Do you think he will like it?

A Few More Weeks left in Fall

Well, I finally have the computer back. Baylor decided to knock over the laptop and the screen cracked. Two weeks and $200.00 later, it is home.  I am not sure if Baylor will be allowed to watch any videos on the laptop any more but we will see.  So the week before Halloween was wonderful Fall weather.  He had to go to the sitter's one day during the week and when we got home we played in the leaves.  I had a wheel barrow and so did he. We raked leaves into a pile and some we played with and some we put in the in the new compost pile. Lori humors me about my neurotic recycling and composting.  She made me a new place to compost but had her nephew take the old pile down the to creek bank to dump it.  Not sure why neither of the thought to put it in the new pile, but we are off to a good start anyway on the new one.

The sun was out and it was just wonderful fall weather.  I love spending time with my little man but too often I am trying to get something done while he plays around me.  I am not too plugged into what he is doing and I have a lot of guilt about that.  Maybe that is why I try to do something every weekend with him so we are just spending time with him and not doing something around him.

Another night, the girls came over to play.  We bought this digger for Christmas but he caught Pap putting it together in the garage.  It was all over then and he took it to the sandbox at their house right away.  It is still a Christmas gift but he is enjoying it now.  Every time we tare around one Baylor becomes obsessed with playing with them.  He waited in line the construction Rodeo to play with one there with love in his eyes the entire time so I knew I had to find one for him. Quick Internet search and email to him Mamma and it was on the way to our house. 

 He was building a foundation for the house and they all took turns digging. 

We made pumpkin cookies for work and his daycare.  He loves his sprinkles and I had to shake off the extra on many of them. 

I love his look at Mommy face! 

Finally, Thursday came around and it was trick or treat night.  Our town has it on Thursday so it does not interfere with any adult party goers.  ToT is 6-8 and I don't think there are too many drunks on the road at that time.  Having said that there were two children struck by a car that night and one boy did not make it.  He lived in the neighborhood and was a school friend of Joy and Sue's children.  It is so hard to hear about children passing and it is especially hard when they are so close to your own life.  You find yourself hugging your children more.

And Thomas was very hugable!!  It was a very cold night but he tolerated it well especially with ToT involved.  He is not too much into the candy as much as the whole activity.  He has Lofty in his hand.  We had bought the costume and then he decided he wanted to be Lofty.  So I told everyone he was Lofty dressed up as Thomas. Then we went over to see the girls.

We had a witch, princess and a train in tow. Natalie was sick last year and was not able to go.  Thankfully she was well this year and all three kids headed out to get as much loot as we would let them.

We walked over to the neighbor's on the other side to see Riley and they were the first house.  Then it was across the street to Mrs Kitty Goss.  She looks forward to seeing the kids every year. 

Her house in on the street level and while we were there, two fire engines came speeding down the road.  Natalie does not like loud noises and she would not watch.  Baylor on the other hand was about to jump into the street to get closer to them. 

We drove to the local neighborhood that while it does not have sidewalks either, it is at least off a state route that is always full of traffic.  We went to the same cul des sac we took the kids too last year.  There are about 5 or 6 houses with lights on and we went to them all.  The kids were very polite and very excited to go to the next house.  It was very cold and we did not go past that street. 

Baylor found a lollipop and wanted it for the 2 minute ride home. 

Saturday the October snowstorm arrived around 10 am.  Like most Pennsylvanians, we had to run to the store.  Not because we needed milk, which we did, but because I did not have enough coffee creamer to last the weekend!  I did not buy eggs or bread because we did not need to make french toast.  It started to snow when we were at the check out.

We watched the snow pile up and I think we went out three times to shovel snow.  It was a heavy snow and I know snow is wet but this was dripping! I could wring water out of my cuffs. 

Sunday was bright and shiny and right for melting snow.  Since Baylor was a little man I have been bringing him bowls of snow to play with inside.  His first one was when he was 13 months old.  Look at that big bald head!!!

 He wanted one this year too.  We went through several bowls of snow and several sets of outfits playing in the wet snow.  We used the new digger and built a snowman.

We did lose two good size branches in the maples but they were too high for me to be able to clean off and it really could have been worse. 

It took a few days for the snow to all melt and we are back to fall turning into winter.  We went to the garden center to buy bird seed and they are decorated for Christmas.  As we were walking in he said, "I think they are getting ready for Santa!"  This is the same place we had his Santa photos done last year.  He spent the rest of the time hollering "Merry Christmas" making many people smile.  Including me!! 

Paulus Orchard

Last Saturday we went to another farm and I took my coworker with me.  She is from Easton, PA and works in our NJ office. We were actually on the phone together when the earthquake hit earlier this year.  I felt it and then a few seconds later she felt it!!  She has never carved a pumpkin in her 20 something years and I had to fix that when I found out.  We made plans back in August and I was excited when she arrived!  The orchard is about 15 minutes away and we were off soon after she arrived. 

The first thing we did was ride the tractor wagon.  Baylor loves them!  We were driven around the pumpkin patch and got a lay of the land.  Since it was a week before Halloween, the patch was pretty picked over but some hopeful signs were all the nice bright orange showing in the grass. 

As everyone knows, you are supposed to keep your head and arms inside the ride at all times but how much fun is that! 

Down there is the main store where the fork lift was working.  Next to tractors, Baylor loves to watch fork lifts! 

After the ride, the tractor is in the background, we found a wagon to take to the pumpkin patch.  Baylor wanted to pull it and did really well until we found pumpkins and it got heavy. 

We did not pick this guy but he was one with a nice cheese wheel shape. 

They also have a play area there.  We chose to go to the free one because the other side was $7.00 per adult and $5.00 per child.  I would not benefit from that money so we just avoided it.  Baylor was just as happy on the swing set and he made sure he tried everything. 

Here comes the tractor again! I was surprised he did not ask to ride it again. 

We all found a nice pumpkin to take home.  We shopped at the orchard market where I bought cider, more apples, and a little digger he found with gum in it. The gum was tossed when he was not looking. Megan, Addy and some of their friends were there too and we played on another swing set for a bit.

It was chilly and we had been out for a while so we headed out to lunch and then home. Baylor fell asleep on the way home and napped for the first half of carving.  I have tons of stencils for jacks and she picked one out. She started carving and got to gut her first pumpkin.  I cleaned the seeds and made Cinnamon sugar pumpkin seeds for her to take home. 

For her first jack she chose a medium hard face and did an awesome job on it.  Not that I would expect anything less from a Penn State grad! 

Baylor woke up and wanted to carve also.  His idea of carving was stabbing the pumpkin with the carving  tool, as you can see him in the background.  My jacks all look like they met Jack the Ripper! 

This is Zakiya's jack.  Is it not awesome!! 

Here are the two I made.  I am an old pro at carving and really love doing it. 

Baylor was very pleased with them also. He wants them lit when ever we can!  We have some more to do with the pumpkins we brought home last week.  Time is flying and I have some much to do at night I hope we get them done. 

Reynolds Farm

Have you ever been comfy cozy in your home, with no heat on mind you, so you get ready to go out on an adventure without checking the real conditions outside?  I am guilty of this nearing every day and it really gets me in trouble in fall and the spring also.  I just assume if I am comfortable inside, it should be nice enough outside.  Well, sometimes I am wrong, way wrong.  It did not help that it was a Saturday and there is no local news to tell me what is going on out there.  We do have lots of windows in the house so I can see in three directions between the living room and kitchen but apparently I never saw any signs of the wind.  We had plans with our friend Julie, Amy, and Cullen for a fall adventure at Reynolds Farm in Waynesboro.  It is about an hour from our house and we were running on lesbian time and were a half hour late!!!  The plant was down for the weekend and Lori was able to join us.  I love her schedule for Baylor but not for family time.  It is so limited unless one of us are on vacation.  And she is often off when we have plans with the McGraws which works out well. Cullen turned three in September and Baylor will be three in November. We both have chosen to not have a big party this year but wanted to celebrate together. Since we have not had a play date in a while, we decided to meet in October to celebrate together. 

So we arrive at the farm and of course have to find the loo first thing.  It was waiting out there we realized we were under dressed for the wind.  Lori and I can deal with it but Baylor was putting his hand to the back of his coat looking for a hood because his head was cold!  Poor little guy.  When I came out of the loo, Lori had found a little place to warm him up!  I miss the days when I was able to wear him in my wrap!!   

We meet up with the girls and they had a spare hat in the car.  It barely reached the bottom of he ears but it was greatly appreciated.  And super cute.  They needed the loo also and then we headed to a ride on the barrel cars.

They were an additional cost but worth it for the little guys.  The kid driving it said they were built on the farm and painted last winter or something.  We put Baylor in the John Deere but if I had given him a choice, I think he may have chosen an orange car.  Cullen was rocking his new lion hat they picked up on the way down to the farm.  The boys looked super cute! 

And then the ride started.  First they went into the corn field.  They were a row or two in so we could see them but I think they were too fascinated to even try to find us. 

Into the corn and out the other side! The took the kids on several loops through the field and brought them safely back to us. 

Then we boarded the hay wagon. Baylor had spied one with a front end loader and really wanted to ride the one it was pulling but it was not  running when we were ready to head up to the pumpkin patch.  We settled for the regular John Deere tractor and wagon and headed up to the pumpkin stop. 

It is pretty overwhelming to have to find a pumpkin in a huge field on a hill but it was gorgeous!  Other than being cool and windy, the sun was out and we warmed up.  We looked for huge pumpkins and found them.  Because of all the rain, there were some many we turned over to check only to see they were rotten on the bottom.  Amy found a mouse in one of them!  I wonder if it was making a little home like in the movies.  Baylor found the round pumpkin.  He had his first pumpkin patch experience when he was 11 months old.  Looking back at this old photos makes me cry every time! 

Two years later, he has hair and is taller but still has that beautiful smile. 

The girls and Cullen also found their pumpkins and we headed back to the pumpkin stop with our prizes.  Large pumpkins are quite heavy and I am glad we had help from the driver to get them on the wagon.  Men are good for two things and one is heavy lifting and while I usually can manage that by myself, it was nice having that help.   

The first thing we did when we got off the hay ride,  was find a wagon.  The tall pumpkin behind Cullen is ours and it ended up weighing more than Baylor!!!  At $.47 a lb it was also expensive. 

We missed the height chart at the Apple Festival so I am glad we found this one.  We have one at the apple orchard too.  I wonder why it is places we go to in the fall have these? Maybe we don't go anywhere in the spring?

We walked by the strawhorse but I did not put Baylor on it.  He spied it but was too far ahead of it and nearing his limit so we did not turn around for a photo shoot. 

See our family of pumpkins?  I cannot wait to carve them. 

After we put our pumpkins in the car, we headed to the play area.  Baylor wanted to feed the goats and they had a pretty neat system to feed them.  The feed goes in a cup on the belt.  The steering wheel moves the belt and the belt moves up to a platform. 

They had a huge tube slide and Baylor went down it once.  See the pink girl coming down backwards with her feet on Baylor's head?  Yes, that was the last time he went down that slide.  He stood up crying for Mommy and wanting a cuddle.  They also have a side by side racing slide and we went down that twice holding hands. 

Baylor really liked the hay area.  It was U shape with loose hay in the middle.  Baylor liked running on the hay bales and it was hard to get him off of them. 

See that smile?  He was loving his hay.

We got him away from it to go through the grass maze.  It was pretty cool other than the tassels whacking us in the face all the time.   We managed a loop and headed out towards the voices. 

Baylor showed Cullen how to feed the goats.

And then he found the sand box.  It was not easy getting him away from here but it was time to leave.  We were seeing signs of the upcoming meltdown and we still had to go to lunch with the McGraws.  He dug a few holes and was OK with the promise to jump in the hay.

This time he was brave and wanted to jump off the hay into the middle.  The first two times I held his hand but then...

He did it by himself!  And was very happy.

We went to Waynesburger for lunch and it was awesome.  It is owned by Greeks and they always have awesome restaurants in my experience!  I think both boys were asleep in minutes on the way home. I love fall adventures!