Fall

Fall in Purcell Park

Liam took this picture (with a little mama help)

I spent an hour with Liam today in Purcell Park. He would swing forever if I let him, but I made him walk around a little bit to look at the leaves. The sky was really overcast and dark, but I LOVE the pictures of Liam in the storyboard (top picture). He walked around with leaves in his hands all day. I love fall leaves.

JMU Arboretum

Liam and I spent some time in the JMU Arboretum this week. The leaves are changing and it's beautiful. It's such a quiet place to hike and think. Peyton and Liam like to go see the statues. They really love the bear.

Yellow Finch Designs GIVEAWAY!!!!

Yellow Finch Designs GIVEAWAY!!!!

Check out these beautiful pieces!

Serious Boo Boo

We had our family bonfire on Saturday and it ended up being a great event. The weather was overcast and nasty all day, but the rain held off....until about an hour before it started. We set up a big tent, put the food under it, and forged ahead. It didn't rain hard, just light rain that didn't stop us from roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. We enjoyed fellowship with family, great food, and were settling in around the fire to enjoy the evening when my sister-in-law's phone rang. She answered and told her husband that she was standing outside, and asked why he was calling her. Then she told us that Liam was hurt and we needed to go inside.

I ran into the house and saw him screaming and crying on my mother-in-law's lap. She had a bloody rag on his head and showed me a cut that looked really bad. I screamed for my mom and then we scrambled around trying to figure out what to do next. There was talk about finding a 24 hour clinic instead of the ER, but nothing seemed to be open. I changed my shoes and got Peyton settled and we took off for the ER, which is about a 30 minute drive from the family farm. By the time we arrived his cut had stopped bleeding so we signed in and waited. The entire visit was only about 2 hours long, but it always feels like an eternity.

Liam fell asleep while we were waiting and didn't flinch when I peeled his band-aid off for the nurse to take a look. He said Liam would need stitches, but that it was a clean wound. He stayed asleep while the physician's assistant examined him and told us that she could use Dermabond, a superglue for the skin, instead of stitches. Liam woke up while she was cleaning the wound and screamed and cried and yelled ouch. We had to hold him down and I finally couldn't take it and had to walk away. I hate to see my kids hurting and just couldn't be the one holding him down. She tried the glue once and the cut kept bleeding so she had to peel it off and try again. She got it closed the second time, but the blood and glue mixed and look like a smashed berry on his head.

He has been asking to keep a band-aid on it and doesn't want his friends to touch his "dermabond." Mark was teasing me that Liam's modeling career would be safe. I told Mark that I'm done for a while. Two ER trips in two months is enough!

Fire Trucks in the 'burg

We had quite the incident last night, but we aren't sure exactly what happened. We heard our neighbor's alarm go off, but it was a different alarm than the one that we usually hear (it goes off often). Then a short while later, I looked outside and saw a fire truck parked across the street, then another one came, then another. There were 5 fire trucks on our street and another one further down the road and two fire chief SUVs came too. There was no urgency to their actions, but the firemen were coming and going out of our neighbor's house and they did pull a hose off of a truck, but then they rolled it back up. I did ask one of them if it was carbon monoxide and he shook his head no, but wouldn't say anything else.

It was a little bizarre that so many trucks responded to his alarm. When the burglar alarm sounds, a police officer comes to clear the house. I've talked to the police at few times when that has happened, but this was just weird. I joked with Mark that it was a slow evening for the HFD so they sent all of their trucks to our neighborhood!

Shenandoah Caverns-Part2

Enormous Parade Floats - these were in Tournament of Roses Parades and were once covered in living things like grass seed, beans, etc.

Tractors on display outside of the gift shop

Ice cream treat in a 1950s soda fountain!

Shenandoah Caverns

"Bacon" formation in the caverns!

Mark and the kids in the enormous train float

We had expected to have guests staying with us this weekend, but they canceled at the last minute, so we decided to play tourist in our own town. We went to Mt. Jackson to visit Route 11 Potato Chips and the Shenandoah Caverns. The chip factory was selling, but not cooking, so we bought some chips to eat with our picnic lunch and we went to the caverns. We took the kids to Grand Caverns a few months ago and Peyton was awestruck. She really loves being underground and seeing all of the cave formations. She follows the guide pretty close and tries to answer the questions they ask. The tour was about an hour and I think our favorite formations were the ones that looked like bacon!

After the tour we ate lunch and then visited the other attractions. They have old department store displays that have been renovated and installed and the kids really liked seeing Cinderella at the ball, marching toy soldiers, and a circus. Peyton's favorite was a presidential inaugural parade in miniature!

We also walked down the hill from the caverns and saw American Celebration on Parade, a huge warehouse full of Rose Parade and inaugural floats. The floats are incredible. They are huge and some had buttons to push that made them move/ sing/ talk. The kids were pretty excited about pushing the buttons. I was in awe of how huge they were! I marched in the 1993 Tournament of Roses parade, but really didn't see the floats up close and personal. It's amazing to think that these huge things move down the street so smoothly.

It really was an awesome day. I am excited that our children are experiencing great attractions so close to home. We have 5 caverns in our area that we'd eventually like to see. 2 down, 3 to go!

Back home on the farm Part 2

More pictures from our fun weekend trip!

Back home on the farm

Peyton and Liam LOVED the giant slide. They went again and again and again

We spent 3.5 hours at Hess Greenhouse Back Home on the Farm on Saturday. They had been calling for rain all week, but it was clear and sunny and gorgeous! The kids ran all over the farm doing the different activities. They went down the giant slide, rode the antique carousel, ate cookies, rode on a haywagon, and had a blast! We were all pretty tired when we left, but it was really fun.

We have a fairly busy week ahead. We have some guests coming, some school activities, church activities, and preschool/ school busyness. Mark is not traveling this week, which is nice. We have a lot planned for October and will be very busy, but so far (fingers crossed) November will be less hectic!