My dad's memorial

We had some nice family time when folks were in Ithaca for my dad's memorial. 

 

Springside Farm trip

This place has everything: four zip lines, pedal cars, a barn-sized jump pad, tetherball, slides, tunnels, a moo train, a tractor ride, apple fritters, fudge, pulled pork, swings in the hay barn, petting zoo, human foosball, a giant plastic tube you can ride in, basketball, and two corn mazes. The ultimate fall destination. This year we spent seven hours at Springside Farm, loving every minute of it.

Annual trip to our neighborhood pumpkin patch

The Hollow is 10 minutes from our house (longer that day because of road construction, but I digress) and it's always fun--animals to pet and feed, a haunted house, a corn maze, apple fritters and cider, slides, and a hay pile to jump off of. Every weekend in the fall we like to go to one of our fall fun spots, because there are so many and Daddy is usually busy with his trial team practices.

 

Neighborhood Halloween parade and Fall Fest

Neighbors on the dead end of our street put together a really awesome fall fest the weekend before Halloween. There was a DJ, donut eating contest, mummy race, and lots of great food. Bryn scored in third place in the chili contest and we made a scarecrow and a painted pumpkin to bring home. It was also the same day as the neighborhood Halloween parade. Reed chose to stay and play at fall fest instead of putting on a costume but Beckett and Theo led the parade with their friends (some of the oldest there!) and had a lot of fun eating candy afterward.

 

Jonas Brothers concert

The boys are all big fans of the Jonas Brothers, and their music has grown on me since we listen to it a LOT in the house and in the car. When we found out that they were playing a concert at the amphitheatre near the fairgrounds at the end of September we decided we had to go! It was late on a school night so Reed didn't come but Theo and Beckett absolutely loved their first concert experience. They both took lots of photos and video with their iPods, and they loved dancing and singing along with their favorite band.

 

Making gingerbread houses (in October)

One rainy day in October we took a field trip to the Christmas Tree Shops, where the kids picked out gingerbread houses. When we got home, they asked to make them. We couldn't think of a good reason why not, so we made our gingerbread houses in October this year.

 

Southwick part two

Two playgrounds all within scootering distance, gorgeous sunny days, and an arcade and snack shack at the beach. Seriously, could there be a better park?

 

Southwick camping part I

The boys have been fascinated by campers and RVs for a while now, and they've asked us many times if we can buy a camper. We've also gone tent camping a few times, so they know they love campgrounds, but for some reason all the little compartments and sleeping areas really excite them. So we'd been planning to go camping the weekend Jeff was in Florida with Pete, but unbeknownst to them I booked us a rental RV for the weekend. It took a lot of planning and researching but I found a great camper and had it delivered and set up and hooked up for us for the weekend. 

We got to the campground and registered and I asked the kids to help me look for the campsite. We drove around and got to the site but they said there was someone else there. I knew it was Rick with the camper, but we all just got out. The kids were ready to see if we were at the wrong site, or this guy was set up at the wrong site. That's when I told them that I had rented the camper for us, and that it was there for us. They were totally surprised and thrilled.