Autumn hike at Great Falls...

We had a great hike a few weeks back at Great Falls and it was our first chance using our new hiking back-pack for Harper. He loved it and it allowed us to take a more adventurous route since we weren't pushing the stroller. The views were spectacular with the leaves in full on Hokie orange & maroon. The dogs loved jumping over the rocks and tree stumps and Adam felt like he was hiking an obstacle course and loved every minute. Harper was so comfortable that he eventually fell asleep - guess the views weren't as impressive to him!

Bath time fun...

Harper just loves getting his baths and so it's hard not to want to snap a ton of photos of his smiley cute and sudsy face! 

Of course there's nothing better than a clean baby in PJ's - well maybe a clean baby and his big brother - all smiles! 

Happy Halloween!

We had a great time celebrating Halloween this year. We kicked the festivities off with a dinner party with neighbors on the Saturday before Halloween. We did a pot luck which was kind of a first for us but we loved how easy it made our prep work and I know our neighbors appreciated being able to contribute. I got a little crazy at the party store and scooped up some frightful decoration. We had a fire going on the deck and all the kids enjoyed dining al fresco and then it was off to the basement for a "scary" movie and games while the adults got their turn in front of the fire. A fun night and hopefully new tradition. 

Halloween was a Monday so we did our best to enjoy the evening knowing the kiddos would need to be up early the next day for school. Adam requested to be a ventriloquist dummy and Harper was an elephant (and a sick one at that - poor kiddo - we had a make-up photo session a week later when he was feeling - and looking! - better).  

We met up with several of the kiddos in the neighborhood for trick-or-treating and while the kids ran from house to house the moms enjoyed our "roadies" and good conversation. Meanwhile the dads stayed back handing out candy while sitting around a miniature bonfire enjoying some brews. 

After trick-or-treating the kids sorted and traded candy - probably the best part of the evening! Halloween is such a fun holiday and we'll look forward to seeing what fun and frights next year's brings. 

Pumpkins!

Adam had been begging for weeks to go to the pumpkin patch with the "scary bus," so we finally got around to it just in time to get a few more pumpkins before Halloween. 

It's always funny to me how much Adam wants to go to this particular patch as the highlight - the "scary bus" - has been something he's avoided the last three visits - ha! This year, with some encouragement and accompaniment from Andy, Adam finally braved it and went through - the looks on his face as he went through were classic (and apparently undocumented). Frankly the creepy clown bus driver caused me to tap out - no thank you! 

Harper was a bit tired when we went so we didn't quite get the fun smiley photos we had hoped for - but he did get to go down the slide a few times and let's just say he wasn't all that amused - I'll chalk that up to the tired factor as well. 

I was happy to snap our traditional photo of Adam and the wagon - next year Harper will have to help pull it - we'll be sure he naps first! :) 

PS - I did snap some pics of Harper with a mini-pumpkin when he was in a better mode - what a cutie pie!