It's Fall Y'all!

(My sincere apologies for the title of this entry.  I just couldn't help myself.  This is something I saw on a sign once or twice in Texas and I can't seem to get it out of my mind!  And somehow, to me, Texas is still NOT southern.)

So now that the weather has finally cooled off we have been venturing out and visiting some of the pumpkin farms, apple farms and small towns in the area.  I'll pick up where I left off in my last post - after Anna Clare's field trip to see the happy cows at Happy Cow Creamery.



First stop, in late September, was Denver Downs Farm.  This large family farm near Clemson was a fantastically fun place for everyone to play!  It was really beautiful out there - and super fun too!  Denver Downs included a "giant pillow" for some really high bouncing, a super tall slide that we all enjoyed (Kate enjoyed this the most!), 12 feet tall bales of hay to run across, dancing, a hayride, and of course a pumpkin patch. The absolute highlight was the biggest corn maze anyone (or at least anyone that lives in this house) has ever seen!  If it weren't for the checkpoints found in the maze, the map and the loud music to follow back to the exit we may still be in there!  All in all it was a super fun day for everyone.  

Denver Downs!

Kate at the bottom of the slide.

The girls on top of the giant pillow!

Off they go into the maze.

Kate had Fall Break this past week.  Because I had been so sick with allergies we decided to skip our planned trip to Boone.  One of Kate's days off from school the girls and I joined our mom's group friends at Nivens Apple Farm.  Although the apples had been picked over by the time we got there the kids enjoyed the pumpkin patch, farm animals, play area and hayride.  It was another fun day for the girls!

Both girls in the tube.

Naturally Kate found flowers to pick!

Finally, after a long week of working in the yard for Brett (perhaps a separate post to follow with lots of pictures!) we decided to skip town today.  Greenville is super close to the North Carolina mountains - another reason we love it here!  Today we headed for Brevard.  It was such a pretty drive - not quite an hour and a half each way.  The drive itself was really nice, past several parks, small towns, hiking areas & way too many boiled peanut stands (why Brett likes those slimy things is beyond me!).  Once we got to Brevard we discover a sweet mountain town with shop and restaurant lined streets.  We walked, we shopped, we even found a great spot to eat where Max could sit with us on the patio and be pet by every passer by!  We all had a great day but Max was the superstar - everyone wanted to meet him and give him some love!  He was in heaven.

October has been and will continue to be a busy month.  We still have several Halloween events to go - school parties and character parades.  Hmmm what book character will Kate be at school?  Stay tuned to find out!  

September Recap

I'm very happy to say that the month of September was fairly quiet after the birthday celebration finally ended.  Mostly we spent the month settling into our new school routine.  I thought I'd do a brief recap of some of the highlights.  

Kate is learning to read!  I implemented a reward system where she earns a sticker for every word she reads and with 10 stickers she gets to get a prize from the prize bag!  (yay for the $1 bins at Target!)  She loves it and has really come a long, long way with her reading in a few short weeks.  She may just graduate from Kindergarten yet!

Reading Prize!

Reading prizes before being opened!

Part of settling into our new school routine has been figuring out the carpool situation.  Being a walker is really fantastic!  I've been taking Kate & Maggie in the mornings and Emily (Maggie's mom) has been bringing them home in the afternoon.  This is especially nice so that Anna Clare can take a nap after lunch and sleep as long as she likes.  And, occasionally, Kate gets a ride home with another neighbor on the golf cart!  To her, this is the BEST THING EVER!!  (i have a little spot in the garage all ready for our own golf cart...)

Brett got to visit Oakview with Kate recently for Donuts with Dads!  It was a super fun morning!  The biggest issue we have with visiting Oakview right now is Kate crying when we leave.  I hear this is normal and she'll eventually get used to us coming and going.  There is a lot of volunteering at Oakview so I've been in several times and she's cried every time I've left the school so far.  No fun for me or Brett!

Anna Clare had her 1st field trip in September.  We went to Happy Cow Creamery to learn all about how cows are raised and milk is produced - it was a fun day!  Anna Clare has really grown to love her preschool.  She paces the house waiting to go to school when she sees her backpack & shrieks when we turn in to the school parking lot!  We are lucky to have found such a great school right around the corner.  

I will post again soon and share some cute pictures from Denver Downs Farm we visited last weekend.  Fall fun for everyone!