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! 

Weekend Adventures with Kevin and Lewis

Most weekends in September, Lewis and Kevin have gone on at least one special father-son outing, leaving me at home to work on my to-do-before-baby list. They've been to the zoo quite a few times, and today they went to the Science Center. Usually when you ask Lewis what he wants to do, his answers are, 'Is the zoo open?' or 'Is the bouncy house open?' :) A simple man.

Meanwhile, I've been working on getting the baby's room and stuff (e.g. clothing) together, small home improvement projects, painting the master bath (only 18+ months after buying the paint), etc. Important, nesting-type things because, heaven forbid, the baby would come into this world with a splotchy bathroom wall. :)

 Wait, I'm wearing a blue shirt...

 ...and you're wearing a blue shirt!

We are twins! :)

(heading to the zoo)

 Jaguar

Lewis has apparently warmed up to the idea. We were both so spooked one time by his roar, so we tend to just cruise by without slowing down to see him.

 One tired Lew on the carousel

Different day, different trip to the zoo:

 On the train

 Found the baby goat (again)

Different trip/different weekend...speaking of babies, this trip was the debut weekend for the baby boy hippo who was born last month:

 He is down in the water (in the shadow), to the right of his mama's hip. It's hard to see him, but you can kind of maybe see the size difference between mama and baby. I think he was 18 lbs. at birth, and I'm not sure what he's up to now.

 Here, he has moved back into the sun, while his mama is still in the shadow.

 I'm not sure where they are sitting here, but they sure are cute! :)

You're turning violet, Violet!

The big Halloween party is at the zoo all of October, so they were able to see some of the decorations (without having to deal with the crowds at the actual Halloween party).

Kevin says he plans to take Lewis and the new baby to the zoo, solo, sometime, so I'm curious to see how that goes! Not at first, of course--we'll have to see what kind of weather we have this winter.

Here's a picture from the Science Center this morning. I had plans with Kate for breakfast, so the guys went to play and to see a 3D movie about dinosaurs.

Lewis + popcorn = love

Apple Festival at Boyd Orchard

Over the perfect-weather weekend, we went to our first event of the fall--an apple festival! I'd read about an orchard just south of Frankfort (in Versailles) that has festivals every weekend from now through Halloween, so we decided to check it out. We usually go up to Huber's (and we might, still), but this place has a train you can ride, which I knew Lewis would be pumped about:

Riding the big slide

That was pretty slow-going, even on a potato sack.

Toot toot!

Ready to leave the station

Riding the train is serious business. :)

 The biggest hit of the day--the bouncy train!

He ran through that thing countless times, and it totally wore him out. He'd lay at the end, just waiting to get stomped on by the next kid coming out of the exit. He's nuts! He would have been happy playing there all day.

Whee, a slightly faster slide

Entering the slide structure (on that mini climbing wall)

He'd get up in there and climb up and around and through the passages...after 5 minutes or so, he'd make his way down a slide and want to do it again.

Help me, Dad!

At every level, Kevin had to give Lewis a boost, and Lewis reminded him each and every time. Help me, Dad! Help me, Dad!

They made it!

 Petting Zoo

Lewis loved the baby goats...ooooh, look at the babies. Aren't they cuuute? He loves baby animals--hope that translates directly to baby humans. :) 

On the hayride

He lounged against me most of the ride. :)

 Cheeseballs, wouldn't look at the camera

 It is possible he was distracted by a certain tractor :)

Once he saw another boy up by the tractor, he decided he needed to ride up there, too.

 Winding down with a pony ride 

And time to go for one pooped out Lewis Pete

It was a lot of fun for us and for Lew--I'm such a sucker for all things apple and pumpkin and the like! I must say, however, I was disappointed in their apple cider donuts, so we might have to make a trip out to Huber's, yet, just so I can get one of theirs. We'll see how the next few weeks go. :)