Lottie goes bowling

2 Fridays ago, we had to go to the bowling alley to pick up Tony's new bowling ball. While there, we decide to let Lucas bowl. Now that Lottie's a bit bigger, she insisted on getting in on the action!

Finally feels like fall

Ahhhh... October... one of my favorite months of the year! I LOVE fall! The cooler weather, my birthday, lots of family holidays to celebrate...

We had our first taste of fall fun 2 weekends ago when we met up with friends at a local park's fall festival... Mommom came too, which made the day even more fun!!!

There were horses to see/pet...
Pop was there with the Chesapeake Woodturners, volunteering their time to make wooden tops for all the kids...
Tractor rides... Lucas probably went 4 times...
Carnival games...
Corn shooting guns...
Face painting...
A "Boo Barn"...
Llama petting...
After a few hours of walking around there with the rest of the crowd, we sure were beat! Thanks again Mommom for coming with us! And thanks Pop for making so many kids happy with a customized top to spin!!!
We've also been working in the yard quite a bit. Halloween has become our Christmas around here - we take the decorations seriously :)

One night after work, we made a quick trip to a local farm to get hay bales and corn husks... Snapped a few pics along the way...
And this is how the kids feel about their special Halloween cereal that we can only find at Target so far...
Hope you all are making it a festive fall in your neck of the woods!!!

Shenandoah River State Park

For our end-of-September vacation, we headed to Virginia to Shenandoah River State Park for the first time. We were going to go to Lake Anna with the boat like we usually do, but saw that the weather wasn't going to be too warm. And, we knew the nuclear reactor that heats Lake Anna's water is off... Thus swimming/boating wouldn't be ideal. So, we left the boat home and tried a new park that is only 2 hours from home.

We headed down on Wednesday night after work/school... Hit quite a bit of DC traffic, which made not having the boat even nicer :) Charlotte was a beast for most of the drive, and continued to be one during camp set-up... Not sure what was up with her? She even came home with a note from school that afternoon that she hasn't been following directions/listening. Grreeeaaattt... And to top things off, she stayed up til 3:30 in the morning sneaking off the kids' air mattress and onto ours, where she proceeded to kick, giggle, wiggle, and annoy the crap out of us.

Thursday morning we enjoyed the nice weather walking and biking the trails near our campsite.
Then, around lunchtime, we headed to a local canoe company. We parked our truck there and they carted us and our canoe 7 miles upriver.

We spent the next few hours leisurely paddling/drifting down the Shenandoah back towards our truck. At first I had my camera in my pocket... After going through a few baby class 1 rapids which left the canoe backwards, Tony yelling, and me in tears, I decided I didn't trust myself to keep the camera on my person. So, in the dry-well it went... About 3/4 of the way through the trip, we hit the one class 2 rapid that the canoe company warned us about... It was a waterfall about 2 feet high. Looks like nothing in this pic, but it sure was something in person :)
Tony got some fishing in too! He only caste maybe 25 times, but caught 10 fish... mostly large mouth bass, and a sunfish. It was super fun to watch! I saw about 8 huge carp swimming at the bottom of the river - that's my fish story!
Back at camp, everyone was ready for a snack. Party on people!
Just a view of our area as evening approached:
Friday morning we went for a quick round of disc golf... Didn't get a whole round in, as we were working with a time limit and it was a new course. Lottie lost her favorite pink "ghost" frisbee :(
When we got back to camp, guess who was waiting for us?!? MOMMOM & POP!!!!!!! They came down to hang out for the day with us! After chilling around camp for a bit, we headed out for a bikeride/hike. Lucas rode his bike, Daddy pulled Lottie in her beloved bike trailer, and Mommom, Pop, and I walked.
Eventually Lottie fell asleep on the 1.5 mile walk/ride to the visitor center. Lucas did an awesome job on his bike on the trails and even up hills - no whining!
Trying on fur...
Lots of nice views on the way down the mountain...
After the hike/ride, there was some hanging out...
Then we went to dinner at a Mexican place and Mommom & Pop left from there. Back at camp, there was more hanging out for the evening with some tired kiddos.
Sneaking goodies in the tent...
By Saturday morning, the weather had changed and it was downright chilly!
We decided to warm up by getting our blood moving a bit. Daddy (with a trailered Lottie) and Lucas got on the bikes and I donned the running gear and off we went. Instead of an uphill mountain trail, we tried out an open trail in a field that ran along the river. Not too long into the trip, Lucas whined that his legs were too tired to ride. So, we hid his bike behind a tree and he ran with me for a while...
Eventually, we ended up at the canoe place from a few days back. We hung out there, rested, and got a drink. Lucas rode in the trailer too on the way back, but we did stop periodically for some adventures!
Back at camp, the kids had fun fueling the fire...
After lunch, there was some more disc golf (in the rain!)...
They boys played 1/2 a round and did really well. Me and Charlotte hung out under trees as not to get wet! On the way back, we stopped at an overlook for some pics...
Back at camp before the torrential rain started and lasted til morning...
The rain finally stopped around dawn, and we were left with WET stuff to pack up and take home. Yucky! At home, we had to set the tent back up to dry out...
Overall a great trip... May have been our last camping of this season and we're glad we tried out a new place!!!