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From college and beyond, we’ve been visiting my friend Beth’s childhood home. Her mom, Lynne, is supa-wonderful, and always takes care of you like you’re one of the family.

When Beth heard of my search for the ultimate farm festival, she invited us up for a day on the Lynne’s farm. Lynne is an avid rider, so there are horses and pastures and all kinds of farm things we don’t have here.

The day was full of pony rides, fish feeding, and exploring. Lynne set up a big pumpkin hunt where she hid pumpkins in six different locations for the kids (Neko, Shep and Beth’s neice Jamie and nephew Carter) to find. Although Neko was kind of in a cranky mood, it was a great idea, and she’s still talking about it. A big find, however, was when we found the pumpkins hidden near about 20 round bales of hay. If you’ve never seen a round bale in person, you should know that they’re about five feet tall. Beth and Tom took the kids up top and they spent ages leaping from one to another.

Another great find was when Beth introduced the kids to Jewelweed seed pods, commonly know as “Touch-Me-Nots.” They get their nickname because when you press lightly on the pod it springs open and spreads the seeds (captured in photos above…thank you Canon). The kids loved these, and popped until we couldn’t find any more.

Special thanks to Lynne and Beth for hosting us and planning such a fun adventure. We hope the Pumpkin Pick-Up Party becomes an annual event!

Neko has missed Vincent so much since he moved. (And I’ve really missed Marlo!) Today they were all in town, and we met up at Parky’s Farm. Temps in the 60’s meant cozy hoodies and perfect fall weather. The only things missing were Griffin and Nancy.

When Neko and Vince spied each other in the parking lot, it was like one of those famous movie scenes. Neko started running toward Vince, and then Vince started running toward Neko. Cue emotional music. I almost burst into tears 30 seconds into our visit.

The kids hung in there for nearly four hours—running, jumping, playing, laughing. It amazes me that they’ve been apart for this long, but when they get together, it’s like time stood still. I have friends like this in my life, but I’m 34…they’re 3. I had no idea such solid friendships could form this young.

We can hardly wait for Disney!

The kids went to bed too late and got up too early. Not only does this mean grumpy children, but it also means early naps. And early naps mean a wiiiide open afternoon. We had this weird block between 3:30 and 5pm to fill, and sitting around the house was certain to spiral into a black hole of doom.

A beautiful afternoon, I decided to take the kids to an old covered bridge that we’d driven by but never visited. We discovered a path leading to the creek that runs below the bridge. The kids spent nearly 45 minutes throwing rocks in the water and seeing how big a splash they could make. Needless to say, they were filthy by the time we headed for the car, but they were also tired and happy and it was closing in on 5pm…mission accompished!

A big pat on the back to myself for getting our behinds out of the house and out into the unknown.

Everyone with children should leave them for a day or two just so you can come home and remember how really wonderful they are.

Thanks to family, Tom and I were able to zip away to Columbus for 24 hours to celebrate our fifth anniversary. It’s not like we did much…a massage, dinner, and a movie…but we did it slowly, and on our own terms. No need to think about juggling bedtimes or whether someone is going to expire if they sit in the stroller for five more minutes. We slept in until nearly 8am, which is unheard of in these parts. Met friends for a leisurely breakfast with all adult conversation and then headed home.

Although it was truly wonderful to be gone, I have a theory that your children save up their cuteness for your return. We took a first-time outing to the community park with tricycles in tow. Because of our gravel drive, Neko hasn’t logged as much bike time as her peers, but she was quickly making up for the lost time. A perfect day for it, both kids had a ball. We practically had to drag Neko away.

After putting an extra scrumptious Shep to bed, Neko sat Tom and I down to tell us “stories.” This is where she puts on a play with her Playmobil sets. The storylines seem to have similar threads, but always wander in new directions. It’s so exciting to see her imagination just exploding. We would have documented, but the video camera batteries were dead. I have renewed my vow to keep them charged at all times.

All this good stuff makes me almost forget that in a span of ten minutes this evening Otto threw up twice on the floor the most horrific smelling stuff I’ve been exposed to in some time and I discovered that my credit card info has been stolen, and I will now have to spend days trying to straighten out a zillion things thanks to some idiot who has decided I should foot the bill for their anal pornography fetish.

But really, that’s just small stuff. For the most part, it’s all really, really good.

The great thing about living down the driveway from your parents is that you never know when they knock on your door if they’ll be bringing you your newspaper or a piece of fungus bigger than your head.

Some days, apparently, you get both.

This year, the pumpkin patch has been a success. Although we realize we should have started about one month earlier, we still seem to have a pretty big yield, and will have plenty for picking on Farm Day.

Our Pumpkin Assistants are always willing to some check out the Pumpkin Progress whenever the need arises. Today, one was dressed like a butterfly.

Today we went to a kids event at the art museum. They read stories about fish and crocodiles, but I’m not really sure what they were about since I was trying to keep Shep from tearing the room to pieces. After the story time, we adjourned to the art activities.

A year ago, we never could have done this. With Shep strapped into the stroller with a sucker for a bribe, Neko set to work on her project. She listened and followed directions. When I said to not use too much glue, she restrained herself. Other than having me hand her pieces in order of size and telling her, in general, what goes where, she did this all herself. Even down to the fact that she was mad there were no materials provided to make a mouth, so I had to scrounge up a pencil so she could draw one on.

I placed it proudly on the refrigerator for Tom to see when he got home. Of course, once Neko discovered it on the frig, she freaked out and demanded it come down so she could play with it. I hope that these exhibitions occur with more frequency, and that the artist might let us show her work for a longer duration.

Today a bleary, overcast morning gave way to a perfect fall afternoon. Shep conked out for an early nap, and Neko and I had some rare one-on-one time. We played on the patio, built sand castles, and ran around. It was one of those afternoons that reminds me why we live in the country. There are some things you just can’t do in the suburbs.