Annual Fall Activities

Tanner's Orchard

Collin and I made our annual trip to Tanner's with the ward's playgroup on a Friday morning.

Unfortunately, this particular Friday they decided to charge the weekend rate ($5 per adult, $7 per child) without publicizing it. Fortunately, they also decided to run the weekend activities (pony rides, barrel train rides). Unfortunately, my child is a pansy and wouldn't do any of the special rides. Fortunately, children under two get in free (Collin), and a worker lady came up to me in line and whispered, "My manager said to let pregnant ladies in for free today" (thank goodness I'm actually showing this pregnancy!).

In case you think my pansy comment was out of place, this is Collin in the PARKED barrel train ride. He would have nothing to do with parting with me to go on the moving ride.

Side Story: This month Collin has gone from calling this machine a "car," to calling it a "corn car," to (just today) calling it a "tractor." I can't believe how quickly toddlers learn!

All in all, I was pretty put out by the commericialism of it all and didn't spend a dime. Don't worry; they are making plenty!

Apple Blossom Farm

Instead of returning to Tanner's with Daddy on Saturday, we decided to head to the farm about two minutes from our house. We'd never gone before, but the playground was free (for everyone, all the time), and it was far less crowded.

We played on their large wooden toys (a dump truck, a train, an airplane, a fire truck).

Side Story: In September we went to this farm with the ward's playgroup, and Collin kept calling all the steering wheels "lights." I told Ryan about it that evening while we were driving to St Louis. We were both stumped, until we starting passing the monstrous windmills in southern Illinois, and Collin again began calling them "lights" too. LIGHTBULB: The ceiling fan in our living room has a light in the center, so Collin calls it a "light." Thus, all fans (and steering wheels with 'spokes') are called lights. Of course, now he's caught on and each time he sees a windmill he blows air to show wind. Smarty pants!

While we were there, we also took a hay wagon ride. Collin loved it! We planned on picking pumpkins, but the patch was pretty well-picked over, so we just bought two pumkpins in their store.

It was a great day. You can probably tell from the pictures that we have had an unusually warm fall around the midwest. It was in the mid-80s both days we were at the farms. Crazy for October, but really very pleasant.

Unrelated Fall Activity

Ryan needed to change the oil in his car before we headed to the farm, and we've been acquring some tools for Collin. So while I cleaned up the house, Collin and Daddy headed outside to work on the car.When I went to check on how things we going, this is the cute little boy I found. He couldn't have been happier in his goggles with his own tools under the hood. How cute is that!?

Birthdays!

With Ryan's birthday on the 29th and mine 4 days later on the 3rd, we usually implement "Birthday Week" around here and enjoy lots of fun times and lots of calorie-filled food. This year was no exception!

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we did our gift-giving. I woke up with Ry on Wednesday morning and gave him the gift that I had finally completed at the crafting-night I'd attended the night before. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of it! I made him a rubix cube with pictures of our family on each side. I was trying to find something new for his desk, while combining his geeky, mathematical tendencies. The project could use some perfecting, but overall it turned out well.

Ryan surprised me by getting a real rocking chair for the baby's room. He found it on Craig's List, and while I was out on Tuesday night, he took Collin and picked it up. I didn't even know he was looking for one! All we've ever had in Collin's room was a folding chair, so this is a real upgrade. I went to get Collin out of bed after Ryan had left for work, and ta-da: a real chair!

Since Wednesday was Ryan's birthday, we picked him up for lunch and took him to the ONLY restaurant with a waitress within 20 minutes of the Tech Center. It was packed with other employees, and it tooked 40 minutes for us to get our food. Collin filled his diaper and had to wander around twice to get the wiggles out. It was fun, but we're thinking we'll call ahead our food order next time.

The weather was beautiful, and we were able to sit outside on their patio overlooking the Illinois River. Collin was super excited when a barge came floating by too!

Wednesday evening Ryan was home for about 15 minutes between work and going to the Church for Scouts. It was just enough time for him to scarf down dinner, hence the reason we'd met for lunch. I'd told most of the boys and leaders it was his birthday, so they embarrased him a couple times with singing and such. Sweet.

Thursday

Thursday evening we put Collin down for bed a tad-bit early so we could cook our birthday treat. We LOVE cheesecake at our house, and this year I found a recipe for Triple Chocolate Cheesecake. We'll probably dub it "Oreo Cheesecake," and it was truly delicious.

After getting it in the oven to bake, we watched the season premiere of The Office (yeah, we're a week behind but we'll get caught up). It was a nice week-night date.

Friday

On Friday night, we threw ourselves a small party here in the backyard. We had warm apple cider, donuts, apples and carmel, and stuff to make s'mores. We also had a bonfire, and lots of friends came to join us. We had a great time.

Collin ended up staying up until everyone left (about 10pm!) and had quite the melt-down at pajama time, but he was in heaven with all the good eats. I even caught him at one point reaching into the donut box with his fingers gooing a chocolate-covered, sticky one saying "More." Yeah, he knows the good stuff.

Saturday

So we have a family tradition - just Ryan and I - of getting McDonald's breakfast before the Saturday morning session of Conference every six months. When Collin woke up, Ry whisked him off to grab breakfast, which gave me uninterrupted showering and getting ready time - a birthday gift in and of itself.

The last couple General Conferences we have headed to my parents' house, but this year we decided to stay home. When we were there last weekend, they set us with some "new" toys - my brothers' old Matchbox cars. He's obsessed with all cars right now. What a boy.

During Conference, he played by himself quite a bit and wasn't much of a distraction at all. I was proud of him. Unfortunately, it occurred to me that by the next time we have Conference there will be TWO to entertain, and I'm sure it won't be as pleasant for quite some time. Such is the time of our lives.

Between sessions, we put off Collin's nap (yeah, after keeping him up late; poor guy!) and headed to an SAE race by Ryan's work. We didn't stay long - it was freezing! - but Collin now says quite clearly, "Race Car - Fast!" He loved it.

This picture is a good summary of Collin's exhaustion from our Birthday Week Extravaganza. He won't sleep in his carseat for anything, but coming home from the race on Saturday he made an exception.

The poor kid was totally wiped out!

Sunday

My birthday! I didn't shower, and I didn't even get out of my pajamas! Growing up I always complained that my birthday was Conference Weekend (no sleepover parties), but as an adult I think I'm beginning to see it as a blessing - NO responsibilities: no class to teach, no meetings to attend. Nice!

We told Collin we were watching church on tv, and at the end of the day, he kept saying, "More church, more tv, more prophet." Cute huh? I guess he was a big fan of staying in his pjs all day too.

And that about wraps it up. We had a GREAT birthday week. Thanks for all the birthday emails, phone calls, and Facebook messages. Love you guys!