more fall fun

We've had some weird weather lately... super foggy in the morning and then beautifully sunny in the afternoon. We've been trying to stay outside as much as possible, which has led to some interesting park trips where we are the only ones tromping around in 45 degree weather. Why does no one else want to walk around on a wet play ground when you can't see anything? haha.

One day we drove out to visit Adelle & her kiddos in Arlington. I love the drive out there.. it transports you to a totally different way of life.. lots of green fields, cattle, long windy roads. We had a great time putting our babies in pumpkins.. i'm not sure all of them loved the idea. Madison was happy the whole time.. even when her pumpkin rolled over.. twice.

Matt was working from home so he took the kids out on a tractor ride. It was pretty much their dream come true.

For the past 2 years, Ben & Mark have gone on a guy's golf weekend. They couldn't get any other guys to commit this year, so they invited us to tag along. It was SUCH a fun weekend. We got to stay at a cabin that belongs to a family with connections to one of Mark's friends. It was incredible. We could have easily stayed there all week and not come close to running out of things to do. Now to figure out how to convince the owners we are in fact best friends and we would be DELIGHTED to come out there annually. haha

There was a pull up bar in the cabin and people have written their names on it if they are able to do a pull up.

 We did a geocache the first morning. Doesn't the back drop look fake?

This river was 15 yards from their house. Incredible

My sis & I had a fun afternoon taking pictures when most of the kids were sleeping.

There were so many fun toys to play with. It started off with simple things like balls, ladder ball, frisbee, etc.....

And then....

Yeah, I about died. But both of my guys loved it. 

Colter probaly enjoyed sitting on this dead power wheel the most though. 

                         

One of my favorite things about vacationing with family & friends is the fun that happens after the kids are in bed. We made smores & played cards.. it was my favorite moment of the trip. 

The cousins had a blast running all over the house and throwing random objects through this opening upstairs.

My sister & I saw this bridge while driving by the cabin and knew we had to check it out. It was beautiful!

Such an amazing time of year!

Pumpkin Patch 2013

I LOVE THE PUMPKIN PATCH!!!

This year we tried a new patch because of a groupon deal, and it was great! We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves for the first hour or so, which is so different from other years. The kids started off at the kids fun barn with horse swings, roping bulls (made of hay bales), riding on tractors, and finding treasure in a pirates chest.

Outside the barn was even more to explore! Giant hay bales to climb on, huge tires to climb under, mini sand boxes with diggers, and tons of pumpkins all around to make this mama who loves photo opps super happy.

 

We then took a tractor ride out to the corn maze.

It was a great little corn maze. The kids had a blast navigating around the maze with maps. There were different US landmarks throughout the maze that the kids could play on.

Here's a baseball stadium where they had buckets of balls & bats to play with. This was literally in the middle of the field.

Then it was off to the patch! We've been reading a Halloween book called the Littlest Pumpkin, so Colter was on the hunt for a super small one. He found this super cute tiny one and immediately went over to it and said "Awwww." He had to have it. He carried it around in the hood of his sweatshirt the rest of the day and was super sad when he couldn't ride in the car seat with the pumpkin in his hood.

Such a fun trip to the patch!

beautiful Fall in Seattle with Nana

ok I've embraced finally embraced it. The chill in the air, the crunch of the leaves, the days of blue jean color skies, the golden sun setting hour happening just a little earlier, the pumpkin spiced chais.. how can you not get into fall in Seattle. It just so happened that we got the added bonus of experiencing the season change with Nana in town.

The first few days of the visit were quite chilly & foggy.

Nana & Colter had some fun 1 on 1 time. They went to the nearby park one afternoon, and also went to eat lunch at McDonalds together.

Mom watched the kiddos so Ben & I could go out on a date and see the movie Gravity. So good!

We had a few family dinners & dance parties. I love the chaos of all these little kids at your feet running around. I love how Nana jumps right in with the kids & us. It always feels like time stands still when she's gone and we just pick right up when she comes back into town.

Dinner at chipotle is seriously the best. We never have to tell the kids to eat... they just eat and eat and EAT!

Maddie loved her first taste of Chipotle beans & rice

A sunny day after church

We tried to have a little Halloween photo shoot at the pumpkin display at whole foods. It was slightly unsuccessful, but still fun. It's getting harder and harder to get a pic with all the kids!

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We also ventured to the pumpkin patch, which will be a later post. It was such a wonderful visit. See you soon Nana!