It's Pumpkin Time

Ella Ann didn't have school on Friday so it was the perfect extended weekend to leave on Thursday (picked up Ella Ann a little early from school) and head to my parent's house. When I was pregnant with Rane we took Ella Ann to a fantastic pumpkin patch while we were visiting them in October and even though it was 2 years ago, she still talks about how much fun she had. I had to make the trek up to Kentucky during October just to take her there and take Rane for the first time. He loves pumpkins, I guess because they are everywhere now and it's something he is not used to seeing except for in books, so I knew he would go nuts when he saw hundreds of them! Spencer was able to get Friday off so he went with us too! It was great to take him to Kentucky and it not be freezing cold, since he only gets to go there at Christmas!

We arrived around dinner time and ate supper outside on my parent's deck. It was perfect weather all weekend, except for it being crazy hot for October, so we spent most of the three days outside. Spencer took Ella Ann on Friday morning to visit his parents, which is about an hour away from my parent's house. That evening we went to our favorite Italian restaurant. My Dad, Spencer and I ordered the yellowfin tuna, which comes with two huge dollops of wasabi paste. If you are not familiar with wasabi, really it only takes a teeny tiny amount with each bite of your tuna to taste. If you put too much in your mouth, like more than the size of the top of an ink pen, it will shoot up your sinuses and make your head feel like it's going to explode. I was sitting across from my Dad and I caught him quickly putting the ENTIRE ball of wasabi in his mouth with a bite of tuna! In one second I said, "Dad!" It was too late. His eyes got as big as saucers and by then Spencer had caught on to what he had done so he told Dad to spit it out but Dad thought he could wash it down with a big gulp of water but we knew that wouldn't happen so we started telling him to SPIT IT OUT! By then, mind you, I am hysterically laughing as loud as I can get, which can be VERY loud, and that got Ella Ann, Rane, Spencer and Mom laughing so we had the entire restaurant staring at our table! It was such a scene and I loved every second of it! I thought Dad was going to die from the pain....eventually he started laughing too. Ohhh it is a memory I plan to never, ever forget! It was great! If you know my Dad at all you would know that this was so typical of him! He didn't believe me that wasabi was THAT painful!

Saturday morning we headed to the pumpkin patch. The high on Saturday was 87 degrees so we thought going around 10 a.m. when it opened would be a better idea, which it was but it was still pretty toasty for a fall day at a pumpkin patch! We had a great time and it was so fun to watch Rane go crazy over all the pumpkins and Ella Ann enjoy every minute of being there. There was a sweet little kitty running around and a Golden Retriever that both kids went bananas over so that was kind of the icing on the cake for them! We watched the kids do a little maze of hay bails, we fed the baby goats, went on a hayride and got dropped off to go into the field and pick our own pumpkins, roasted hot dogs (Mom did) and marshmallows and enjoyed just walking around the patch. It was such a fun time and I was thrilled that Spencer was there to do it all with us!

Saturday afternoon we busted out the plastic chairs and sat in my parent's driveway for a few hours and played with the kids. After that we had dinner again on the deck and Ella Ann got her usual scoop of ice cream with sprinkles with Grandpa. It was such a wonderful 3 days and we didn't want to come home. The kids were great in the car both ways. Why does this always happen ONLY when Spencer is in the car??? It's not like he lays down the law or anything, they are just angels!

Rane is always full of love and affection!

Dad bought a singing witch and skeleton for the kids and ohhhh did they love those things! They are now sitting in our house but they may have to be switched permanently to the off position...they are loud! Our Aunt Bee, who lives across the street, came over to visit us on Friday so Rane was showing her the decorations.

Spencer took the kids down the street to see the wild turkeys.

I don't know why I love this picture of the kids. It's something about Ella Ann being barefooted and running around outside, which we just don't do on the streets of Atlanta!

A father/son chat on the rocks!

Post-dinner ice cream ritual!

Rane loves playing with kitchen gadgets so he brought Grandpa a bowl so my Dad did the only natural thing he knew how to do, which is put it on his head!

Desperately wanting to take a spin on the rhino!

We were trying to feed the goats but they didn't make the picture!

Yeah, we were hot. Can't you tell by looking at the kids?!

Spencer was trying to get Ella Ann to hurry up and pick a pumpkin! Decisions, decisions!

Rane was on fire. He would lay on top of the pumpkins we picked just to cool off!

Where's Rane? Chasing after the cat who was running from him....maybe because the cat remembered that earlier that was the little boy who stepped on her tail!

Roasting marshmallows with Grandpa.