Trip: Day 1 continued (Battlefield of Saratoga in NY)

After spending a fun morning at the pumpkin farm (see previous post), we drove and drove while the boys slept and finally came to the Battlefield of Saratoga that Michael wanted to see. We got there just in time, because they were closing the visitor center in 30 minutes and the tour road would be closing at sunset (only an hour later). It was so pretty! The colors were so vibrant as the sun set on them and in the very last picture you can see that the mountains actually looked PINK! This was one of the best stops on our trip...I wish we would have had more time to spend there. Even though we were rushed, we managed to set up the camera for a timed picture that turned out GREAT!

Mikie enjoyed playing in the crunchy leaves, but Zachary just stood still. He smiled when we made them fall on his head and then later he picked them up and put them on his own head.

Zachary loved picking up the leaves and bringing them to me. He'd stop, point, squeal, and then wait until I said, "go get it" before he'd bring it to me.

This isn't a great picture of him, but it shows his cute little sweater with pumpkins and a baby mouse that I found at the Strausburg Children store. I thought he would get a chance to wear it more around Fredericksburg, but since it was still in the 80's when we left, today was the first day he wore it.

We held him up to the tree to get a cute picture, but the leaves kept tickling him so he wouldn't ever look up.

They actually cooperated for this picture!

The cannon, house, and tree were all the same color. It was as if it was painted that way.

God's Beautiful Colors & Our Adorable Boys!

Mikie took this picture of Zachary and Mommy.

In this video, you'll notice that the car is moving and the boys are not in their car seats. Please don't call CPS on me...the road we were on was the battlefield tour road, it was a one way road, Michael was driving about 15 mph, we were one of the only ones left in the park because the gates were closing soon, the boys had been strapped down most of the afternoon, and I didn't want to strap them in for a 2 minute drive before having to get them out at the next tour stop.

This is the mountain that turned pink from the sunset shinning on the trees.

(For full effect, click picture to enlarge.)

Check back soon for the next post on day 2's adventures....

Trip: Day 1 (Scranton, PA)

We're back...earlier than expected due to the ever changing Navy. Just one day after arriving in Maine, we found out Michael's meeting was cancelled...we cut our trip short and headed home so Michael could jump on a plane and be down to Jacksonville, FL for a friend's retirement and we could trick-or-treat here in VA. We got to see and do so much in our short (but very long) trip up to Maine. The boys were wonderful little travelers and fairly good sleepers. Zachary only had one bad night and that was the very last day of our trip on the way home. My advice to anyone traveling long distance with small children....get a DVD player. That ingenious device allowed us to push on a little bit further each day without a lot of screaming or crying since my children aren't placated by food. Another idea, that I stole from a magazine, was to buy a postcard at each place we visited and write a brief overview of the experience on the back (I asked Mikie what his favorite parts were and then recorded what he said). Then get a hole punch and 2 binding rings and make it into a flip book.

When we left Virginia on Thursday, it was still 80 degrees. On the first day of our trip we made it all the way to Scranton, PA. In the morning, we found a local pumpkin patch and enjoyed our first day of fall (with the temperature barely reaching 50 degrees).

The goat food came in ice cream cones! The boys giggled and giggled at the silly goats eating their treat...cone and all.

Time to meander through the corn maze. This one was a smaller one cut out as Wilbur and the larger one (which we didn't enter) was Charlotte and her web.

Has anyone seen my boys? All I can find are the farm animals....

Mikie took this picture....
Have you ever heard of a pumpkin pillow bounce? It was fun for the kids,

but hurt my knees and lower back.

Besides this fun slide, there was a tunnel through square hay bales that Mikie actually navigated through several times. I was impressed that he even wanted to go at all since it was dark and parents wouldn't fit.

After eating hot dogs and watching the pig races, we took a hay ride back to our mini-van and headed north while the boys slept. The fall colors in the mountains were absolutely breathtaking.

The evening of day 1 continues in the next post (check back tomorrow....hopefully I'll get it done)

Sneeds Farm

Now we are 6 days into my crazy week (see previous blog posts):

Saturday- Harvest Festival & Sunday School Party
Sunday- Church and VA state fair

Monday- Gymnastics, Fantasy Playground, Our Anniversary

Tuesday-Bible Study & Zachary's 15 month Dr. appointment

Wednesday- MOMS club Halloween party & Awanas

Thursday-Sneeds Pumpkin Patch:

This was an absolutely wonderful day with my two boys! (except for the 80 degree weather...I thought this was October???) We met several MOPS moms and their children at the farm. We arrived 1/2 hour late...but just in time to catch the hay wagon ride. As soon as we got on, Zachary started pointing at the llamas and saying "Baa, Baa". I didn't correct him because #1 it was so cute and #2 what does a llama say anyway? Then he discovered that a sheep dog was following the wagon and proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes pointing and panting (his sign for dog) at it. When it would disappear on the other side of the wagon, he would wiggle in my arms until he saw it again and then start panting and pointing. Mikie enjoyed the ride as well, but was eager to get off and pick his pumpkin. At the end of the hay ride, we walked past the horses. I captured a video of our experience (again...it's sideways...one of these days I'll remember not to tip the camera):

Besides the llamas and horses, there were also a few calves at which Zachary would say "moo" and Mikie tried to feed as well.

Cow Kisses make me laugh!

Zachary's favorite animal was the dog and Mikie's favorite was the cat. He was so insistant that I take his picture with this mangy old cat. It was the friendliest thing and it had the squarest face I'd ever seen. And of course, what's a farm without chickens? You can see that Mikie was feeling adventurous and wanted to climb into the chicken coop. However, there were two very noisy roosters that I was a little afraid of so we kept our distance and just watched them "cock-a-doodle-doo."
In the barn, there were goats, lots of hay of course, and these really fun rope swings. Mikie wouldn't try it, but Zachary didn't want to get off.

In the pumpkin patch, Zachary tried to pick up the little pumpkins first (he probably thought they were balls that he could throw) and then noticed the bigger one next to. He obviously didn't inherit my poor decision making skills because he kept trying to pick up that one pumpkin and wasn't interested in looking at any others.
With the price of the hay ride, we were allowed to take 2 medium ordinary orange pumpkins. But, when my son saw that they had warty, bumpy, PINK pumpkins we just couldn't leave the farm without purchasing one of those for a whopping 10 bucks! It was worth it though...just look at how happy he is!
After all that fun, we ate our picnic lunch in the shade and then headed home. It was so nice to have a laid back afternoon without all the crowds of people and escape to the country. If only it would have been cooler so they could have worn their fall sweaters.

The next day....Friday....I left the kids with Michael for the evening and got a 1 & 1/2 hour massage....just so I could be ready for Saturday's trip to Front Royal's Leaf Festival (future post). As a result of being extremely exhausted from my busy week, I came down with a severe head cold and felt like I was walking in a fog on Saturday. The past 3 days we've been back to our normal routine and have been preparing for our long trip to Maine. We leave on Thursday 10/16 and don't return until 11/3. We'll be visiting Michael's parents in Easton, ME while Michael attends a Navy conference 5 hours away in Bangor, ME. They won't have Internet so I'll be out of the loop for the next 3 weeks. Have a great Halloween everyone!

MOMS club Halloween Party

In the middle of our very busy week, we had a Halloween party with the MOMS club. As craft coordinator, I was in charge of the activities which included: Ghost bowling, Pin nose on the pumpkin, Spider Web Toss. And two crafts: 5 Pumpkins on a gate thumbprints and Hand print Spiders.

Horton Hatches An Egg

I'm Lazy Mazey, Mikie is Horton, Zachary is the Elephant Bird that hatches from the egg.

Zachary didn't want to leave his 'head' on but it actually looks really cute like this with the bird wings.

I made: Witches Hats with 'puppy chow' surprise inside. Dairy and egg free for Zach.

Mini-carmel apple bites

Turkey and soy cheese filled crescent roll spiders.

Zachary loved playing pin the nose on the pumpkin.
Mikie didn't stop here. Just as soon as I took his picture he added numbers to his paper. He made it all the way to 15 before I told him to stop drawing all over his 5 little pumpkin craft. Of course, stopping at 15 was not sitting well with him so he took 2 more papers and filled them with numbers as well. When we got home I displayed Zachary's and 1 of Mikie's pumpkin papers. He was quick to ask, "Where are the other numbers? Can you hang them up too?" He is destined to be a mathematician.
I put this spider on Zach's head and thought he would pull it off and cry, but he loved it and wanted to keep doing it.