Birthday in Hannibal

For my birthday this year, we took a little family day trip to Hannibal, Mo - hometown of Mark Twain.  We got to ride on the "Mark Twain" riverboat and soak up the gorgeous fall scenery!

We played for a while at the park while waiting for the boat, and Eli and Owen thought they were in HEAVEN to get an up close view of a real train going by!

The views from the river were stunning... and the weather was perfect!  I can't say enough how much I LOVE THE FALL!

Owen cried most of the boat ride unfortunately... best we can figure is that he was just overtired.  Both boys were fighting over sitting on Dad's lap by the end. 

We had a really nice captain to saved the day by letting Eli and Owen have turns "steering" the boat once it was docked. 

Oh, the views in Hannibal!  It wound up being such a beautiful place!  We've been meaning to visit for a while, and I'm glad it ended up being this time of year.

What's even better than a playground?  A LEAF FIGHT at sunset!

Happy October!

We were the "Gone Batty" family for Halloween!  I re-used the batwing idea from last year, but added straps so the boys could actually get them on and off themselves... and I made the hats from plain beanies.  Brad's has wings, the boys' just have eyes, ears and fangs since their wings are on their bodies.  They had a lot of fun playing bats this year, and wore their costumes for hours! Not to mention at the ward Trunk or Treat, Eli's school party, and even Gymnastics!  Trick or treating in our neighborhood was SO FUN.  Owen ran to every single house until he just couldn't move anymore, and made Brad carry him home.  Then we got to hand out candy to the later trick or treaters.  The weather was so GORGEOUS this year too!  We haven't had a warm Halloween since we left AZ!

Earlier in the month, in fact the DAY we had our ultrasound and found out baby#3 is a GIRL, we headed down to Hartsburg, MO for the annual pumpkin festival.  We enjoyed climbing around the big pumpkins, on the haybales, and through the haymaze.  The boys' got their first taste of cotton candy, and the hi-light of their day - a horseback ride!

 Eli has been enjoying pre-school SO MUCH this year.  For their first field trip this month, they went to Peachtree Farms just outside of Columbia.  Moms and little brothers got to come too, so that was nice.  We took a hayride, and each kiddo got to pick their very own pumpkin from the patch.  We fed goats, held baby bunnies, heard donkeys go "HE HAW," saw giant catfish and more!

 

                           
And I couldn't help snapping a pic of Eli and his best buddy Lydia... awwww aren't they cute?  Lydia's mom and I are good friends, and have been doing playgroup together for over two years.  Now these two get to go to pre-school together.  One day when I was picking Eli up from school, he was sad that they had to part from eachother.  He told me in his sad voice, "Mom, I MISS Lydia.  I LOVE Lydia.  I love the way she talks.  I love the way she sounds.  And........ I love the way she runs!"  Now if that's not true love... =)  Owen really likes her too, and even though he is nearly as tall as she is, she likes to be a cute little "Mom" to him.

All in all it was a great month, with great weather!  Gotta love October!

Spring in Kentucky

Back in May we bought a 2005 Honda Odyssey (my new LOVE by the way) and took a short road trip to Kentucky to put it to the test. Our first stop was Louisville.  We arrived in the late afternoon and took a walk along the Ohio River.  The kids also had fun playing on a huge riverside playground - the equipment was built to mimic the shapes of the nearby bridges. 

We had dinner at a fun restaurant right on the riverbank.  There was live music, and a beautiful sunset to boot!  The water was really high (remember all the Midwest flooding last spring?) so the beach was just muddy... but the boys had fun throwing sticks and rocks into the water.  

 

The next day we spent the morning at Churchill Downs - home of the Kentucky Derby!  It wasn't a derby day, but there were some exciting races going on.  We all got a kick out of choosing our favorite horse and cheering it on.  We didn't place any bets, but I think we could have won some money just based on the boys choosing horses by the colors the jockeys were wearing =).

Photo op with "Churchill Charlie."  You can't see well in this picture, but I definitely had on my pearls and my wide brim hat for the occasion!  We got a nice rooftop view of the races after our meet and greet with him.  I felt bad for whomever was inside that horse, because it was HOT and HUMID that day!

When we couldn't stand the heat anymore, we packed up and drove to Lexington, KY.  We had a beautiful afternoon walk around the botanical gardens before crashing at our hotel. 

Eli and Owen re-enacting the horse races. 

 
The BEST sight of the day =).

The next morning we saw some of the scenic Lexington countryside and horse farms on our way to the Kentucky Horse Park.

 At the horse park, in addition to suffering heat stroke, we got an up close experience with some retired race horses, as well as a neat horse show with all sorts of different breeds.

Retired champion horse... don't remember his name though!

  The horse show was a lot of fun!

We finished the afternoon with a drive to the Shaker Village.  We didn't have enough time for a tour, but it was a beautiful spot!

Before our late night drive home, we stopped to see our friends the Prescotts.  We met them out here in Columbia our first year here.  They have since moved to Lexington, AND we have the great honor of renting their home here in Columbia =).  They have all girls, and our two boys had a blast jumping on the tramp and cooling down on the slip n' slide.  Here is a pic of Jenny and I.

 Overall, we really enjoyed Kentucky!  It's a beautiful state, in spite of the humidity =).  Everyone we met seemed to really embrace the idea of southern charm.  We hadn't had an interesting road trip in a while, so it was nice to hit the road again.  And I have to say, after all those years of touring the country in our tiny Saturn Ion, it was like HEAVEN to stretch out in the Odyssey! I'm not really a "van person," but I have definitely fallen for ours =).   

Girly

I picked up this little number yesterday .... 

Although I'm still a bit in denial, I think collecting girl stuff is going to be fun!  Eli and Owen are both super excited to have a baby sister, and Mom and Dad are thrilled to get to experience having a daughter!