Our Fall 2014 Ohio Adventure

Dear Em,
We had such a nice visit in Ohio with some of our very favorite people last week. This visit was quite different from our visit a few months ago. Last time we packed in more adventures than I would have thought possible with three kids under the age of five (one of you still a newborn). We had a lot of plans for this trip too, but one of my favorite things about spending time with Aunt Jayme is we take each day as it comes.

After a crazy night of travel, we all felt a little exhausted. There were a number of adventures we could have gone on, but I honestly got stressed out just thinking about packing you kids in the car. Fitting in naps was my first priority of the day. We very quickly downgraded our plans & decided to mostly stay close to home. I'm so glad we did, because we got to share such precious moments together.

Like when Jayme made a giant bed in the living room, & you & T watched movies together.

You & T worked together to make tower & farm & race track magnatile creations.

We went for a walk/drive.

You, T, & Jayme baked.

While D & I took selfies.

There were dance parties & fishy faces.

There were photo shoots.

There were bedtime books & snuggles.

You & T escaped upstairs together to play hide & seek & read books together.

And I got to enjoy this little man's baby smell & adorable smiles.

You kids truly tore the house apart, like three tiny natural disasters.

But we didn't mind, because, except for the occasional squabble (it's so hard to share), you were so happy to play together.

Don't get me wrong. There were tears & tantrums & fights over toys too, but I think it was about as good as it gets with three small children. I got to spend time with my best friends & my three favorite kids in the whole wide world. Plus, I actually got to take two cozy naps. That's pretty close to perfection for me.

On our last day in Ohio, we were determined to get in at least one adventure outside the house (although, Jayme & I really longed for another day in the Relaxation Room). We loaded you kids in the car & headed to Blooms & Berries Farm Market for some pumpkin patch fun. They actually had a Spookley themed pumpkin patch, & you couldn't wait to see Spookley. I absolutely fell in love with this pumpkin patch. There were so many family friendly things to do.

We went on a hayride.

You kids ran through large pumpkin patches.

There were slides & tunnels to play on.

There were haystacks to climb on & tons of fun photo opportunities.

There were cow tractor rides.

You & T loved the sandbox full of corn.

While sunflower season is over in New England, I was psyched to see there was an amazing sunflower maze to go through...complete with the Spookley story book.

UNFORTUNATELY, the Spookley maze wasn't quite enough for you. You were actually expecting to see Spookley...& maybe have a sing along with his farm friends. After searching every pumpkin patch & being unsuccessful in finding a real life Spookley, you had a little bit of a meltdown. I'm sure sleep deprivation was playing into it (you had been going to bed late each night, & still waking up at 6am each morning). Still, I couldn't believe that you were so miserable while we were at such a fun place.

The majority of our pumpkin patch adventure looked like this:

In fact, we may have had to bribe you with tictacs to get many of the smiles seen in the above photos. Yup, the six month old seemed to enjoy the pumpkin patch more than you. Ha! It came as no surprise that you fell asleep during the car ride to the airport later that afternoon.

That's the beauty of going anywhere with children. You never know what type of adventure you're going to get. That's why I'm so glad we've been able to share so many adventures with Jayme, who understands that sometimes the best adventures are the kind you have at home...where there is a pitcher of sangria waiting in the refrigerator.

I love you so,

Mommy