Bates Nut Farm

Fall is my favorite season of the year. October is by far my favorite month. To me fall means cool weather, sunny skies, beautiful leaves, football games, crisp air, and the awesome smell of leaves and chimney smoke. In a weird way fall feels like new beginnings although most people think of it as the end of something (mostly summer and all that goes with it). Perhaps it is because fall is the start of a new school year and possibilities. New teachers, friends, and new clothes! I just love fall! Although it is not quite the same being in California ( there is no change in weather or leaves, no crisp air or chimney smoke), I still love fall and always get the same cozy feeling each October. To me it is a time to get out and celebrate.

Today Clinton and I took Aidan to Bates Nut farm where they had a HUGE pumpkin patch, arts and crafts, food, petting zoo, hay ride, live entertainment, etc....It was a hundred times better than the pumpkin patch I took Aidan to earlier this week. Here are the pics that tell the story...

This is when we first arrived. I was letting Aidan walk around and explore while clap clap ( da da) got our food.

HMMMM.... So much to see

Aidan and me. He was eyeing someones boon ( balloon) so....

The next stop was to buy Aidan his own boon.

It was a little on the cool side when we left our house, however it quickly warmed up so Aidan had to break out his overalls West Virginia style!

I love how he is holding his bibs in this picture. Ir cracks me up! We were listening to a country band and Aidan looovved it. He of course was dancing and getting lots of attention from everyone in the crowd.

Hey, I have a stick!

Taking a break from all the dancing and sitting on clap clap's lap having some agua enjoying the music.

Hangin' out with all the pumpkins

and the gourds....

Have you seen my muscles? I am going to pick this pumpkin up!

Aidan enjoyed sitting ON the pumpkins the most.

After picking out our pumpkin we were waiting in line for ice cream and this is what I saw. Where is Aidan? He has been replaced by a pumpkin face. Hilarious!!!














This is what I saw BEHIND the balloon. One exhausted little boy.

But wait maybe ice cream will pick me up.... first some of moms.

Then some of da da's......

Can you believe it? I looove ice cream!

On the ride home. One happy sleeping baby!

Fun at the Pumpkin patch

Tuesday I took Aidan to the pumpkin patch. The Santa Ana's are picking up and the HOT weather is back. The pumpkin patch was an actual working farm, so it was hot, dirty, and smelly. However, they did have lots of things there for kids-including a hay ride, train ride, "baby toys", animals- llamas, emus, horses, chickens, pigs, etc... (hence the stinky part), corn maze, jump house etc... Aidan had a good time just walking around but he usually does not do well in the heat, so we didnt stay that long. Afterwards, I hit their market and got some small pumpkins, some veggies, and some yummy apple butter. Later that night we went out for family night. I posted the pictures in the reverse order but oh well... I am to lazy to fix them so you will have to figure it out...
This self picture is actually a blooper. However, I was laughing because as we were getting in close for the picture Aidan leaned over and gave me a huge kiss on the cheek... He is just soooo sweet!

Aidan and clap clap. Yes Aidan now calls his dad clap clap because Clinton always sings a song to him and those are part of the words. Aidan looooves the song and gets really into it. Today I showed him a family picture and asked "Who do you see?" and he replied clap clap! so funny!

Aidan and mama getting ready to go to dinner. Here are the little pumpkins I bought. Somebody or SOMETHING has already snatched one of the pumpkins that was sitting on the ground.

Aidan and his pumpkins

Hot, sweaty, and dirty little boy having a good time.

See Nana how dirty my hands are? I looove playing in dirt and eating it!

Just a swingin'

They had this horse at the Pumpkin Patch. My grandfather had one at his grocery store forever only it was waaayyyy cooler. It only cost a dime to ride and it had a real leather seat. The thing was old as the hills but all of us grandkids had a great time riding it! It was like a right of passage and some of the only entertainment we had while we were visiting. I had to let Aidan ride it. He was a little unsure of it.

" I love the pumpkin patch!"

Recap of last week

It seems that I am only able to post updates once a week now. We are not really doing that much except living life! This past week I worked helping Clinton and the girls ( Tracy, Mary, and Janett) out. We always have a big company meeting on Wednesdays where our entire staff come to our house. Aidan and I went back to Seaworld this week and had a blast as usual. We also had multiple trips to the park.

This weekend was a busy one. We had a Frontier Trainings barbecue at our house for those students who were participating in Power Play. There were probably about 20 or so people here last night working, eating, swimming, saunaing ( is this a word), and hot tubbing ( my personal favorite after Aidan goes to bed).

I think Aidan is growing because he is spending a lot of time sleeping. He takes a 2 hour nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. He sometimes sleeps longer in the afternoon. Am I a lucky mama or what? I have a feeling the 2 naps will come to an end soon and he will just have 1 long nap in the afternoon. However, I have been waiting on this for awhile now and he continues to take 2 naps. Yeah! Usually after his morning nap I take him outside and he helps me water the flowers and plays outside. These are some of the pictures I took this morning. I just love little boys in overalls! I was saving these for our trip to Tennesse next month, but it is getting darn cold in San Diego and I needed to put long pants and a long sleeve shirt on him today.

Let me just put this truck in the bush.

I have 2 trucks! Aidan loves holding 2 of whatever and walk around and say "2 tings (things)"


For some reason I just love pictures of Aidan from the back.

Why I love California!!! This is a picture I took last week on Family Night. These were taken from our table at the restaurant where we were eating.

Weekend Fun

Clinton and I both worked from home a lot this weekend, but here are some random pictures. We did manage to get to the park a few times and I took Aidan to the zoo yesterday. We went to the Childrens Zoo part of the zoo for the first time and it was really great. I wish I would have discovered it earlier. When Aidan gets a little older and stops putting his hands in his mouth every 5 seconds I will let him go to the petting zoo portion of the Childrens Zoo. We also took the bus tour of the zoo for the first time yesterday. The trip was only 35 minutes and Aidan wanted down the entire time. I think I am going to be in trouble when we fly to Tennessee in November! He is definitely a boy who likes to be on the go constantly! This is how I found Clinton and Aidan yesterday. Clinton was in his "Major Challenge" costume and he was showing Aidan the guitar. Aidan LOOOVES the guitar and also our piano. Too cute.

Playing at the zoo

What a beautiful sunset! I love this picture!

Aidan goes down the "big boy" slide!

Annabelle chases a rabbit ( her favorite past time)

Aidan meets Elmo and more fun at Seaworld

We had a long company meeting on Wednesday and Aidan was with Danuza for most of the day so I decided to take him to Seaworld yesterday. It was so much fun! There was not many people there so Aidan got to have a little more freedom. I decided that I am going to start going to Seaworld as often as possible becuase it is a GREAT place for a 1 year old to burn off some energy! They had things there for little babies that I didnt even see the previous times because it was always so crowded. Aidan finally got up close and personal with his favorite character Elmo. He ran over to him as soon as he saw him even though there was already a little girl visiting with him. Luckily, Aidan only wanted to give HER a hug and her father was very understanding. Too Cute. Also, one of Aidans favorite things is water so he really enjoyed the jumping water this time. Last time he shyed away from it.

family night , growing, and it's here!

We went to Seaport Village last night for family night. The sun was just setting and it was absolutely beautiful. Aidan enjoyed walking around. It is becoming more difficult every day to keep him in the stroller. If I stop for a second, he will flip himself over and attempt to get out through the bottom. He then gets stuck and cries. He just has so much to see in life the stroller just inhibits that curiosity and exploration. Shopping is also becoming more and more difficult but he is always a good boy. I just give him more breaks where I let him get out and walk around to stretch his legs. Aidan is still walking on his toes. This affects his balance so he falls a lot but he is becoming surprisingly fast on his toes! We always have to keep a close eye on him. Hopefully, he will outgrow this soon and will become more stable on his feet.

Aidan has been growing like a weed lately. It feels like his reach has expanded by 3 inches in the past month. We keep having to push things further and further back on desks and table tops so he can't reach them. Also, I took him to buy a new pair of shoes last week and his foot has grown 2 sizes since July! 2 sizes! I couldn't believe it. Needless to say he is sporting 2 new pair of shoes. We had a Play to Win in Los Angeles last weekend and there was a woman there with a 2 year old that Aidan had a great time playing with ( which was interesting because the baby only spoke Russian but they talked to each other in their baby talk and understood each other perfectly). The 2 year old and Aidan were the same size standing next to each other! I think I am going to have a very tall boy on my hands!

When we got home from LA on Sunday, I had a surprise waiting for me. Aidan's passport! Yipppeeee!!!! Let the traveling begin!