With the Summer of Road Trips behind us, we decided to kick off the Fall....with one more road trip - Ha!
Actually, Brandon had a super busy work week, capped off with a 24+ hour shift last weekend, so the kids and I took a last-minute, super-short trip to Grandma and Grandpa's at the end of the week, just for a change of pace and a change of scenery, since we weren't going to see much of Brandon, anyway.
Actually, Brandon had a super busy work week, capped off with a 24+ hour shift last weekend, so the kids and I took a last-minute, super-short trip to Grandma and Grandpa's at the end of the week, just for a change of pace and a change of scenery, since we weren't going to see much of Brandon, anyway.
I picked the kids up from school on Thursday, and we hit the road. That seems to be our Thursday routine - go to school, get in the van and drive for a really long time. We got to Grandma and Grandpa's late, but the kids got settled quickly, thankfully. Grandma even offered to get up with the kids, so I got to sleep in! Nice change of pace :)
The kids actually slept well. Jonah was up early, but stayed in his room until 7, and Cora slept until almost 7:30. I think they are finally getting the hang of this traveling thing.
On Friday morning, we drove to a pumpkin patch outside of town with Grandma. This place had a ton of stuff to do. We started off in a little kiddie area that had plenty to do: there was a corn pool (which Jonah called "trick-or-treat corn"), pedal tractors to drive, hay bales to climb, a giant bull you could climb up inside with a slide coming out his rear end (??), and even an area to make real mud pies - which we steered clear of :)
After a while, we loaded up on the wagon ride to head out to the pumpkin patch.
It was a bumpy ride, which was fun at first, but then had the kids feeling a little nervous. We got off the wagon and tried out their pedal/go-kart things. They even had some with a kiddie jump seat in back. Jonah was a fan; he liked to go FAST! Cora liked the idea of it better than the actual ride. "No like it! No like it!"
There was also a corn maze. We let Jonah take the lead, and we managed to find 3 of 5 colored poles hidden throughout the maze. You were supposed to mark one finger with each color to complete the maze.
After all that excitement, we loaded back up on the wagon to head back towards the main buildings. (The actual pumpkin patch was out there, too, but the kids were getting pretty tired, so we skipped that part!). Jonah took a turn on the ponies (I was SHOCKED that he did this!), then we picked out some pre-picked pumpkins and headed home. Cora was zonked and slept the whole ride home....and an additional two hours back at Grandma's house. Even Jonah took a long nap. It was a full morning.
On Friday night, Uncle Rob, Aunt Whitney and Autumn came to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We got to see them a bit before bedtime. Cora is a fan of all things baby :)
We all made sure to get to bed on time on Friday, because we had to get up bright and early Saturday morning. We were headed to Boone with Grandma and Grandpa for "A Day Out with Thomas!"
The highlight of the day was taking an actual train ride with a life-sized Thomas the Tank Engine "pulling" the train. The ride itself was a little underwhelming, for the adults, at least. It started out slow, and never really picked up. But Jonah was pretty excited to see Thomas in real life. And this was his first time riding a train. As usual, when we boarded the train, he headed for the front, convinced that he should drive the train. He had to settle for a seat in the first car behind Thomas (which he was sure was either Annie or Clarabel).
They also had lots of other activities revolving around Thomas, including meeting Sir Topham Hatt, a bouncy house, a tent full of train tables to play with, and a magic show that was nearly a disaster (mental note: Jonah is terrified of magic :/ )
I'm not sure Grandpa thought the whole thing was worth getting up at 6:30 on a Saturday :) But I think the kids had a good time.
After lunch, we started our journey south, back to Kansas, and it was a pretty smooth ride home. We even got to have dinner at the hospital with Daddy before heading home for bed. Daddy had to stay at the hospital for the rest of the night and work - he and another resident delivered 13 babies in 24 hours!!
It was nice to have a break from our routine, and I felt refreshed after having some extra help for a few days. Brandon jumped right back into another month of in-patient service on Monday (pediatrics, this month). Back to normal life. And we should not be taking any more big trips for quite a while. We did a lot of fun things this summer, but it will be nice to be home. Thankfully, the weather has cooled off a bit, and we have been able to get outside a bit more.
On Friday morning, we drove to a pumpkin patch outside of town with Grandma. This place had a ton of stuff to do. We started off in a little kiddie area that had plenty to do: there was a corn pool (which Jonah called "trick-or-treat corn"), pedal tractors to drive, hay bales to climb, a giant bull you could climb up inside with a slide coming out his rear end (??), and even an area to make real mud pies - which we steered clear of :)
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| Corn angel |
 |
| Where's Waldo? (x2) |
 |
| Got up there all by himself! |
After a while, we loaded up on the wagon ride to head out to the pumpkin patch.
It was a bumpy ride, which was fun at first, but then had the kids feeling a little nervous. We got off the wagon and tried out their pedal/go-kart things. They even had some with a kiddie jump seat in back. Jonah was a fan; he liked to go FAST! Cora liked the idea of it better than the actual ride. "No like it! No like it!"
There was also a corn maze. We let Jonah take the lead, and we managed to find 3 of 5 colored poles hidden throughout the maze. You were supposed to mark one finger with each color to complete the maze.
 |
| Showing off their colored fingers - and nearing nap time, can you tell? |
After all that excitement, we loaded back up on the wagon to head back towards the main buildings. (The actual pumpkin patch was out there, too, but the kids were getting pretty tired, so we skipped that part!). Jonah took a turn on the ponies (I was SHOCKED that he did this!), then we picked out some pre-picked pumpkins and headed home. Cora was zonked and slept the whole ride home....and an additional two hours back at Grandma's house. Even Jonah took a long nap. It was a full morning.
On Friday night, Uncle Rob, Aunt Whitney and Autumn came to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We got to see them a bit before bedtime. Cora is a fan of all things baby :)
We all made sure to get to bed on time on Friday, because we had to get up bright and early Saturday morning. We were headed to Boone with Grandma and Grandpa for "A Day Out with Thomas!"
The highlight of the day was taking an actual train ride with a life-sized Thomas the Tank Engine "pulling" the train. The ride itself was a little underwhelming, for the adults, at least. It started out slow, and never really picked up. But Jonah was pretty excited to see Thomas in real life. And this was his first time riding a train. As usual, when we boarded the train, he headed for the front, convinced that he should drive the train. He had to settle for a seat in the first car behind Thomas (which he was sure was either Annie or Clarabel).
They also had lots of other activities revolving around Thomas, including meeting Sir Topham Hatt, a bouncy house, a tent full of train tables to play with, and a magic show that was nearly a disaster (mental note: Jonah is terrified of magic :/ )
I'm not sure Grandpa thought the whole thing was worth getting up at 6:30 on a Saturday :) But I think the kids had a good time.
After lunch, we started our journey south, back to Kansas, and it was a pretty smooth ride home. We even got to have dinner at the hospital with Daddy before heading home for bed. Daddy had to stay at the hospital for the rest of the night and work - he and another resident delivered 13 babies in 24 hours!!
It was nice to have a break from our routine, and I felt refreshed after having some extra help for a few days. Brandon jumped right back into another month of in-patient service on Monday (pediatrics, this month). Back to normal life. And we should not be taking any more big trips for quite a while. We did a lot of fun things this summer, but it will be nice to be home. Thankfully, the weather has cooled off a bit, and we have been able to get outside a bit more.
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