Griffin Farms

We went to our favorite pumpkin patch on Sunday, at Griffin Farms! It was a beautiful day, and the kids were loving this Camaro right when we walked in.

(Poppy - they made me take this picture for you!)

 Both kids agreed that the first activity HAD to be the Corn Pen! :) I have no idea why they love this thing so much, but they do. Nate says it feels like a massage, ha!

Making "corn angels"

 Then, it was off to the Corn Maze. Both kids loved this last year, but to be honest, it was a bit of a disappointment this year. Not as many paths and so it was kinda boring!

 

I asked them to "say cheese" on top of the hay bales and
they surprised me by grabbing each other's hands. BFF's for life! :)

 

Old man, eating his boiled peanuts :)

She loved the "fast slide"

The rock wall was a new addition to Griffin Farms
this year, and Nate got up top without any trouble!

I caught her "meditating" in the Corn Pen while Nate was waiting for the zip line.
She was NOT pleased I was taking pictures of her :)

Happy, 10 seconds later.

 This was the first year Nate was old/big enough to do the zip line & he was SO excited!!!! I think he smiled the whole way down. He was super brave and went first, and waited for Greg  at the end, so they could walk back up the big hill together.

Going, going, gone!

Being goofy for Abby

My favorite zipliners!

Bouncy fun

It was HOT so we needed some sno-cones to cool off

Loooong line for the hayride/pumpkin patch, so we played Cornhole & took pics while
Greg waited in line for us.

I'd buy anything from those two cuties :)

Hayride selfie!

He found his pumpkin pretty fast. We are going to let him
carve his own pumpkin for the first time, so he made sure to get a big one!

Sometimes it sucks to be the Dad....

Family shot before heading home.
Another great year at Griffin Farms!

The Four-Eyes Club

About a month ago, I noticed Nate was having a hard time reading the hymnal numbers posted at mass. When I asked him about it, he said it was no big deal, but got teary-eyed and asked if it meant he had to get glasses. That same week, his teacher mentioned he was having trouble seeing the board at school, so I knew it was time to head to the eye doctor. Nate was NOT happy about this....literally cried on & off for about 2 weeks about it. None of his friends have glasses and he didn't want to be the only one with them. I debated putting it off a little longer, but then he started sitting super close to the TV and I decided it couldn't wait.

 

About a week ago, Nate found Greg's old glasses & began wearing them around the house. He thought it was so cool that he could finally see!!! Finally, he began warming up to the idea of glasses.

 

Then, on Wednesday, it was time for the exam. He was so excited once I told him he could try on a bunch of different frames while we were waiting for the optometrist!



Of course, Abby had to try some on too :)



Harry Potter glasses!

 At the beginning of the exam, Nate had to cover his left eye and try to read letters from the chart. The doctor said "What letter is this?" And Nate didn't answer for a bit. Then he said "What letter?" He.couldn't.see.it.at.all!!! Wow.

 He did great for the rest of the exam, and it was deemed that he has classic nearsightedness, just like me & Greg. His right eye is really bad, and his left eye is just okay. So, we went back to the frames to pick out his choice. This was his favorite:

I thought they were a little too big for his face, and recruited Greg to come back with us on Friday for a 2nd opinion. Luckily, we talked him out of those, and decided on some thin blue wire rims.

 

We picked them up Saturday morning and Nate was SO excited!!!

 All the way to the grocery store, he was reading every sign / billboard / bumper sticker around us. I can't even tell you how many times he yelled "I can't believe I couldn't see this before!!!" :)

 

Needless to say, he's thrilled with his glasses. And has been cleaning them (like the OCD person he is) around 5x/day. I may have to buy a jumbo size of lens cleaner soon, ha!

The cutest four eyes I've ever seen :)

 

Tailgating....Our New Normal

Last Saturday, we headed up to the quad for more tailgate fun! This time, Alabama was playing Ole Miss and it was a night game. Always fun!

 The kids hit up the slides first...

 ....while Greg and I hit up the adult beverages! :)

 I got to see Nate "jousting" in action this time. Man, was that hilarious! Luckily, he got paired with a younger/shorter kid than him, so he seemed to be in control most of the match.

 

 

#lovehim

 Then we ran into Abby's friend, Olivia! It was her first time on the quad, so Abby was happy to show her the ropes :)

5 year olds taking selfies.....#lordhelpus

 All the inflatables started to shut down since it was getting dark, so we headed to Greg's building for a Mexican fiesta dinner. It was catered by Taco Mama, one of our faves!

My favorite Bama girl!

 We saw one of Abby's other friends, whose dad works at the Business College in administration. He gave the kids UA pens, and they though they were hot stuff!

 Trekking back to the car....it was time to head home & watch the game from our couch!

I'm not going to talk about the outcome of the game here, but I will just say this.....

we had some great family fun-time on the quad ! :)

A Boy & His Bike(s)

 When Nate was 3.5 years old, "Santa" brought him his first bike. It was the cutest Spiderman bike ever, and he loved riding it around our neighborhood in Murfreesboro (I miss those nice, wide sidewalks)!

December 2010 - I forgot how cute (& little) he was!

Fast forward to May 2013.....He had just finished PK4, and Greg took the day off work to have a "Dad & Lad" day. They went out to lunch, picked out a new toy at Toys R Us, and then.....it was time for the training wheels to come off the 'ole Spiderman bike. Nate did great & was lucky to have such a good teacher.

 

It didn't take long for us to realize that the 12" Spiderman bike was too little for Nate. He got an early birthday present in July 2013.....a snazzy, 16" bike. That was a great bike and he logged MANY hours on that thing, riding up & down our street. We are lucky to have neighborhood kids that like to ride bikes too....they are like a little biker gang, and I love it.

 

Well, as you can see from the pictures below, Nate is growing like a weed. So again, we decided it was time to upgrade for his 8th birthday. This time though, Greg wanted to get a "real" bike, so we went to the bike shop where Greg frequents. We custom ordered a 24" bike - with gears!! - and it just came in yesterday. My poor boy had a wait a whole month to get his main birthday present. But from the look on his face ALL AFTERNOON YESTERDAY, I'd say it was worth the wait.

12" to 16" to 24".....crazy!

 

That face :)

Thanks to his Daddy, Nate has found an activity that he loves doing outside. And it's something that the two of them enjoy doing together, which is even better. We are waiting for his helmet to come in, and then, the two of them will be hitting up some trail rides. Male bonding time!

 

**And a sincere thanks to Mum Mum & Granddaddy for helping us afford this "big boy" bike!**

Divide & Conquer

Last Saturday, I hosted a baby shower for one of my dearest friends, Katie. Which meant Greg had to get the kids out of the house!! Luckily, it was the first home game of the season, so he braved the crowds and took them up to the quad for tailgating fun.

I had so much fun hosting Katie's shower! (And luckily, I had 3 awesome ladies help me with everything :) Katie is having a little girl, Caroline, in November and I am sooo excited to meet her!

While I was enjoying strawberry cake & champagne punch, Greg took the kids up to the Business College for a BBQ lunch. Then after a quick visit to his office, they headed over to the quad for bouncy house fun.

There were a few new additions this year....a wrecking ball game and a jousting game. Nate tried the jousting one and Greg said it was hilarious to watch! I guess it was really heavy, so he could barely hold & swing it around. Greg took a 3 minute video, but I'll spare you because it drags on towards the end. (Not much action!) Click here to watch a cute (quick!) video of the kids on one of the bouncy slides. I love how Greg made them say "Hi, Mommy" at the end! :)

 

A fun day, all around!