Oh the Places we will go...

So sorry for being out of the blogging loop lately. I had a work trip to Birmingham this week (only for a day), but that has thrown me off of my normal schedule. And we've been busy!

Ollie is in the pre-primary class at his school now which means he is a big boy. The class is with 3-5 year olds and he is the youngest this year. The neat thing is that he will have a turn being in the middle and then being the oldest. I'm more excited about the last 2, but he is learning a lot this year being with the older kiddos. So, a perk to being in the big boy class is that you get to go on FIELD TRIPS!! Isn't that exciting! So, our first field trip (you KNOW I was there) was on Wednesday and was to the Botanical Gardens to see the scarecrows.

Ollie got to pet a turtle:

And the whole class posed by the school's FIRST PLACE winning scarecrow entry (in the school division)- The Cat and the Hat: (Ollie is 3rd from the left there)They learned all about herbs in the herb garden and got to hang out with the guys: (What kind of mommy doesn't bring sunglasses or a hat?? ME and that kid's mom on the end...)And they each picked a leaf and made a class leaf collage. Our leader (and the Director of Education at the gardens) was none other than my former roommate and co-worker Shelly. It's been about a year since I've seen her, so that was a nice surprise! And here are some of Ollie's new friends, M and O. They are both 4, both new to our school and are so stinking cute. And I love their moms- we were all eating together. This picture is funny because M (in the middle) told both of them to come pose for it... and they DID! They were eating lunch and then it became picture time. I wish my child would listen to me like that!!

There were so many cute scarecrows out there, but this was my favorite! I think it was entitled: College- Friday morning.

So, Thursday was busy like normal, but then I HAD to devote 3 hours of my time to TV that night, so nothing else got done. Who can give up a season premier (better yet, two)?? Friday I went to B'ham for the day.

Saturday, we went with Connie and Irv to Lyon Farms in Tennessee. It only took us about 40 minutes to get there and Connie found this place because we thought Tate Farms- our usual fall farm destination- was closed. Apparently there was a typo in their opening date, but we were glad we went to this place! They had a beautiful little setting when you walked in for pictures. Too bad my kids don't care about such things. Ollie looks like he his thinking, "Are you kidding me? How many pictures could you possibly have of us??"

There was a great petting zoo with sheep, ducks, pigs, bunnies and goats. Henry liked hanging out with his Nana.Then it was off to the corn wagon. This is a fun place for the kids and I have taken some of my favorite pictures in these little places. Maybe it's something with the reflection of the corn- I don't know- but I always love these pictures!Then there is a walk through area to see/ pet big animals. There was a horse, a cow, a donkey (Ollie- "Shrek, mommy!") and chickens. But the neatest were the hogs because the farmer threw them whole pumpkins to eat while we were standing there. They went to town on them, too! Ollie said all day, "I saw a pig eat a pumpkin!". Then we went out to the pumpkin patch to pick a pumkin. There was many a family picture that we tried to take all day and sadly, this is probably the best. There were many other things to do there. We ate a great lunch, went down a huge fun slide, rode the cow train (pulled by a lawn mower), Henry swang for a while and the kids got their scarecrow pictures taken:

This was such a nice place. We went for Connie's birthday celebration (her birthday is on Tuesday), but we all had so much fun! I would highly recommend this place if you live around Huntsville. Tate Farms is nice, too, but this wasn't crowded at all, so it made for a nice, calm experience. Oh, and the weather was absolutely perfect- that helped.

Hope you've had a nice week. Glad the blog is up to date! Whew! Check! Off to get ready for youth tonight. Have a great Sunday afternoon. Hope you're napping!