The Polar Express and I Turned 34

While we were waiting for Lenore's arrival, my parents came down to stay for if/when I went into labor. My mom mentioned taking Lewis to The Polar Express ride in French Lick around Christmastime, so we decided to go for it. I bought him the book (which came with an audiobook) and the movie, and he and Kevin went to the Science Center to see it on the big screen sometime either before or after Lenore was born. (It's all a blur!) :) We listened to it in the car just about every time we drove anywhere, so that we were up on the story, and Kevin read him the book most nights at bedtime. Lewis could recite the book to you if needed.

We drove up to French Lick on a Friday afternoon and met my parents at our hotel for the night. They were sold out of the train tickets, so the only way we could get tickets was to book a package at this hotel with an indoor water park, so it became a whole getaway thing, which was great. We unpacked and got ready to go for our 5:30pm departure:

 They encourage kiddos (and adults) to wear pajamas, like the kids in the book. :)

 Waiting at the train station

 Lenore was there, too! 

She slept the whole time, of course. Maybe next year she'll be awake for it. :)

The conductor came through and punched our tickets like they do in the movie. 

I think Lew thought that was pretty cool, seeing punches/confetti flying everywhere. :)

They did a really great job of reenacting the book and movie details. Lewis thought it was pretty great--it stops at the North Pole and heads back to the station, at which time Santa comes aboard the train and talks to each child. Lewis' face, seeing Santa walking down the aisle, was priceless. He wasn't much into talking to ol' Mr. C, but he happily took a bell from Santa's sleigh (which is from the story) as a souvenir, which was pretty cool.

The next day, we headed to the water park at the hotel where we were staying. Lewis was tall enough to ride the big water slides with an adult, so we took turns taking him down and going down ourselves. Despite feeling like I might crash and seriously injure myself (they were FAST), we had a blast. We all switched off holding Lenore and riding the slides and/or lazy river. It was a really great set-up, and we'd like to go back sometime. After lunch, we headed over to the French Lick Resort to see their Christmas decorations, which were beautiful.

The next day was my birthday--the big 3-4! It's kind of a blur--I know there was cake and ice cream. I might have gone for a pedicure, I honestly can't recall! [Update: Kevin reminded me that we went out to dinner and to see Wild.]

 Getting some help from Big Lew

There are a ton of pictures that I haven't posted--of Lewis and Kevin raking leaves, visits with family at Thanksgiving and Christmas, etc. I could do a whole posting of pictures of Lewis and Lenore snuggling--Kevin has so many on his phone! I'm working on getting the pictures off of my phone so that I can post about our trip to Boise--it's just taking a while.

Fall Festival at Gallrein Farm

Kevin and I were talking, and we think we have officially gotten our fill of fall festivals this year! Our last stop was a trip to Gallrein Farm on Saturday with my parents--you'd think that walking around for hours might kick start labor, but alas. 

Lewis and I had been out to this farm once last year with Tonya and Carlton, but it was during the week, without the full scope of activities up and running. I'm so glad we went back--it was a beautiful weather day, and just about everything they offered was right up Lew's alley.

First stop was a farm-themed bouncy house with a tractor inside--hello!

He spent most of the time in there running up one side of the tractor and leaping/bounding/sliding down the other.

Before we left that morning, I told him there was a John Deere tractor train that I remembered from our last visit, and his eyes lit up. I think it lived up to the hype:

Heading out, verrrry excited

He's the one, 6 barrels in from the left. That ride was a pretty empty one, obviously! He was pretty brave, going all by himself.

Returning back, with a 'that was awesome' face :)

Poke, poke, poke

He found that piece of straw and was pointing it around, like a wand, saying, 'Poke, poke, poke.'

After getting sufficiently straw-covered, we headed to the pony ride and petting zoo:

I think the donkeys were his favorite. :) Looks like he was ready to climb in the pen with them.

Next up were the pedal cars...Kevin was prepared to have to pedal Lewis around again, but Lew was totally able to do it himself:

Look out, here I come!

Onto the real tractor, pulling our hayride

We rode out to the pumpkin patch but just stayed on for the return trip (we have enough pumpkins already).

We still had some tickets left, so Lewis asked Gramma if she would ride the barrel train with him a second time:

She said he really seemed to think he was steering his barrel--he'd turn when the train turned and was taking it pretty seriously. :)

Our final stop was just a big play area of straw bales. Kids were throwing it everywhere, and it seemed like the 'thing' to do was to bury yourself in it. Lewis got right on that:

I am buried. Can you see me???

It cracked me up how he covered his eyes with his arm--I bet he felt like he was really all covered up, my sweet boy. :)

The best!

Lewis slipped/wiggled off the bale, straw was everywhere, etc. I love it/them.

We stopped on the way home at the new outlet mall in Simpsonville, and I was excited to find some big kid-sized footed pajamas for Lewis--last week, he was waking in the middle of the night, needing the covers put back on because he was cold. I didn't realize they made the sleepers after size 5T (which he has outgrown), so I'm glad we happened upon them in bigger sizes for our big boy.

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!