minutes, because we had promised him, luckily it was cold, so he volunteered to get out. At this point it is about 9:30. Tobin has a fever of 101.7 so I give him a cool bath and try to just let him relax. Before I put him to bed I take his temp again, and it is now 102.4. So I decide to give him Tylenol, and I sleep with him. I just feel safer when he is right on me when he's sick. The next morning his fever was gone, and he hadn't pooped all night. He continued to have diarrhea off an on for a few days, but he seems to finally be slowing down.

The next day, we only had five hours to drive. We were so rattled from the night before, those five hours seemed like an eternity. Halfway through, when we realized Tobin was ok, we kind of calmed down. His new car seat was a hit, and he slept almost the entire way.

We made it though, and I am so proud of us as a team that we were able to push through when things did not run smoothly! We did have some fun times too along the way!

This was my view the whole trip. (the back of Phillip's truck)


This was at the first stop we made.

This is a rest stop that we have stopped at every trip (there and back) to Minnesota that we have made. It is on the Kansas turnpike.

Tobin finally relaxing in his cushy carseat.

Finally Fort age

Its weird how you can measure you children's aging by their activities. Some things they just aren't old enough to do, and when they start getting to be that age, it really hits you how old they have gotten. Hunter is starting to reach an age that I remember being. I remember parts of my life when I was in kindergarten, and now Hunter is forming those memories.

Hunter decided he wanted to make a Fort. Phillip helped him assemble one, and he loved it. He was disappointed that Tobin couldn't really play in it, but he was close by!

I loved making Forts when I was little. I actually used to make "nests" in my bed on Saturdays (sheet changing day) I loved my nests. Something about being in an enclosed space when you are little makes you feel safe and happy. I am so excited that Hunter is starting to be able to enjoy the same things I did growing up.

Hunter was mad in the pictures because Tobin was not in there with him.