After spending 2 weekends being lazy inside because of bad weather or bad moods, we finally ventured out this weekend for some Fall Fun!
On Friday night, Andy and I went on a long overdue date night and had a great time shoe shopping (yes, I’m a lucky girl that he’d suffer through shoe shopping before dinner :) and eating at “our” Italian restaurant. We overindulged in Creamy Shrimp & Asparagus Pasta, Chicken Parmesan and Tiramisu while sharing some of the things that have been on our hearts and minds lately.
Recently I’ve felt like we have been on two different pages, but after our conversations on Friday night it turns out we’ve actually been challenged by some similar truths. As much as he and I are different, at our cores, we battle with similar tendencies.
Then, yesterday we woke up, fed Grace and headed out to our favorite cider mill, Blake Farms. We got a jug of cold cider and a bag of hot donuts, yum! We’ve ventured out to other cider mills, but no one can match Blake’s donuts. Grace was a big fan :)
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| After polishing off this one, she ripped the one I was holding in half and devoured it too! |
It’s funny because Andy and I used to drive an hour out to Blake’s just to eat some donuts and drink cider. We’d literally just eat our snack and drive all the way home thinking we should have done “more” while we were there. We decided that someday we’d probably take advantage of all the place had to offer when we had a little one to share it with. Petting zoo’s and hay mountains just aren’t as thrilling when you don’t have a child with you :)
Here we are taking advantage of all Blake’s had to offer! For a whopping $17 of course :)
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| Independent lady, doesn’t want to be held anymore… |
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| This pigpen smelled so bad I almost threw up :( |
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| Perfect pictures of children smiling on these props are just a fantasy. This is real. |
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| She has a thing for collecting rocks, acorns, etc and lining them up on picnic benches. Future bean counter? |
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| Scaling the mountain of hay! |
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| Almost there! |
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| Not so sure about being so high. |
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| We made it! |
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| I refuse to look at the camera, Mom. |
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| Nope, won’t do it. |
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| I wasn’t sure about swings, but this saddle thing is pretty cool. |
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| Cracking a smile :) |
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| The girl of a million expressions. This one is inherited from mom… |
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| Weee! |
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| Talking animals?! I need to tell Uncle Chris! |
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| All this fun is exhausting! |
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| I’m 3 apples tall! |
After wearing ourselves out at Blake’s, we headed home for naps! I ended up taking a 3 hour nap thanks to Andy who was a saint for covering the afternoon shift with Grace.
After we woke up, we ate a quick dinner and headed out again for what we thought was a haunted hayride and donut/cider hangout with my coworkers. It ended up being a 3 hour, haunted house, haunted hayride and haunted maze extravaganza!
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| The nice lady at the glow stand gave me this glow stick! |
We didn’t want Grace to get scared, so Andy and I took turns chilling out with her in the main area by the bonfire and concession stands while the other of us partook in the festivities. Andy did the haunted house, then I did the haunted hayride and we both sat out the haunted maze which didn’t end up being a crowd pleaser anyway. Grace had a ball being outside running around, people watching and getting to stay up WAAAAYYY past her bed time.
Craziest part of the night was me realizing that I was the parent I would normally be judging. I mean, who takes their baby out after dark to a loud, scary attraction?!? Seriously, what is wrong with those parents?! Poor kid, being raised by idiots like that!
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| What is wrong with my parents?! |
Yet, there we were. Out late, with our baby, at one of those loud and scary attractions. It sure did make me realize that I’m far too critical. We’re good parents and just because we chose to bring Grace along last night doesn’t mean that we make those kind of crazy decisions all the time. I just couldn’t bear to be away from her two nights in a row given the fact that I’m going to California for the better part of next week for a business trip. One night of chaos isn’t going to hurt her. Sure, she ended up going to bed super late, but she slept in till 10:00 this morning and the world is still turning. Perhaps my first instinct should be to give the other parents out there the benefit of the doubt when I see something I may not exactly agree with…funny how we let ourselves off the hook so often, but hold everyone else to such a high standard.
No sooner had we hopped in my brother-in-laws minivan than Grace was fast asleep in her car seat. We stopped by the host’s house for some cider and donuts, then headed home. All in all, it was a fun day full of lots of activity and even some lesson learning for this stubborn mule :)
Love all the pics. Very hip bloggerish.
I totally hear you about learning just how judgmental I am . It's something that God is constantly trying to show me and break me of. Thanks for being so honest with where you are at.
Looks like you guys have fun. And I agree on the pics – it's far easier to capture one of Bella crying or melting down than smiling. Especially in public.
Such fun pictures! Its amazing that our little girls have their same features of not wanting to look at the camera for their moms :)
I loved all the pictures!!! I am so happy that you all had such a nice family-weekend!!! Also, I really appreciate your honesty… it is so refreshing!!! I love and miss you guys!!!
Loved reading this today, since most bloggers, or the other ones I follow never post on the weekends. So it was great reading yours today! Love all the pictures and the one where Grace's eyes are goofy made me laugh. XO