During the past several years, we've started a tradition of going to visit my parents (who live in another state about 3 hours away) during a weekend in September. Two years ago, we did this and visited Rutledge Farm just down the road from where they live. While at the farm, we participated in the Fall Festival, and I felt like that visit was our kick-off to the Autumn season (my favorite!). And seriously, looking at these pictures makes me miss those little babies. Eeeep!
This year, we decided to visit my parents over Labor Day weekend. We headed back to Rutledge Farm on Saturday - and while they hadn't started their Fall Festival season yet - I still feel like this trip was the beginning of our Autumn. Now, if the weather would just get on board with me, that would be great *grin*.
The Farm is complete with lots of animals for viewing and petting, a pond where you can fish and feed ducks, a playground, and these old tractors. Brenson is currently obsessed with big equipment of all kinds . . . cement trucks, bulldozers, tractors, etc., so he was beyond excited to climb on these old tractors and pretend to drive and work.
I posted here about our attempt at taking family photos. My parents had much better luck than we did!
Ha! The best out of the group is still not so good.
One thing that really fascinated the children this year were these water pumps. They stood pumping and pumping the water until we finally made them move along to give others a turn. Who would have thought?!?
Look how happy he is pumping that water!
We walked all the way around the {busy} pond for the first time this year, but we didn't stop to feed the ducks. There were lots of people fishing, so we did watch a few fish get reeled in . . . that was pretty exciting for Brenson, especially. After our walk around the pond and an ice cream treat provided by Grampy, we let the kiddos play on the playground for a while. My kids just love to run, jump, climb, scream, slide, swing, etc and are so content to do so for long periods of time.
Brianna, our climber
They think these big slides are fantastic!
Brenson had no time to stop for a photo!
Bren isn't generally one to like to climb too much, but watching Big Sister do it gave him the confidence boost he needed.
He made it!
This next series of photos made me laugh. Brianna plays hard and crashes hard. She always has.
Once we left the Farm, we went to eat lunch and headed back to Grampy and G-Jo's house for naps. After a lazy afternoon and dinner in, it was time for baths. I just love my sink full of babies!
Brooke, Brecklyn
I always buy my kiddos each a set of Halloween pjs (even though Halloween is NOT my favorite), so we busted those out that night for the first time. Everyone was super excited to wear their "bone jammies", but of course Brianna had to give hers a few accessories, ha! Love my spunky girl!
All of the "bone jammies" glow in the dark, so that provided quite a bit of entertainment for all of us. The babies weren't quite sure what to think, but next year I'm sure they'll really appreciate it. Looking at this photo from this year,
compared with this photo from two years ago makes my heart both hurt and sing at the same time. Oh, those babies!
Brecklyn was so funny on this trip. She really turned on her charm for Grampy and G-Jo and popped out with several things (such as shaking her head "no" and waving bye-bye) that we didn't know she could do. Brooke had been doing both of those things for a while, but Breckles had been holding out on us. She was just so sweet and smiley all weekend long, and both babies were just a joy on this trip. One night during our family devotional, we were singing a song that said "no, no, no, nobody . . . ", and Brooke would shake her head "no" each time we would sing that part. It had us all laughing. I love this age!
Sunday morning, we snapped a few pics before heading to church.
I probably go overboard with the constant picture taking, but I'm always thankful to have photos.
I have very few photos of my mom holding both of the girls. One of my goals this trip was to get photos of G-Jo with both babies!
WHY do my babies look so big?!? *tear*
On Monday, we had a relaxing morning just playing and visiting, grilled for lunch, then headed home. The babies have become such great travelers, and the days of them crying for hours on car trips are quickly fading into a memory (thankfully!). I'm so grateful for every day with my babies, but I just love the Autumn season and am ready to embrace it!
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