Walking in Beauty

Last Saturday we headed south to Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky. It's just over 2 hours from our house. My great-aunt (at whose home we have many of our family reunions) lives nearby, so we dropped by for lunch-- an amazing beef stew, colonial corn bread, and buttermilk coconut pie. My grandmother (my great-aunt's sister) came with us and stayed with her sister for a visit, while Eric, the kids, my sister-in-law Kristin, and I headed to the Bridge. Sidenote: We asked someone to take a picture of all of us, but it didn't turn out.

To say it was beautiful would be a bit of an understatement. The picture below is of the Bridge, just before you head up to the top of it on the backside.

The trip up to the top of the Bridge and back is about 1.5 miles. Cate walked about halfway up before she started asking to be carried and we put her the back carrier.
Finally, we got to the top and enjoyed some breathtaking views.
We stayed up there for about 15 minutes, mostly taking pictures, and then headed down. I passed off Brennan in his back carrier to Eric; Cate walked the whole way down. After picking up my grandmother, we headed back home-- just in time for a light dinner, baths, and bed.
It was such a fun fall day trip! I wish I could say that the rest of our weekend and beginning of this week were as peaceful and beautiful as Saturday.

Unfortunately, our sweet boy threw up his dinner at the end of our block party on Sunday. He seemed fine, but 24 hours later, threw up again. He's been getting sick off and on all week. He seemed better today, but threw up after we tried to give him some fruit. Thankfully, he manages to keep breast milk and rice cereal down. The pediatrician has pretty much said that needs to be his diet until he goes more than 24 hours without vomiting. Then we can slowly start re-introducing baby food. I just want my happy guy back. He turned 10 months old on Sunday!
Cate seems to have avoided this little virus, praise God. She was excited to wear her Halloween costume to dance class on Monday night. She makes one cute Abby Cadabby.
Tomorrow night we have a Mommy/Daughter date at Disney-on-Ice (I couldn't resist the CincySavers 2 tickets for $12 total--$6/each-- deal). Here's to hoping little man feels better by the weekend so we can continue to enjoy this beautiful fall season.

~Melody :-)

Fall Break

I've been noticing a theme with my posts of late-- fall. I think it's because we're so enjoying this season. There have been lots of pumpkin spiced lattes, caramel apples, fleece jackets, and boots around these parts. Last week I had a fall break (Friday off). However, my break got an early start when I was out of school Wednesday and Thursday with a bad case of strep. Once the antibiotics kicked in though, we were able to head to Hudson to visit my parents on Thursday afternoon, as planned.

We spent the weekend relaxing with my parents, brother, and sister. My mom and I went shopping. I don't think we've really shopped like that (both of trying on clothes for ourselves) since I was in college. It was wonderful. And I came home with three cute dresses-- two winter-ish ones and one for spring (I couldn't pass it up, it was $9.97). And of course some clothes for the kids too. When we visited last year around this time, we took Cate to a local farmer's market to get a pumpkin. Brennan was still very much a pumpkin growing inside of me. This year, we went again for some fall fun. This was the only time I really took pictures while we were in Hudson. Here are a few of my favorites:











I'm back in the swing of things at work and feeling better. My next break isn't until Thanksgiving. We've got a lot going on between now and then, so I'm sure the weeks will fly by. I'm savoring the fall because I know snow and cold are just around the corner.

~Melody :-)

Farm Fun

Over the weekend, we got together with some good friends of ours who just moved back from Nashville (they're originally from this area) in the spring. We met up at Young's Jersey Dairy Farm for some fall fun, despite the fact that it ended up being 80 degrees out-- a jump from the weekend before when it barely hit 70.
We spent quite a bit of time feeding the goats. Cate loves feeding animals-- at the zoo, at home with our own pets, anywhere she gets the chance. I swear this girl is going to grow up to be a vet or zoologist or something. She loves animals.
The goats just made my little guy smile. Which makes me smile too.
One goat tried to eat Anna's shirt. She got away.
After eating our picnic lunch, Cate and I launched a pumpkin. This mama, with the help of her sweet girl, totally got it in the basket and one a free homemade ice cream (I chose cow-paddy ice cream-- double dark chocolate with Oreos and toffee).
Next up was a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch.
We finally found the perfect pumpkin to bring home.
We stopped by Jimmy, Jenny, and Anna's new place on the way home for a diaper change and down time. As soon as we arrived home, we repacked the diaper bag, fed Brennan, and headed out for another farm, east of the city. Some friend's of Eric's parents own the farm and have a big Halloween party every year. Cate went with just her grandparents last year. This year, we joined in. She checked out the horse with Emmy (my sister-in-law's boyfriend's daughter).
And she had to check out the chickens too.
After the sunset, we piled on for a hayride.
This one was a non-scary one. The kids all yelled "Boo" to the monsters to scare them away. At the end, we heard a Halloween story about how the Jack-o-Lantern came to be.
It was a busy day, but so much fun! Eric's parents kept Cate overnight so that Eric and I (along with little man) could come home and just crash.

Our temperatures have dropped around these parts again. It's wreaking havoc on my sinuses. I wish the fall weather would just stay steady for a few weeks instead of these drastic weeks of 80 degrees one day, 65 degrees the next. Ah...such is life in the Midwest though.

~Melody :-)

Taste of Fall

Last week and weekend, we had temperatures in the low 60's/high 50's (and maybe even a little cooler at times). Saturday arrived and appeared to look gray and dismal. However, no rain was actually in the forecast. So we headed to the zoo for the Zoo Grass (bluegrass) Festival.
We did have to bundle up a bit. The dreary looking skies kept the crowd away though.
We walked right onto my sweet girl's favorite thing-- the train. When the weather is nice that train line can get long (and try the patience of Mommy's and little girls alike).
Someone was pretty excited to sit on the bench by himself (with Daddy's arms nearby).
Cate got to pet a miniature cow.
We took in the bluegrass bands.
We watched a lumberjack show.
And to really make it seem fall-like, I enjoyed a caramel apple before we headed out. Yum!

This week we are back to temperatures in the high 70's, getting up to 80 some days. Good thing I left some summer clothes out for the kids. Our Halloween decorations are out and this weekend we're heading to a farm with some friends and then to a hayride/fall party with Eric's parents.

In recent milestones, Brennan has learned to get himself back to sitting (something he did last Tuesday, 9/27 for the first time) when he's been on his back or tummy. We're pretty sure crawling will be coming soon. He gets up on all fours, but then doesn't really move.

I'll leave you with a picture of my little Daniel Boone. Eric's parents brought Brennan this coonskin hat back from a recent trip to the Smokies. ~Melody :-)

The Roof is in the Trunk

My dad recently got a sweet, new-to-him, BMW convertible. The thing is, my brother is a BMW specialist. Like, as in part of his job is to read BMW forums and decide what the latest/hottest add-ons are for that brand of cars and then decide if his company should carry them. And on the side, he works for a friend. They find older BMW's (10-15 years old usually), give them complete overhauls, and resell them. Which is how my dad ended up with this awesome convertible. Despite it's age, the leather interior is in perfect condition. It has less than 100,000 miles on it. And my brother and his friend pretty much replaced the entire undercarriage along with belts and the A/C. The rain stopped long enough for Cate to try it out with Poppy the other day when he came over. She loved that the "roof was in the trunk." My husband just simply loved it. He's decided that when our beloved 10 year old Neon dies, we should get something like this. I told him we'd look a little funny driving around a sporty convertible with two carseats in the back. And we live in the Midwest, which means finicky weather not always conducive to convertible driving.
But I have to admit-- it was pretty fun to cruise around in. The jury is still out on whether or not our next car may have a roof that goes in the trunk. Hopefully the Neon will give us awhile to decide (because, hey, the Neon costs us $17 a month to drive + the cost of the gas, which isn't such a bad thing right now).

~Melody :-)