The Great Pumpkin

We spent a cool fall morning at Denver Downs outside Clemson with Savannah's best friend Kelsie and her family. We were excited to spend the morning at the farm this fall - it has been a favorite of the kids since we moved to SC. We had fun at the hay bale maze, giant corn ball, rope swing in the barn, ducky races with the old pumps, a "cow train" ride, hayride, and some crazy fun like pumpkin launching and corn cannons!  Savannah must have hugged Kelsie a thousand times while they played, Gage loved playing in the spiderweb (shocking), and after we "lost" the girls in the round bale maze Gage pretended to have binoculars to help find them. He also was a complete gentleman when Caitrin had trouble stepping off the spiderweb net -- he kept offering her his hand to hold so she could step out of the web - so cute. We also had a "who can find the smallest pumpkin" contest -- that means "cheap parents want to pay as little as possible for pumpkins" - clever, hmm?

Party crashers!

We found out the Mom's Club Halloween party was the day we arrived in Clemson, so we made sure to stop by!  Our friends (the Rapps, oddly enough) threw a great party with apple bobbing, games, a skeleton bone hunt,  and lots of our friends.  Savannah always loves the SUPER high tree swing, they all love the super cool pirate ship playset, and Gage loved...well...he loved playing in the mulch pile and pick up / wielding a big big stick.  He is...a boy!

Visiting Savannah's future husband - Ross

We spent the weekend in Clemson visiting friends and were sure to stop by the Hanahan's house for some fun. Savannah and Ross both say they are going to marry each other someday.  We had pizza and cookies, met Baby Charlie, dressed up as super heroes, and played until they wore each other out.

Carving pumpkins!

We put a little spooky Monster Mash music on Pandora and got to carving the other day - hoping our pumpkins would not rot in the 5 sunny & warm days left to Halloween.  Gage scribbled away to draw the face he wanted, Savannah was (of course) naked and making faces about how icky the seeks felt. We ended up with a spooky pumpkin and a kitty cat pumpkin. We went outside at dark to admire our work with glow sticks and Gage somehow managed to break the glowstick and get the liquid all over his face and in his eye. That meant a dash to read the instructions and find out if we would need a trip to the emergency room -- but turns out we just rinsed his eye out and kept a cool cloth on it for a few minutes and he was good to go. A little scary though...who knows what those thing are made of!!

Kitties growing up

Stash and Lola are so stinkin' cute...

Scary monsters

 

The kids watched Monsters Inc. for the first time a few days ago and they love it. But, Gage is still a little unsure of monsters. Whenever I ask him what a monster does, he growls, makes a monster face, and then it suddenly hits him that monsters are scary so he gets scared and runs in for a hug from mommy. 

Our new building...almost finished

Adam and his dad put up a new building for us because our garage was overflowing with cars, tools, kid toys, etc.. Other than a few finishing touches like some trim work - it's about done. Love having the extra space!

Moundville Festival

Just south of Tuscaloosa is an old indian settlement that thrived from 1000-1450 along the Black Warrior River. Because the kids have fall break, it was a perfect day to check out their annual festival. We climbed the chieftan's mound, made headbands, shell and bead jewelry, learned about Indian life, visited the museum, and bought a few trinkets. By the end of the day, Savannah said she felt like an Indian Princess with all of her jewelery -- she is showing off her first "real ring" - silver with a turquoise unicorn -- in the last picture along with her necklaces and bracelet, all of which cost $1 much to Mommy's surprise!  Gage chose to ride in the stroller because he had sore skinned knees so he fell asleep for almost the entire visit.

Alabama State Fair

Stopped by the state fair to check it out, ride some rides, and dodge all of the toothless carnies that run the game booths. Gage was happy to win a spiderman, but Savannah was sad to not win anything, so she got a special surprise at home that night ( a Mulan doll she's been wanting). Best part of the night was riding the tractor decked out as a train with tacky rickety trailers all lit up with Xmas lights that took us to the field we parked in.  Gage dug the jeeps and Savannah dug the roller coaster too.

brother and sister

Although there are days when I wonder if they love each other, there are other days when it is clear they do.

Elephant appreciation day at CHOM

Elephant appreciation day may not mean much in other places, but here in Alabama, it is celebrated! At the Children's Museum, Big Al (the Univ of AL mascot) appeared for pictures with the kids, and they had balloons,  cookies, and all kinds of fun. The best part was when Big Al surprised the kids by hanging out with the kids in the animal room - Savannah gave him big hugs, the kids launched themselves onto him, and he pretended to chomp the kids with a big stuffed alligator. 

a trip to the Alabama coast

We spent a few days at Gulf Shores, AL for an end of summer beach trip. Beautiful beaches, warm & humid weather (although Savannah was cold on the breezy warm mornings!), a little fishing, a trip to the Little Zoo That Could. Who knew Alabama had such beautiful white sandy beaches!?