Fall Fun

This fall has been picture-perfect as far as weather goes, so we have been taking advantage of it.  Who would have thought that we'd still be wearing shorts at the end of October, but it sure made the fall festivities more fun to do in the warmth.

Jeremy and I used to go to a local corn maze every fall, but haven't been so loyal the past few years.  I really thought that this would be the year that Avery would get a lot of enjoyment out of the corn maze, but unfortunately it wasn't the hit that I had hoped for.  The trip started out great...

Avery was really excited to see exactly what a maze was and how it worked.  I had anticipated her loving the ability to control where we went and being able to just run around, and she did...for about the first 5 minutes!

We also found a bridge that went up over the corn field to connect two paths through the maze...I think that was Avery's favorite part of the entire trip.

After the bridge, the trip to the corn maze went downhill quickly.  The ability to run around freely lost its appeal, and Avery wanted to be carried, which wasn't exactly what Jeremy and I had in mind.  So, we had a short stay at the corn maze and instead went home to play in the backyard...a much bigger hit.  Maybe next year!

That evening, we had our first official "movie night" with popcorn and everything.  Avery got to choose her own movie, "Rio," and she watched the entire thing.  She has really developed quite the attention span considering her age.  It seems that she has the ability to really focus on most things in front of her for an extraordinary amount of time, this night it happened to be a movie.

Another amazing fall weekend led us to the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival.  We went last year as well, and had just as much fun this year as we did last year.  The woodworker's group was there again this year providing cars for the kids to make and take home...Avery loved it!

Driving her new car!

We took pictures next to the giant pumpkins...

climbed stacks of straw bales...

and most importantly, rode horses, which were new this year!  This was Avery's first time riding on a "big horse."  I thought she might be a little afraid, but she surprised us all.  She climbed right up there and was ready to go with no need for Jeremy and me to be around.

She's turning into quite the little rider.

Yet another fall weekend involving horses...the Homecoming Parade.  As you can tell by the attire, the weather wasn't quite as nice this weekend, but we had a great time anyway.  It was no surprise to us that Avery's favorite part was the policemen on horses (they even beat out the candy).

Jeremy provided a perfect breakfast consisting of cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate.

Yet another fantastic fall weekend led us to Peach Tree Farms for their "fall festival."  There were lots of goats to feed and pet,

baby chicks to look at

and sunflowers to run through.

This goat promptly ate all of the food in Avery's cup then proceeded to devour the cup as well.

This was the closest thing that we could come up with to a real horse at this particular location...a straw horse.  Avery didn't seem to mind that it wasn't real.

Avery also had her first experience with face-painting.  It went really well, and she loved looking at the balloon on her face for the rest of the day.