Monday, October 21, 2013

Parker Fall Fest

This weekend was the perfect balance of relaxation and busy. I'm finally getting caught up on blogging, my house is mostly clean, the bills are paid, and I am surrounded by funny, smart, handsome boys everyday! What more could I ask for? I know that God will never give me more than I can handle. And this weekend was just such a nice reminder that GOD.IS.GOOD! We rested, we played, we spent time outside, we socialized, we worshiped. Perfection. (Well, I could have done without a bit of whining and some talking back. And a little less wild would be nice occasionally. But I'll take what I can get!)

On Saturday, the weather was gorgeous! So we started out the morning with coffee, cartoons, and a little ride around the circle. The boys are in desperate need of bike/scooter upgrades and tune ups- Christmas is coming. But they still found ways to roll. 
This picture depicts our typical Colorado fall. Beautiful trees, blue sky, sunshine, shorts & long sleeves, and snow on the grass. What a juxtaposition! 

We had some errands to run so we all loaded up into the car to head out. We had heard about a Fall Fest in Parker, but didn't really know anything about it, so we decided to drive by and check it out at the last minute. We were so glad we did! 

It was at a park/historic farm just a couple of minutes away from our house. And it was FREE! Which is always nice! 
The boys cheesin' in front of the old farm house. It was quite a picturesque day! 

Brooks wanted nothing to do with photos today. All he likes to do is wander. So I didn't force it. But I was glad these two would stop and smile for me. 

We took a tour of the old farm house and watched butter being made. We also got to sample it! The boys all loved it on crackers. 

We checked out these wild birds too...

For some reason, the boys both really like birds. I blame it on Oma & Opa's bird book. They are fascinated by them. I think they are creepy. 

But this ones actually pretty beautiful. Nolan preferred the black one. 

Then we checked out some pelts. 
Nolan's looking at some claws. He wanted to be sure that they were not alive before he would pet them. Ha! 

Heath feeling the Bear fur. 

Look at that blue sky! 

Of course they have their shades on...they always do. 

These two really are built in best buds. I pray that they always treasure this friendship. 


Brooks waved and said, "Haaaaa" to every animal he saw. That's his way of saying "hi". 

Heath and Nolan both got to milk a cow. 



Pretty cool. 

Then they played "Ring the Pumpkin". 

And everyone won a prize. 

We already had pumpkins at home, but we wanted to check out the pumpkin patch just for fun. 
Never too old to sit on a pumpkin! 

Brooks loved picking up the hay and tossing it around. 


This is an expression we see often. So cute with a hint of mischief! He really is something else! 

And here's what happened when I tried to get all 3 of them to pose together...

almost, but... not happening! 

Nolan asked me to take his picture by this tractor. John Deere's will always remind us of our Sloothaak friends. And we were wishing they were here with us! 

Brooks like tractors too. He clearly says, "tractor", which is fun to hear! 

Next we headed over to pet some animals...
bunnies,

chickens,

 and goats. 
I love how Heath just grabbed this guys horns! Ha! 

We also saw...
llamas, 

ponies, 

and calves! 

Our last stop was a little ropin' game...



The fest also had a hayride, but the line was super long, so decided to pass on that. They had food trucks too, but the boys were happy to snack on crackers and fresh butter, so we really lucked out and had such a fun, FREE, family day! Just what we needed! 

After the Fall Fest, we ran a couple of errands, napped, worked out, and had Oma over for dinner. Opa was out of town on a bike ride with friends. It was nice to have a little extra Oma time at our house! 
We had Happy Hour and a nice meal together. It was a great way to end a great day! 

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Heath's Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Heath had his first school field trip last week. Right when he found out he'd be going to the Pumpkin Patch, Heath asked me if his Daddy could go with him. Of course, I REALLY wanted to go with him, but I told Heath that he could ask his Daddy if he would be able to make it. I told him that if Daddy had to work that I would have to go with him. He was DETERMINED to convince his Daddy that he REALLY needed to go with him. And luckily for him, Mark was able to take the day off and spend the morning with him on his first field trip. It was pretty hard for this Mommy to let go and let Mark have this first fun experience with Heath. I really wanted to be there. But I knew what a special memory and day it would be for both of them. 

I told them both MANY times to have such a fun day and to take LOTS of pictures! Mark isn't the best at remembering to snap photos, so I had to tell Heath to remind his Daddy while they were there to take pictures of EVERYTHING! I didn't want to miss one detail. 

On the day of the trip, they met his classmates and teachers at Flat Acres Farm, right here in Parker, right at their usual Preschool start time. 
All the kids wore their orange school t-shirts so that they'd be easy to spot.

And Heath did SUCH a great job of having Daddy take his picture. Mark said Heath made him take a picture everywhere they went! Ha! 

He loves "blow ups"! 

Climbing the hay stacks! 
This shot is pretty cool! 

Heath wasn't so keen about taking off his shoes and getting into the corn bin, remember his weird foot thing? But Mark made him get in and he had fun covering his buddy Lincoln in the corn. 

He did some swingin'...

and raced a rubber ducky too. 

They hit up the corn maze. 

And took a hay ride. 

And of course this animal lovin' boy had to stop by the petting zoo. 
This turkey is pretty neat! 

And Heath got to hold a chick too, which he'd never done before. 


Love this silly picture of my silly guys! Mark is such a good Dad! 

Mark said Heath ran over to this little fall scene and climbed up and said, "take my picture here." I trained him well! And of course his silly hands are always folding across his chest. But doesn't he look so proud?! 

They also went through this scary snake maze...


The farm also had this fun bouncy race game...
I love the JOY on his face! 

I told Mark to try to get at least one picture of Heath without his big orange shirt on. 
Isn't this one adorable? Love my crazy middle! 

They had such a great day together. And I was so happy that Mark was able to spend time with Heath one on one. He THRIVES off of it. I'm just hoping that maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to go on the next field trip with him.