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. :)

Fall Fun at Huber's

On Sunday, we decided to brave the crowds and head out Huber's, SINCE we haven't yet had a baby and all. We figured, what the hey, right? I still had yet to get a (decent) apple cider donut or apple cider slushy this fall, so Kevin obliged and off we went. We went early, which was key, as it was filling up as we were leaving.

Lewis would have been fine just sitting on this red tractor all day:

:)

We did finally peel him away to go on a hayride to the pumpkin patch, which ended up being a wagon ride to the apple orchard. We realized as we were waiting in line that we already had 3 pumpkins at home, so we decided to jump on the apple ride, instead, that arrived first. Then, because we didn't know how many stops there would be (FYI, only 3!), we ended up not getting off to pick apples at all because we missed our chance. Oops! Lewis didn't care--he was happy to just ride along (he said it was his favorite part of the day):

We stopped in the market for a cider slush (1 of 2 for me during our trip because, why not?) and a rice krispie tractor for Lewis (that, unfortunately, was way better-looking than tasting...we ended up throwing it away after two very tiny bites were taken). But, hey, at least it was cute, right?!

We then headed over to the Family Fun Park:

The electric tractors were a big draw for Lewis, but he had some trouble keeping his foot on the pedal to make it go. It was more of a stop-and-go/stutter.

Thankfully Kevin was there to save the day:

:)

The Mountain Slide

Farmer Lew

All sorts of cool wooden structures at the playground

Inside a Pumpkin Hut

The Big Rocking Chair

This picture is a little misleading, as Lewis was really trying to squirrel his way away from Kevin. :)

My favorite part of the trip was watching him 'race' around the tricycle track. He had a grand ol' time, chasing and being passed by other kids. And his pedaling has improved so much, thanks to his 'ride-on time' in the gym at school:

I love his sweet little looks of determination. :)

Here is a short video that Kevin took with his phone:

The bamboo maze

The Grain Train was just a quick ride around a field, pulled by a tractor, but Lewis seemed to enjoy it. I mean, it was a tractor, pulling a train, so how could he not? :)

Tired Lewis = Sweet Snuggles (sometimes)

We were almost out of the fun park, but Lewis spotted and wanted to ride these pedal cars. He wasn't tall enough to ride alone, so Kevin took him for a spin:

It was such a fun morning, and I'm so glad we went. I feel like my fall is complete now. :) Ahem, that means you can come out now, baby! 

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!

The Dog Days

Lewis and I had no plans the Tuesday-Friday of the week between our Cincinnati weekend and Labor Day weekend, and that felt like a lot of time to fill for some reason. Part of the reason was the weather...the 10-day forecast had every day in the 90s with storm chances (which means nasty humidity). We've stayed pretty busy this summer, with camps and play dates to break up our weeks, but that week was pretty dead.

Anyway, I thought a trip to the zoo would be doable, with the focus being on hitting up the splash park--I chose the day where it was *only* going to be like 92 vs. 95 degrees, and we headed out. Wow, what a difference it makes once school has started--there was hardly anyone there! It might have been the fact that it was nasty hot/humid, too, and field trips haven't really started yet. Anyway, I was able to modify our usual route to make it more pregnant-lady-friendly, and we had a fun and not-too-miserable morning:

 Lewis spent some extended time under the misters (in the background)

 Watching the elephants do their exercises 

 Polar bear training

Qannik

She was born the month before Lewis (January 2011). 

 Ahhh, the splash park! It's been real!

I knew that it would be closed after Labor Day, so I'm glad we got one more visit in for the summer. I was a bit more involved with the water this time aka I was happily walking through the sprinklers, too, instead of trying to stay dry. :) I also went up and stood with Lewis to make sure he was waiting in line for the slides (a concept he's still working on)--he did pretty well with it that day. When he'd get to the front of the line, he'd ask the lifeguard, 'Is it my turn now?' They were so patient with him.

Our maiden voyage on the tram

 Part of my strategy for minimal mama-passing-out was to ride the tram from the splash park, up the hill to the top (near the exit). Contractions tend to happen when I'm walking up hills and/or pushing a stroller and/or trying to coax Lewis to walk up a hill, so the tram was a welcomed alternative. :) Lewis seemed to enjoy the ride--he sat very still, holding on the whole time. 

:)

 Finishing our trip with the carousel

We'd started out the morning on the train, of course. (As if Lewis would let a trip to the zoo go by without riding the train!)

Another day that week, we headed to the Science Center. Our membership had expired, but I decided to go ahead and renew it due to the hot weather situation. Lewis had asked to go there a few times that week, out of the blue--plus, it will be a good place to go over the winter when it's too cold to play outside (especially for a newborn): 

 Again, it was so empty!

I couldn't believe it--I thought it'd be busier with the hot weather. There were just a handful of other kids, which was a little disappointing for Lew. It was kind of nice to have the place mostly to ourselves, too, though.

 This quickly turned ugly

He was watching the water come out like a geyser, and he accidentally pointed it towards himself. The water went down the apron, soaking his shirt and shorts and shoes. :) He tried to dry off a little and was 'all done' with the water table after that. 

 Sensory stations

We spent quite a bit of time in this area--it was pretty peaceful, playing with different sand-type materials. Of course Lewis found a tractor and carried it around (see right hand, above). :)

So long, ambulance!

A few days after our visit, they were going to start a major renovation of this space. Demolition, I guess I should say--they're getting rid of KidZone entirely (plane, bus, ambulance, space ship, construction site, water table, etc.) and are expanding the Science in Play exhibit into that space. I like SIP, but I hope that they include some of the things that Lewis is into, too (e.g. vehicles). They are doing it in two parts, and I think it's supposed to be finished by next summer.

To end that week, Grandma and Grandpa T. called and asked if they could have Lewis on that Friday, so that kind of saved the week for me. I was running out of things to do to keep us cool! Today, Kevin has taken Lewis to the zoo, and I think (hope) that the weather is supposed to start to cool down some and be more fall-like. Hooray!