Blackacre State Nature Preserve and Historic Homestead

Earlier this week, we met Tonya and Carlton out at Blackacre for a morning of farm fun. It's only about 15 minutes from our house, but I've never been out there before. I had heard of it, both back in my environmental education days and as I was looking at places to volunteer--I'm really glad we finally made it out there. Next time, we'll have to take some snacks to feed the farm animals. They were sweet, even without treats for them.

First stop, of course, was the old blue tractor:

The very sweet baby horse saying hi to Lewis

The more timid baby cow 

Checking out the waterfall

 This pond will come back into play...notice Lewis' clothes now vs. later in the visit. :)

 Up into the hay loft

Lewis was a bit scared of climbing back down the ladder, understandably! This old barn reminded me of when I was a kid, playing at my friend Ellie's grandparents' farm, in their hay barn. So many fun memories. :) 

 The goats were a little less willing to hang, since we offered no treats. :)

A plane!

 Best buds

I am cracking up at how dirty Carlton's pants are--he found every mud puddle. :)

'Fishing' in the pond

A few minutes after this, Lewis stood up on that rock, verrry slowly and dramatically lost his balance, and went head over feet into the pond. He was noooooot happy about it. Thankfully Tonya had brought a fresh change of his clothes (from falling in mud at their house the last time we were out there). So it worked out! He did have to put his water-logged boots back on, but he was okay with wet feet.

Playing with Lewis' toy tractors

From then on, we stayed off the rocks and just hung around the perimeter. :) And Carlton lost his pants at some point because of how wet they were. Oh, boys. :) 

 Back to the tractor

Lewis was yelling out, 'I need a trailer!' and 'I need somebody to get the gate!' That might have been what Carlton was doing in the picture above...maybe? Who knows. (He's barely there on the left, messing with the gate.)

Saying hi to another sweetie--she was a very big/tall girl and very sweet (and slobbery) :)

It was a great morning with perfect fall weather. We'll have to go back on a weekend, too, when they are open for tours (I think Sunday afternoons, only). Lew would be happy just going back to play on the tractor, I'm sure. :)

Anderson Family Weekend at Hickory Hill

For the second year, we met up with my mom's side of the family for a family weekend at Waycross/Hickory Hill last weekend. This year, plans were made before we telling people we were pregnant, so we pushed for 'as early' in October as possible. :) Thankfully we made it through the weekend without going into labor--I had my hospital bag and infant car seat with us, JUST in case. The weather was perfectly fall-like, and we had a really nice time:

Terrorizing Snuggling with Aunt Peggy's dog, Sara

Heading out for a hike with Gramma

Hitching a ride from Dad

:)

Heading back with everyone

We hadn't seen Adie/Ben/Gordon since July, so we made plans to see them while we were in their neck of the woods. I'm so glad we did--they welcomed baby #2 yesterday, two weeks early!

Bumping it up with Adie (at 37 weeks)

Baby boy, Westley Edmond, was born yesterday (yay!!).

I took this of my sweet boy because he is just too precious.

I've really been cherishing these past few weeks with him. :) Of course, when I'd left him, his head was up on the pillows.

He has stopped now, but for a few days after we got home, Lew kept asking when we were going back to the Retreat House. I guess he's looking forward to next year!

Out and About in August

This week has been one of those hot/humid weeks that makes me want to stay inside, but we did get out and about some over the past few weeks. Lewis went to space camp this week (last session of the summer), so I've been trying to get some projects done around the house with him gone. Next week is free, and then he starts back to school 3 days a week the week of Labor Day!

One rainy day a few weeks ago, he asked to go the bouncy house. I decided to go to open gym at All About Kids where he could play on the inflatables and have some time on the gymnastics equipment, too. It was really busy that day, so we didn't stay as long as usual--he sufficiently ran around the entire time we were there, though, and I remember he took a very good nap when we got home. :)

 All by himself on the beam

We've signed him up for gymnastics this fall through his school, which I'm hoping he will enjoy. We had hoped to do yoga again, but the teacher got a full-time job elsewhere. He certainly likes tumbling and jumping and balancing, so I think gymnastics will be right up his alley. Maybe we'll continue yoga at home since he really likes doing it.

We met Carlton and Tonya at the sprayground/playground last week for play and a picnic. The boys ventured down to the creek to see the fishies:

:)

And, finally, one day last week, Lewis and I headed to the zoo. Rather than do the whole loop and all of the hills, we managed to just stay at the top of the loop and still saw and did a-plenty. Of course, our first stop was to ride the train:

Toot-Toot!

 This is the first time he's attempted this particular part of the playground, and he handled himself really well. Careful movements and no falls.

 Checking out the giant ants on their ant hill

 Climbing around the Gorilla Forest 

I want that funnel!

 I can almost reach it! 

 So happy in the VW van :)

He'd probably be happy playing in that van the entire time without seeing any animals.

He was a big fan of the baby goat. :)

 Hello, up there!

 Last stop, the carousel!

It was a very uncrowded day at the zoo, which was very nice. JCPS started back last week, so I'm guessing most places we frequent will slow down now.

Playing Outside in the Unseasonably Gorgeous Weather and Carlton's 3rd Birthday Party

Just as I got all caught up on blogging, the rest of July happened! To be fair, we also got a new computer (because ours started revving up and sounding like it was going to explode), so I've been slow to warm up to the change of figuring out the new one. We've been busy with Lewis at camp, going out to play in this g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s weather, planning a big 60th birthday for my mom (last weekend), and visiting with my sister, niece, and nephew who are in from Boise. This morning, I had a volunteer event, so Lewis is off on a caving adventure with Grandma and Grandpa T. (that I can't wait to hear about). I'm finally sitting down to try to catch up (again).

Way back on July 15th, according to my camera, we went out to Carlton's house to play for the morning. We played with Carlton's new train table, on the swing set, and on ride-ons. Lewis took off on this tractor/trailer combo, but he couldn't keep up with Carlton who had a super nice (and fast!) tricycle. Through a combination of Mama helping push while he steered, we made it down the road and back.

 Wait up, buddy! I'm a-comin'!

 If you look closely, Tonya and Carlton are waaaay down the road.

Another morning, just Lew and I went to the park (Hounz Lane) for the playground and the creek. He spent most of the time walking along the banks of the creek and down under the bridge:

 Hello, down thar!

I was on the bridge above him. :) 

Whee! 

He did play at the playground some before it started raining. He and a little girl were chasing each other down the slide and back up around the stairs. I'm not sure if Lewis knew he was playing a game with her, but I sort of egged it on. I giggled at her every time she came down the slide, and she ran like she thought he was chasing her. :) She was adorable.

That weekend was Carlton's big 3rd birthday and party:

 Lewis ran upstairs and found the tractor and tiller from our previous playtime that week.

 Helping Carlton open his gift

Lewis wanted to go to Carlton's party for days before, simply so he could give him the gift and play with it, himself. :) He (Lew) had trouble understanding that the toy was for Carlton, so at one point, we had to take a break outside for him to calm down. He did and was happy going back to playing with the tractor.

That's a nice segue into the next set of pictures. Lewis didn't nap that day, and the party was right at his prime 'meltdown' time, so please enjoy:

:) I forget now what we were saying/doing/singing that set him off. I thought we were singing Happy Birthday, but then Tonya posted a video of that, sans Lew freaking out. I was laughing too hard to remember now.

Happy birthday to Carlton!

By the end of that and singing, it looked like Lewis was the one blowing out the candles (which he did help Carlton with). Carlton really likes to sing Happy Birthday, so I think that's why he's clapping (after the song ended).

We had a very nice time at the party, and Lewis slept very well that night. :)

Locust Grove (Cultural Pass #2)

Last week, we went to another stop on the Cultural Pass--Locust Grove. It's only about five minutes from our house, but we've never visited (except for a book sale a few years ago). It was built by the brother-in-law and sister of George Rogers Clark (William and Lucy Clark Croghan), and has a museum, main house, and lots of outbuildings.

They've created more kid-friendly tours for this summer to accommodate the kids using the Cultural Pass, but it was still a bit of a challenge to keep Lewis away from from roped-off areas and from touching and sitting on things he wasn't supposed to. The outbuildings/grounds were beautiful, though, and that was the best part of the visit (in my opinion). [And Emily, Juni would LOVE it, as it was a little reminiscent of Little House on the Prairie.] They were setting up for a wedding the day we were there, and it would be a gorgeous setting for that. 

We had a little time to burn before the tour began, so we went outside:

 'Oh, look, a house! Let's go there!'

 That would *not* be the tour we were allowed to go on, though Lewis got up to the porch before we caught up to them.

 One of the outbuildings

Some were pretty obvious in their purpose, while others were kind of a guessing game (like this one). Some signage might be helpful, or maybe there's a map that we didn't see. 

 There were slaves working at the house back in the day, and this was one of the family's living quarters.

On the other side of the same building was the kitchen.

I didn't get many pictures inside the house because flash photography wasn't allowed and because I was busy trying to keep my child from touching/breaking anything valuable. Before I knew flashes weren't allowed, here is Lewis in the boys' bedroom (I think there were four sons who shared this room):

  
And then, ahhh, outside where things can't be broken:

 Lewis in the herb garden (with the woodworking shop in the background)

 This is where Tonya said it was like Little House on the Prairie--the boys took off running down this neverending hill to the cold house and the creek (where they stored food).

 They kept leaning out this window, which dropped straight down into the creek below.

We climbed back up the other side of the valley to the stables, which were nothing but hay bales and a wooden cut-out of a cow (lame).  

Best attempt at trying to get the boys to pose on the back porch :)

:)

We wrapped up the morning with a picnic in the shade. It was a nice place to visit, though I think the house tour would be better when Lew's a little older. But, nothing was broken, and I think he got a little bit of knowledge and experience from it, so I'll consider it a mild success.