Fall Fun

I am very fortunate to be on the year round calendar with school, so I get a 3 week break in September. It is a wonderful time of year to be away from school for a little bit. We definitely took advantage of the beautiful weather in the mountains and in Greenville. Before one of Uncle Doug's football games, Ava Grace, Cece, and I went to Falls Park at the Reedy River in Greenville. We just walked around, watched the ducks, and played in the ampitheater area. The water was too cold to get into even though the temperatures were warm outside. That is ok because the last time we were there, Ava Grace and I slipped on the rocks and nearly landed in the water with our clothes on. Here are a few snapshots from Falls Park:
We also visited the pumkin patch at our church. They delivered over 5,000 pumpkins to be sold this year to benefit our summer youth mission trips. It is amazing how many they sell every year - 5,000 is a lot of pumpkins!! Ava Grace really had a great time picking out a pumpkin this year. She walked around to every area and picked up one and said "I want this one". At the end, we ended up choosing a pumpkin for our table outside and a little pumpkin just for her. Ava Grace placed that one in the kitchen so she could look at it when she eats at the table. We have talked about carving a pumpkin for Halloween, so she is really looking forward to that in a couple of weeks.

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Apple Pickin' Time

It is that time of year again and since we live among a ton of apple orchards, apple picking has become one of our yearly traditions. Cece was at our house this year for the fun. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and fortunately, we went early enough in the morning, that there weren't too many people in the orchards. Ava Grace had a great time riding in the wagon and picking the apples off of the trees. We have a really good crop this year, so many of the apples are huge!! They were pretty difficult to pull off of the tree, but using two hands and all of her strength, Ava Grace managed to get a few. One of the other perks of picking apples at Justus Farms is having a chance to sample (which we have done a lot) their apple cider and apple cider slushies!! YUMMY!! Seriously, what is better than homemade apple cider!!

Beach Girl

I guess the title is not totally true because we didn't really take our "last" trip to the beach for the year, but it was our "last" trip to the actual beach. Ava Grace and I went to visit Cece in September so that we were able to go to the beach one last time for the season (and hang out with her of course). Our trip was really short, but was fun as usual. Here are a few pictures of our beach girl:

Trip to Philly

We had a great trip to Philadelphia!! The weather was perfect - sunny, 75 degrees during the day, and 55 degrees at night (without any humidity). Upon arrival on Friday night, it was only fitting that we experience the true Philly Cheesesteak. I must say...it is all that it is cracked up to be. My preference was the shredded meat with Cheese Whiz on top. Yummy!! I devoured the whole thing!!

We were able to go to a Temple University football game on Saturday. They play at Lincoln Financial Field (where the Eagles play), so it was definitely a treat. What a HUGE stadium!! The Owls won which was really exciting since that put them at 3-0 on the season!! It was a great day filled with fun (which is always the case when sports are involved for

us).

On Sunday, we drove to New Jersey to visit some friends (Tim, Megan, and their boys - Justin, Gavin, and Ryan). Ava Grace had a ball playing with the boys and we enjoyed watching football while eating some yummy homemade vegetable soup and sandwiches for lunch.

The Philadelphia Zoo was also an adventure for us. This is America's First Zoo and a very large one at that. They had animals there I had never heard of before. We spent almost 3 hours there before it was time for an afternoon nap. Our mode of transportation to the zoo was the subway and the trolley. Needless to say, Ava Grace was all eyes when it came to the movement and looking at all of the people boarding each stop.

While in Philadelphia, we also walked to Penn's Landing to

see the Delaware River and the boats. Since the weather is

getting cooler, there wasn't much action, but it was beautiful to look at. We walked most everywhere in the city - the park, to lunch, to supper, to Temple University, to City Hall, etc. It was quite the adventure!!!

Big Girl Bed

Ava Grace has entered the world of toddler-hood. She is officially sleeping in her very own Big Girl Bed!! Actually, she has been sleeping in this bed for about 3 weeks now, but I am just now posting about it. The bed is very sentimental as it was the same bed that my grandparents slept in, my dad slept in, my brother slept in, I slept in, my nephew slept in, and now Ava Grace gets her turn to sleep in it. As you may be able to tell, the big girl bed is a 3/4 bed. If you have never heard of that, a 3/4 bed means that it is 3/4 the length of a twin bed. It is the perfect size for a little girl who moves around a lot when she sleeps. Ava Grace simply loves her new bed (as you can tell by the picture).

No More Poppy

YAY!! Ava Grace gave up her poppy this weekend!! We talked to the Poppy Fairy about coming on Friday night because she was going to leave her a small present and we wanted Ava Grace to have time to play with it (instead of rushing out the door to school and Nanny's). The Poppy Fairy showed up as planned! Going to bed on Friday night took a little big longer, but it really wasn't that bad. Ava Grace was worn out (thank goodness), so after 5 minutes of intense crying - wanting her poppy - she laid down, listened to three stories, and dozed off to dream land. She woke up "ready to go" on Saturday morning as she didn't have a poppy to make her feel sleepy. I think Ava Grace asked for her poppy 3 or 4 times during the day on Saturday, but when given an answer - "you gave them to the Poppy Fairy so that other babies might use them because you aren't a baby anymore" - she was satisfied. Since then we have had wonderful, easy transitions into bed and sleeping all night long. I didn't think it would be horrible for her to give up her poppy (since she only used it at night anyway), but I didn't think it would be "no big deal" to her. I'm so proud of her!!! Way to go, Ava Grace!!

The "taggie"

Ava Grace has a "taggie" and she absolutely loves it. When she is falling asleep at night, she rubs the little tags on her eyelids. She has sweet dreams for the rest of the night (most of the time). I have to be very careful when I wash and dry the "taggie". In other words, it has to be washed on the weekends in between getting up in the morning and taking a nap or between taking a nap and bedtime. One particular day, the dryer buzzed and I heard "My taggie ready!" As I opened the dryer to pull it out with the other items, my cell phone rang. I went into the kitchen to answer it and came back to find.....

yes, my child went into the dryer for her "taggie". It was too cute not to take her picture!