Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Rhodes Family Farm! Third Annual Trip - October 2013

Also in October (BUSY MONTH!) we took our third annual trip to Rhodes Family Farm! The kids had a great time as usual. Gray was a little confused about what was going on, and he couldn't quite walk yet, so I am sure next year's trip will be a BIT different. ;) Here are our photos from this year, and check out the links to previous trips that we took below!

Our other trips:
Second Annual Trip
First Trip

Until next time!

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

French Lick Trip - October 2013

Before all the birthday and Halloween craziness, we took a short trip as a family to French Lick, Indiana.

But first, Nora and her Nana went up to the Chicago-area to visit some of our family, and head to the American Girl store. Nora got to pick out her Bitty Twins dolls, a belated birthday gift from Nana. She had a great time!

After a few days with our family, Nora and Nana headed down to French Lick and met Gray, Cory, and I at Big Splash Adventure! It is a nice hotel with a huge indoor arcade and waterpark. This was Gray's first hotel trip, and he REALLY enjoyed the round bed pillow from the hotel bed!

Our trip included free tickets to a nearby Pumpkin Patch, which was really neat. It was basically a whole bunch of barns on a hill! :) But it had a ton of activities for the kids - a zipline, a slide, a bounce house, petting zoo, a corn tub, tractor rides . . . and at the end of the trip you got to take home one pumpkin per kid! It was really cool, and a fun way to spend the morning!

When Gray and Nana headed back to the hotel for a nap, Cory and I took Nora miniature golfing for the first time. It was so fun!! Watching Nora do this was such a joy - she had a blast! It was a neat activity to do with her.

Then, of course, there was the waterpark and arcade. Nora enjoyed every single water slide (except the ones you had to go on by yourself). Mommy didn't like the waterslides as much - you had to go up to the top of the waterpark on these shaky, see-through steps! I was freaking out!! - But I did manage even though I was scared. The lazy river and kiddie pool were great too. They provide floats for the kids, tubes, and towels as well - no charge. I don't recommend wearing contacts in there if your eyes are sensitive because of all the chlorine, but I wasn't bothered. At the arcade, Nora played a lot of Chuck-E-Cheese games, and won big on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"! The highest number of tickets she could get was 200, and she got 180! So that was awesome. :) Lots of good family fun.

I think we will definitely go back again someday - I hope they have new stairs though - because Nora has been asking to go back ever since we got home! I'm glad Nana got to come with us as well. What a great trip!

Until next time . . .

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Halloween 2013

Carving her pumpkin!

Our little duck!! This was Nora's first costume as well, hand-made by Nana-banana.

Our cute little owl!

Trick-or-Treating on Main Street

Grocery shopping after Trick-or-Treating on Main Street

Nora after Trick-or_treating in the rain!

Until next time . . .

Gray's First Birthday Party!

Gray's First Birthday Party was "loads" of fun! (Yuk, yuk!) We had a transportation-theme (what else?) and held it at our local fire department. The entire party itself went well! Gray wasn't in the best mood, but Nora wasn't in a great mood for her first birthday either. Gray wanted nothing to do with opening presents, but he sure enjoyed his cake! He ate a little of it, but mostly he enjoyed squishing it between his fingers. ;) There were lots of kids present, so we had lots of kid-activities going on. Nora had a great time running around and playing with all the kids, and Grayson pretty much just played on the floor by himself with a Little People Ferris Wheel - which we have had for his entire life, but he just recently discovered! ;) One of Gray's favorite gifts was this car toy from my dad and step-mom. My nephew enjoyed it a lot too! ;) It was a really fun day, and all the work to get it going was totally worth it! Happy Birthday Grayson!

The Kid-Activities: Play Doh with transportation cookie cutters, transportation coloring sheets, and paint-your-own-car

The road I designed for the party. It didn't stick to the floor at all, but it was still fun.

The cakes, made by me.
Stoplight cupcakes.

Gift table.

Cake time!

The cutest lil' cousins ever!

Until next time . . .