Hill Ridge Farm

My friend Brooke (who I grew up with and now lives in Raleigh with us),  and I went to Hill Ridge Farm with the kids right before Halloween.  We had been trying to get together, but with our crazy schedules and Drew in school it had been a difficult task.  The kids all had a teacher's workday on this particular Friday and so off we went!  Everyone had a great time...even little Bella and Bridgie (Bridget).  It was nice to hang out with my friend and catch up...something we need to do more often!

The boys all bundled up

The slide was Drew's favorite...

It was really just a long corrugated tube that you slid down on a burlap sack...but lots of fun!

Even Miss Independent loved the slide as you can see...by the end she walked all the way up with her own burlap sack...not a baby anymore!

This is Brooke and her daughter Bridget who was born about 2 months after Bella

The kids loved playing in the dried corn...Bella was a bit hesitant at first, but then literally jumped right in!

Hopefully these 2 will be friends forever too!

This is Brooke's oldest daughter Grace, who was born about a month before Max

I do not even remember why she was so upset, but I thought it was cute

This is a hay maze and as you cen see, Bella has no fear!

On the hayride to the "pumpkin patch"

Bella saying "cheese"

..on the train

...Brooke, Gracie and Bridgie on the hay ride

in the pumpkin patch...Bella has found her pumpkin

Our sweet baby B

I mean really, who could resist this face??!  She turned 21 months this past week...how is she already almost 2?  She is truly a joy to be around.  By this age both of the boys were jumping out of their cribs, sitting in time out, and generally causing a ruckus.  Bella loves her crib, has never sat in time out and her worst fault is that she wants to sit in my lap when I am eating my dinner.  Julian and I talk about whether it is the fact she is the third child, a girl, or both..who knows, but we sure are enjoying our sweet little wonder!

Un-cle An-dy

Uncle Andy came to visit shortly after we got back from Disney.  He is growing a beard, as you can see, as he is getting ready for his next "adventure".  He played hockey with the boys...which they loved and Bella actually cuddled up with him right away.  We had a great New York style pizza for dinner and were able to chat and catch up.  The kids really do like to see him and I am glad he is able to come down and visit.  Bella has his name down and even when she sees him in pictures she can cxall him by name...I love it!

The Most Magical place on Earth (a month ago)

I left off as we were getting ready to go to Disney with the boys.  Somehow the past month has gotten away from me...maybe it was the school, the household chores, the three kids, the full time job...who knows??  We took off to Orlando at the end of September. Bella stayed with my parents.  We spent 4 lovely days and 5 nights in truly the most magical place on earth.  I expected to have fun because my kids were having fun.  What I did not expect was to have so much fun ourselves.  Julian and I had a blast.  It was fun to see the kids experience everything, but we enjoyed ourselves as well!  The boys were troopers (except at dinners...which we are never good at anyways)...we were in the parks until midnight on two of the days and I never once heard them whine about their legs being tired.  It was very nice to travel without a diaper bag and a stroller.  We have decided that we will go back in a few years when Bella is tall enough to go on the rides (for those of you who want to know...40-44 inches is a key number when you are talking about height requirements).  We stayed at a beautiful Disney resort call the Wilderness Lodge which looked like the most immense, gorgeous log structure you have ever seen.  We used the pool on the first day we were there, but really just used the room to crash in after our long days.  The boys had bunk beds and were thrilled to pieces about them.  Max was able to ride everything we were.  He did get on Space Mountain once and screamed "I am going to die" throughout the ride.  Drew loved Thunder Mountain and we went on it over and over agian.  There were barely any lines and we really were able to ride everything we wanted to without much trouble.  A Small World was closed, which was a little sad, because I remember riding that with my family when I was little...guess that just means we have to go back.  We went to the Halloween party on the last night that we were there and the parade and fireworks were awesome.  There was a headless horseman on a real horse that rode in front of the parade.  Drew was so worried about his head really was.  All the villians were out and I guess that is the only time of year that they all come out to "play".  The Toy Story ride in Hollywood Studios was a big hit too...it by far had the longest wait of any ride we did.  It was sad to come home and get back into the daily grind.  It was a wonderful escape and a great family vacation.  I am already ready to go back again...to bad the bill was around $3000.

What a super awesome, amazing, wonderful, fantastic, spectacular, magical time we had!