Apple Picking with our Friends, Miss Aud-ree-aan and Nate

A few weeks ago my best friend Adrianne asked if Jackson and I would like to go along with her son, Nathan's PTA to Pick N-Save Apple Orchard.  Of course I jumped at the opportunity.  The boys are so cute together and Jackson just love's Miss Aud-ree-aan :)

 It was such a fun morning.  It was super chilly, but a perfect day for such an autumn activity.  

This was the tractor that took us on a ride throughout the orchard.  Jackson told me he was going to drive this tractor one day.  He LOVED it!

Adrianne, Nate and Jackson on the hayride.  

See, look at that sky- a perfect fall day!

The kids learned all about bee keeping, and two lucky little ones got to try on the hats :)

Me and Little Man.  It was really sunny!

Not only did they have bees, but also chickens and a beautiful horse.  The kids got to touch a nice warm just-laid egg, and even pet a chicken.  I think Jackson touched her with one finger and then jumped away.  I told him how I had chicken's at Mimi and Papa's when I was a little kid, just like this.  He thought is was pretty cool.  Seeing these ladies and all the farm fresh eggs made me want to keep chickens myself one day.  I wonder if they allow it in Broadview Heights.....

After all the apple-picking, animal petting and hayrides it was time to refuel with some just pressed apple cider and doughnuts.  Jackson and I also had to gobble up one of the apples we picked only a few moments ago.  Oh my goodness, it was delicious!! 

This was such a fun day- thank you again Adrianne for inviting us along.  We had a blast!  This was a wonderful apple farm, if you are looking for a nice place to do some picking.  I will definitely be frequenting it in the years to come!  

Happy Halloween!

Our Scary Dragon and Anna the Pirate

I was so proud of Jackson this year.  He was brave and went up to every house by himself (just with Anna and Sophie).  He didn't need Scott or myself to hold his hand up to the door.  He was a pro and proud of it!  After a little while he was even talking to the grown-ups handing out candy.  And if you know Jackson you know this is an amazing feat.

Auntie Bon Bon looking cute as always!  Started out as a witch, but found some cute specs to wear instead of the hat.  Loving it! 

Jackson and Sophie the other Pirate Girl.  Sophie was a champ!  Running fast ahead of the rest, always one or two houses ahead of Anna and Jackson.  But she was smart- get the door to door stuff out of the way first and then snuggle in your Dadda's arms for the chilly walk back home.  

Don't you remember one of the best parts of Halloween was dumping out your bags full of goodies and eating as much a possible while making trades with your friends?!  Jackson and Sophie had this down-pat!

I was actually able to make it the whole way, although I think I waddled most of the way home.  I shoulda been a duck.  

Sophie being, well... Sophie.  She is such a ham.  I love it!

 Mom and Dad.... Dad already lost his cowboy hat, but my mom has on her fun, festive headband.  The kids all had to give it a try and found it soooooo hilarious when Mimi put it on Papa's head during dinner.  

I REALLY wish I would have gotten a picture of these two before they removed their wigs and make up.  (Anyone else have a picture they want to share?!)  Neil had on an awesome Brett Michael's look-alike wig, bandana and all and Nama had a fun clowns wig and full face make-up.  It was so great how they went all out this year!!! 

Was anyone else in awe with the sunset this year?!  It was breathtaking!  This picture completely doesn't do it justice.  It was like a fire in the sky.  

It was a perfect Halloween night- and best of all... no Halloween baby!!!  Mr. Owen, you now have full permission to make your appearance at any time!  Can't wait to meet you!

Zoo Fun and Even Some Dinosaurs!!

Last week I met up with my sister, our friend Mary and all the little kiddos at the zoo.  It was an absolutely perfect day, weather-wise and wanted to take advantage of it while we still can.  Due to the older ones coming home from school, we couldn't make it a very long visit- just long enough to get the kids tuckered out.

Monkey's looking at monkey's....

We were almost ready to head home, when I realized that the Dinosaurs were going to be leaving this coming weekend and not coming back for quite a while.  Well this is one of Jackson's most favorite parts of the zoo, so I decided to take him for one last look.  Just me and him.

He was sooooooo excited!  Honestly, words can not describe his excitement.  We had to look at all of them of course, but there is one guy in particular that Jackson had his eye out for.... Sharp Tooth.

The mean, and nasty T-Rex.  What can I say, Jackson loves his bad guys!  He was dying to have his picture taken with him, but he didn't want to get too close.  We had to walk on the opposite side of the dinosaurs, you see.... So I told him to go stand on a leaf that was in the middle of the walkway.  He looked over at it, looked back at me, back at Sharp Tooth and then noticed right in front of me was a leaf on the ground.  "How about this leaf Mommy?"  Perfect, honey.

Then we noticed Spike (you have seen The Land Before Time, right?  Oh goodness, if you haven't go and rent it!  Such a sweet animated movie all about Dinosaurs.  A HUGE favorite in our house...)  Anyways, so we saw Spike.   Since Spike is a nice dinosaur, Jackson agreed to go a little bit closer for a picture with him.

Toward the end we came to this guy that has a body like a T-Rex, but a mouth like a Crocodile.  He was pretty cool looking.  Jackson really liked him- he actually got pretty close to this one!  He is called a Suchomimus.  We found a really neat guy at the gift shop on our way out and I just had to get it for him.  Yeah, I was a bit of a sucker like that.  Can't help it!  Aside from his construction toys, dinosaurs are a huge favorite these days.

Jackson and the Suchomimus

Then at the very end they have a dinosaur that you can pose on to have your picture taken.  Jackson decided he could do this since "It's OK Mommy, he isn't real 'cause he has no legs."

"I was really brave, wasn't I Mommy?!" 

It was a really great day, and so fun to do something special- just me and him.  I love this Little Man so much I think I feel my heart stretch larger each and every day.  

Jackson's 1st Indian's Game- and a Foul Ball!!

On August 10th, Scott got tickets from work for all of us to attend an Indians game. These seats were incredible- right behind home plate and only 27 rows away from the field!  We have been dying to take Jackson's to a game for a while now, but  we wanted to make sure he was the right age.  We didn't want him to get too bored and we wanted to be able to all have a fun time.  Well this ended up being the perfect time!

Scott really enjoyed being able to teach Little Man all about baseball, while I really enjoyed listening to their sweet father-son conversations.  Bonding over sports is a very guy-thing.  It was very cute.

As soon as we got to the stadium, Jackson spied the cotton candy.  The BIG. ENORMOUS. Bags of cotton candy.  Of course he had to have a some.  Seriously, I think this bag was as big as him.  It was awesome.

We all watched the game together for quite a while. When the excitement of the game wore off a bit,  Jackson brought a few of his construction trucks out and he had a blast scooping up all the peanut shells and dumping them into a huge pile.  Then the crayons came out.... These things kept him very occupied for long enough for Mommy and Daddy to be able to enjoy some of the game ourselves.

We had heard that there was a kids play area somewhere in the ballpark, so once the 7th inning came we were off to stretch our legs and hunt it down.  Oh man, this place was a HUGE hit!  It had playhouses, tons of cars to drive in, and even a roller-coaster!  ...all Step Two, of course.  They also had a cool place to practice your pitching and you could get your picture taken with Slider.

Jackson had a blast and I really had fun watching him have such a great time.

After getting super sweaty and much in need of something to drink, we headed back to Daddy to watch the rest of the game.  We had only been sitting down for probably 10 minutes and guess what?!  Jackson caught a foul ball!!  ...well maybe with a little help from Daddy...  

It was so exciting!  Not only did we have awesome memories from this being Jackson's first game, but to have a foul ball to take home with us too- wow!  Jackson thought one of the best parts of the whole thing was that Scott stepped in my nacho's and got cheese all over his shoes.  He thought it was simply hilarious.  

While we were leaving everyone around us was congratulating Jackson on his awesome catch.  You could see the pride in all the other men's eyes that this little guy got a foul ball at his first game.  It was very sweet and just added to the positive experience of the whole evening.  What a perfect night.  We couldn't wait to do it all over again!