Trip to Kentucky

We went to Kentucky Sept 30-Oct 2 to see Eric's family. It was a super quick trip (though it didn't feel quick in the car! haha). 

We woke up at 430 and left a little after 5 thinking the kids would sleep in the car. It worked for Levi, but not so much for Samuel. Whatever,

The drive was really pretty. We stopped soon after getting to WV for breakfast, then made it all the way to Louisville before stopping for lunch. That was kind of a mistake, because we were super duper hungry and tired and grouchy. 

Travel lesson #1: Always stay full. 

We tried to go to Churchill Downs, but had trouble parking, and we were still really really hungry, so we finally turned around the tried to find food but ended up at our hotel and checked in and got some frozen pizzas from the desk to warm up in our room microwave. We hung out with Eric's mom and sister in the hotel for awhile, then went to meet his dad and ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It had an old train car in the middle, which was really cool. 

Samuel was not a fan of sleeping in the hotel room with us that night. I've blocked most of it from my memory, but it took a good 2 hours to get him to go down.

Travel lesson #2: Get Samuel a separate room IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. 

At least he's cute though.

Saturday morning we went to eat at The Wild Egg. Samuel still talks about it. It was really good! The wait was long (both to sit and to get our food), but kids took it like champs. 

Jessica let Levi within a foot of her. Making progress. :-)

Samuel with what was left of his mountain of pancakes. 

We spent the afternoon at Chuchill Downs. It was really fun! We let Samuel pick a horse each time and we'd go see it, then watch the race. We won a big fat $8 too. :-) Which basically paid for our parking.

How pictures usually go.

Go figure, Samuel was super tired after all that not sleeping, so we drove into Indiana and let him snooze a bit.

That night we went and ate at Troll Pub Under the Bridge. It was fun, and there was live music going on, so Samuel and I danced around a bit. He spent the night in Carole and Jimmy's extra room that night since Jess had to go back home, and totally crashed. 

We left early Sunday morning. The ride home was okay, except for lunch. We exited near a mall in Charleston, WV, thinking they would have food all around the mall.But it was in a downtown area with no non-garage parking... long story short, we ended up tired and hungry again and having to stop at a Hardees in the ghetto of Charleston. Levi had a major blowout and the bathrooms were locked up...

Travel Lesson #3: Just plan where you are going to eat ahead of time. Don't think you can make it farther than you need to. IT'S ALWAYS BETTER TO BE FED.

Anyway,  it was fun. I'm glad we went. I'm not in a hurry to do it again anytime soon! Haha. 

October

Wow, I forgot how exciting October was until I started looking back through our pictures!

It was a weird October, for North Carolina anyway. Lots of 80+ degree days, the leaves still not changing, wearing shorts more than pants. Oh, and a hurricane, let's not forget the hurricane.

Here's some of the highlights

This one started going in the swing while at the park. He's way more chill about it than his brother was, in case you can't tell. (Samuel leaned forward and squealed every time we put him in at this age). 

He also did a lot of hanging around and being generally adorable. 

He started "talking" toward the end of the month - saying "Ba ba" and "ma ma." 

He also learned how to get in the crawling position. As of today (11/10), he's still not crawling, but I"m guessing that will change soon. Eek!

He also had some super duper fussy days. I don't know if it was all he was learning, or just the fact that I've been terrible about getting him on a nap schedule. Thankfully, he usually will smile through his tears and is still completely charming even when he's crying. And his humongous grin makes up for all the grouchiness. :-) 

Oh yeah, he has days where he is OBSESSED with sticking out his tongue. 

Also, days where he squeals (squeaks?) as loud as possible. His brother loves it. Me, not so much. 

My parents came to visit Oct. 10-15. We had a lot of fun playing putt putt golf, eating at Samuel's favorite restaurant, PBs, and our favorite restaurant, Fourth Street Filling Station. We also went back to Dan Nicholas Park and to Ikea, where Samuel got to play in the kids' area for the first time. 

This giraffe is the main reason Samuel wanted to go putt putting. 

OH, and they brought bubbles! 

These ducks followed us around everywhere!

On the train ride.

They also babysat one evening so Eric and I could go out to eat. We had this yummy fondue for dessert at Sixth and Vine. :-)

We had a lot of fun at Avery's 3rd birthday party! I have some really funny videos of Samuel and his buddies making up silly stories and riding bikes around. Blogger isn't too keen on letting me post them, so pictures will have to do. 

I got a little crafty. And I made this yummy cake that Eric forgot to take to work to share with his fellow fellows. So we had to enjoy it instead. 

We went to the fair! For about 45 minutes, after which Samuel said, "I am done with the fair now, mommy." 

Ok, then.

And Dewey's gave away free pumpkin spice cake.

Levi had his 6 months checkup. And everyone got shots.

It's sideways, but here's a pictures of his stats - basically it just says that he is huge. The nurse went to measure his height and wanted to re-measure because there was "no way he was that tall." But he was - off the charts tall. And almost as heavy with a big ol' head. 

Oh, and after his flu shot (which he totally whined through), Samuel got a huge smile on his face and said, "I was SO BRAVE!!!!!!!!" And talked about it the rest of the day. Haha. 

This is how I get through cooking dinner when this guy is being a fussy pants.

Oh yeah, I mentioned the hurricane. The last time there was a hurricane, it never actually rained here. This time, we weren't so lucky. It rained for 24 hours straight and was just windy and gross and put us all in a grumpy mood. And of course it happened while Eric was on call. 

A lot of this kind of stuff happened. And Samuel learned how to play Go Fish. 

He is obsessed with pushing Levi in the stroller now. Sometimes I let him - if he's not being too crazy.

We went to the pumpkin patch. 

Samuel basically spent his time climbing on everything. What's new?

This is pretty much Eric's favorite picture ever. Levi was unimpressed by the pumpkins. 

Samuel traded in his "chewing teddy" (it's as gross as it sounds) for this cool Hot Wheels toy. Then we went to Build a Bear and put him in a new bear so he could keep him forever without actually chewing on him. He originally named him Chewy, but changed his name to Bab once he saw the "B.A.B." for Build a Bear on his paw. He's been pretty apathetic toward him since we brought it home. At least we feel like nice parents though. 

I'm finally running again. Still kind of slow, but I did a fun run and then a 5K this month. I actually won 2nd in my age division, but it was pretty undeserved at almost 27 minutes. I just got lucky my group was small. 

I got to help make food for the Ronald McDonald House with RSA. I always enjoy doing that and meeting some of the residents. This time I met a little boy and his family whose house had burned down (and the boy had some severe burns too). It broke my heart, but also made me thankful for the opportunity to serve them, even if it's something as small as making a meal. 

Here's some silly Samuel stuff. 

Krispy Kreme post-shots. 

Teddy in a boot. He thought this was hilarious.

His adopted "reindeer" named Rockwall. This has been going on for 6+ months now. I'm impressed with his dedication.

Eric's grandparents came to town and we went to Old Salem. I got a total of 0 pictures of them with the boys, but Samuel really wanted to pose in this gate.

We went "hiking" one day at Shaffner Park with the Holsts and Carrs. 

Samuel just loves Ryan to pieces. 

7 months old!

And the outtakes....

Both  my babies at 7  months.

OUr neighbors had a tree taken down. It entertained us all afternoon!

Levi strolling at church with his friend John.

How I feel waiting in line at Chick Fil A when Samuel is asking me "WHY?" 85,000 times.

And last but not least, Halloween.

We went to Samuel's school's fall festival. Here they are in music time.

We also had a little potluck at our house. I didn't get any pictures, but we squeezed about 15 people in and had some chili and pumpkin treats and let the kids be crazy. 

Then KK was giving away free donuts again, so we had to hit that up. This is about the best picture I got of my sugar-crazed babe.

This is more accurate.

My little dino was a cutie though.

Levi and Samuel wearing the same 24-month outfit - Levi at 7 months, Samuel at 21. They do look a lot more alike here!

Eric got to go trick or treating with us!! 

This doesn't look that funny, but trust me, it was hilarious. The padding on Levi's outfit made it really hard for him to move around, so he just rolled around on his big fat belly. He didn't really get mad, just rolled back and forth. It made me laugh a lot.

Samuel racked up on candy, which we are still enjoying (though it's almost gone!) I've let him have a piece a day. I'm really really glad Halloween just comes once a year. 

Anyway, all in all, it was a nice little October! I'm excited to see what the holidays bring!!