On October 3rd, we went to National Night Out sponsored by Target at the Greenbelt Park. Dawson had a blast seeing the Smokies mascots, police officers, the police dog, and sitting on a police motorcycle.
Dawson, Carter, and I organized a Nature Scavenger hunt for the Moms Meetup group on October 5th. The kids each got to decorate a paper bag, and then search the park for items like pine cones, acorns, and different leaves. Of course, Dawson also loved playing on the playground and having a picnic lunch while we were there too. Carter was content to relax in his stroller or be held most of the time we were there.
John traveled to Augusta, Georgia for a week to work at a store there. Dawson, Carter, and I were tempted to go with him, but at that point we were needed here as the final details of the re-construction on the house were being wrapped up so we could move back in. John snuck in a golf game while there but otherwise stayed busy with work in Georgia.
The Foothills Fall Festival was in October, and we made a weekend of it! On the first day of it, Friday, Lolly and I took the boys. Dawson had a blast playing in the kids area with all of the inflatables, sand pile, and of course, ducks-it is in the park after all. :) Lolly wore Carter in the Moby for me so that I could do everything with Dawson! On Sunday afternoon we went back to the festival, this time with John, and our friends the Gibsons! This time more fun in the kids area-ball pit, inflatables, and sand pile! Oh, and they had big John Deere tractors parked along the streets downtown, and Dawson LOVED this!! Dawson loved having his friend Charlie with him to jump and play! After all the fun we were ready to eat, so we walked downtown to the Tomato Head for a yummy dinner.
On Friday, October 19, we got together with our meetup group at Maple Lane Farms. I remember going there on field trips all through elementary school, so it was fun to take the boys there. We went on a loooong hayride through all the fields and cow pastures and ended at the pumpkin patch. Since we had already purchased all our family pumpkins, Dawson just picked out one small one that he could carry. Dawson also had great fun checking out and commenting on all the tractors and farm equipment. After the hayride and pumpkin picking, we checked out a beautiful field of sunflowers...so pretty! Then headed over to the corn maze. We did the kiddie corn maze so that it didn't take us hours, and we went through a couple of times. They have the kid maze set up for the kids to count monkeys as they go through. Dawson had fun doing this. After the maze it was time for a picnic lunch. Dawson had fun on the farm and especially had fun with his friend Finn since we hadn't seen him in a while! Carter was such a champ the whole time. He rode in the Moby facing out, and LOVED watching all the kids. At the picnic he sat on my lap as I fed him his sweet potatoes and bananas.
We purchased a small fire bowl for the back patio, and in October we had A LOT of fun using it! We used it a few times, but had the most fun the first time when we invited Lolly and Pop over for steaks and veggies with a dessert of smores! Fun!
We finally made it to the Oak Ridge Children's Museum this month! I have been wanting to take Dawson there since we moved to Tennessee. It's not convenient, and it's just not something that has made it into our daily plans...BUT now that we've been I'm already trying to decide when we will go back. The meetup group had scheduled a meetup there, and so Dawson not only had fun at the museum, but had fun with the other kids he knew there. We spent the entire morning there and could have stayed longer, but it was getting close to naptime! Dawson's favorites were the two store kid size house with kitchen, living room and den downstairs, and bedrooms upstairs. He says the working doorbell was his very favorite part. There was also a water works exhibit where Dawson learned about locks...but mostly just played in the water with boats! :) Carter was (again) a great little brother and relaxed in the stroller or in my arms the whole time being entertained by watching Dawson run around and explore this HUGE museum!
On Sunday, October 28th, Lolly and I took the boys to Colonial Heights UMC church, the church were I grew up, in Knoxville. They were having a homecoming, and it was so great to see everyone and show off the boys! ;) So much had changed, but so much had stayed the same there too...it was a good feeling going back.
This October we have watched the leaves turn beautiful shades of red, yellow, orange, and gold and fall off. We have also enjoyed the view of all three mountain ridges from the back of our house and watching the colors on the mountains change as the leaves change and then even seeing SNOW on them on Halloween day! As much as I loved living in Alabama, Tennessee has a much more beautiful Fall! The leaves change so much more here and for so much longer. John and I both agree that we never paid much attention to the leaves or the mountains when we lived here growing up, but after being away for about 5 years, we appreciate what a beautiful time of year this is in East Tennessee! (Of course, I am not a fan of the cold weather coming, but it has still been a beautiful Fall). Dawson has LOVED playing in the leaves in our yard too!
Stay tuned for our Halloween post coming soon!
Dawson as a motorcycle officer at National
Night Out. He LOVED this!
Dawson checking out another police
vehicle.
Carter had fun at National Night Out too!
My handsome boys in their fall colors
at the Nature Scavenger Hunt.
Carter rode around like this-very
content to chew his fingers-during
the scavenger hunt.
Taking time to play with friends on the
playground after the scavenger hunt.
Dawson has mastered climbing up and over
this big dino at the park.
The bag Dawson decorated to put his findings
in from the Fall Scavenger Hunt.
My two handsome boys after
church one morning.
Love these little faces!
This was when we were still living at
Nana and Grandad's so Kipper had to
jump up on the couch to be in a picture.
We did some Halloween baking
in October. Dawson went sprinkle-
wild If you cannot tell! :)
He still loves to help me in the kitchen!
Lolly, Carter, and Dawson
as we are headed to the
Fall Festival.
Dawson about to enter Adventure Land (the
kids area at the Fall Festival).
Playing in the huge sand
pile at the festival.
Driving a Cozy Coupe
over the sand pile.
Dawson hurrying to see
a man on stilts riding a tricycle
at the Fall Festival.
TumbleBears Gym had an area set up for
kids to go through. Dawson had fun
in this area!
Dawson really wanted to go
through this GIANT inflatable
obstacle course, so I let him.
I think it was a little big
for him, but he loved it.
Here he is at the beginning.
Coming down the first slide!
At the big climbing wall
someone from below and
above had to help him up.
But what a big boy he was,
he went down the huge
slide on the other side and
loved it!
When we went back to the festival on Sunday
afternoon, we walked through downtown to see
all the tractors they had parked there.
Dawson was in heaven!
Carter was happy downtown
too! Look at that sweet face!
Dawson and Charlie had a ball in the balls! :)
I'm pretty sure they thought we couldn't
see them at this point! :)
Two sweet friends.
The John Deere pulling our hayride at
Maple Lane Farms.
Dawson and his friend, Finn, at the pumpkin
patch.
Me and my boys in the pumpkin patch.
I LOVE this picture!
We posed to have a friend take this
picture of us on the hayride, and it
appears that as she snapped the picture
Carter pulled Dawson's hair...check
out Dawson's face. I hate that he pulled
Dawson's hair, but I just think this picture
is funny! It must not have hurt bad because
I didn't even know until I saw the picture.
Oh, these brothers!
Maple Lane Farms.
(It was really hazy the day we went, and I found
out later that it was caused by a dust storm
that had blown our way all the way from Oklahoma...
kind of wild!) Despite the haze, it was still pretty!
Sunflower field.
so pretty!
Dawson
Dawson and Finn
Farmer Dawson at
Maple Lane.
Dawson proudly roasting the first
marshmallow.
And then enjoying the first
smore.
Dawson LOVED the children's museum.
Here he is with wood to build a log cabin.
Pretending to sleep in a little bed.
Dawson put on a puppet show for me, Carter,
and a few other people at the museum.
More of his puppet show!
Dawson and Carter in Water Works learning
about locks.
This house was so cool. I parked Carter
in his stroller in front just to show the size.
It was a perfect two story house just Dawson's
size to play in.
After visiting Colonial Heights UMC for
their homecoming, I snapped this picture
of my two boys. I love these two!
(Dawson insisted upon a detailed discussion before church
about who was going to wear which bow tie...these
were the Dawson-approved bowties for the boys.)
When we lived in Alabama we had two trees in
our yard that we planted in 2010, and needless to say
I think we had about 25 leaves to rake last year. (seriously).
This year....haha our yard is constantly full of leaves.
It's been a lot of fun for Dawson though.
Here are my two sweeties in the fall leaves.
There will be an additional post later of a few more October pictures. We (finally) decided to get iphones this month, and got rid of our old flip phones. The iphone has an great camera, so I took some pictures this month on it. I'm still getting used to the new technology (seriously, I feel so behind!) so I'm not sure how to share all the pictures above from our camera AND pictures from my phone in the same post. So look for another post later of just a few more fall pictures!
