First Field Trip

I was lucky enough to be a chaperone for Piper and Fletch's first field trip earlier this week. All of the kindergarten classes at their school (so like 100 kindergartners) went to Burke Nursery. First though, we had to get there, which meant P&F's first time on a school bus.

I envisioned it being a little pumpkin patch like our beloved Nalls, but instead, it was a huge pumpkin playground, where the kids were given two hours to play wherever they wanted.

The kids had a blast, but OMG, it was a lot of work. I was in charge of Piper, Fletch, and then two of Piper's friends (Kylie and Ethan).

I have never been so grateful to have been a camp counselor and a mom to three little kids in my life. I had to pull out all my tricks from both experiences to keep track of these kids, who were running around in a sea of other orange shirts, along with kids from at least 5 other schools. I estimate there were at least 200 other kids there.

We all had a great time, although by the end, we were ready to go. Piper had to go to the bathroom and couldn't wait to get back to school. Fletch heard a balloon pop (which is one of his least favorite things) and freaked out. I was so glad when we got back on the bus and this happened within 5 minutes.

Being a chaperone on a class field trip was one of my "mom dreams"--you know, those things you imagine doing with your kids before you even have kids. I'm so happy that I was able to check that off my parenting bucket list.

Columbus Day Weekend 2015

On Columbus Day weekend, we did our traditional trip to get pumpkins, but we also jammed in a few other fall activities. It was a fun, busy time for all of us.

We started the weekend with a hike at Huntley Meadows. It was a beautiful morning, and we all loved being in the woods.

We're really lucky to live near such a cool place. After tiring ourselves out, we headed home for naps/quiet time. After resting, we got our second wind and went to Nalls for our pumpkins.

This last picture pretty clearly represents our life right now--someone paying attention, someone looking at the wrong thing, and someone throwing something.

It was such a funny moment that I made it into a gif.

Piper and Fletch insisted on carving the pumpkins on Monday. They drew the faces, and I carved. I don't have a picture, but between my "awesome" carving skills and their desire to have cyclops pumpkins, our jack-o-lanterns basically already look like a deer snacked them, which is probably why no deer have attacked them since we put them outside.

Anyway, we followed up that fall fun with a trip to Cox Farms on Sunday. It's a pricey place, but so.much.to.do. We had a great time, but were so busy that we didn't get a ton of pics. Enjoy these few and the cute barn animals.

That concluded our fall weekend of fun. The pumpkin/Columbus Day tradition lives on for another year.