pumpkin patch 2016

we took our annual trek to the pumpkin patch this past weekend.  this time we tried out a different farm just to have a new experience.  instead of heading to hillridge farms we struck out a path to vollmer farms.  we'd gone to vollmer back this spring to pick strawberries and love that they're all organic.  we were not sure what to expect around the pumpkin patch, but we were very happy with our afternoon there!

of course i made dax pose for about a billion photos, but he obliged pretty well knowing that some amazing fun was on the horizon.  sweet dax didn't disappoint in showing his personality in these pictures.  love him.

this.  is.  dax.

after photos dax got to pick where he wanted to head first.  he checked out the live animals and got to meet a donkey, some baby chicks, and some bunnies.  after the animals he headed over to a zip line contraption that allowed him to plummet in a sawed out barrel straight down a zip line.  unfortunately i miscalculated the swing at the end of the zip line (as the previous daddy was not really letting his kids experience the full joy of the zip line) and so i stood a little too close for pictures.  before i knew what was happening dax was barreling down the zip line straight towards me.  luckily i protected the camera with my left forearm, but dang - five days later and it still hurts!  after the zip line dax moved over to ride the crazy cow train.  this was a tractor pulling more of those sawed out barrels that were turned into seats for the kiddos.  the driver made this extremely fun turning rapid left, right and zigging/zagging all over the place.  the kids were screaming with hilarious giggles as they made their way all across the back part of the farm.  once the ride was over dax wanted to go on the giant slide that is built into the side of the mountain.  he grabbed a burlap sack and headed for the top of the mountain.  will stayed up top to keep eye out and i hung out at the bottom to see him come squealing with laughter as he shot out of the tunnel like a rocket!  he must have done this slide about 20 times!

when the sun started setting i told dax he better go check out everything else they had to offer and we headed towards the giant bouncy pillow.  dax saw the giant pillow and immediately began stripping out of his shoes and socks, leaving a trail behind him as he made his way up the pillow.  i think he could have jumped on this thing for a straight day if we'd let him.  we allowed him about an hour of jumping and only made him move on so he could see everything else there was to see before we needed to head back home.  this, however - was his favorite thing at the pumpkin patch!

after the bouncy pillow we took a quick trip through the corn maze.  dax was pretty bored by this and quickly wanted to move on.  next we headed to the pumpkin launch.  it was like a giant catapult king, which is one of his favorite games on the ipad.  all three of us lined up to see who could hit the pumpkins with the baseball sling shots.  daddy definitely had better skills than dax and i had at this game!  after quite a few rounds we let dax have some fun in the corn bin.  he loved laying in the corn, rolling in the corn, putting the corn all over himself, and managed to get corn in his socks, pockets, and underpants!  corn for everyone!  last but not least, we took a hayride back to the pumpkin patch, picked out a pumpkin, and loaded up in the car.  it was an awesome afternoon, and we were all tired (from trimming bushes earlier in the day and this in the afternoon, which in hindsight was just too much for one day - but we were short on october weekends!) and ready for bed!

all in all, we loved vollmer farms so much more than hillridge.  it was not crowded or over stimulating.  dax had an amazing time and we cannot wait to go back next fall!

falling off the radar

we've been busy lately.  summer ended, life took hold and there was zero time for blogging.  however, we're thankful fall has finally arrived, we have to wear shoes that aren't sandals/flip flops, and everything is pumpkin flavored.  take a deep breath, and time is settling a bit before everything ramps up for the holidays.

spring and summer were rough with the passing of the dogs.  we miss them every day, but we know they are where they needed to be.  our sweet old girls both lived amazing long lives and brought us much joy and laughter.  the end was hard, i won't lie - and we ended up having to put their extreme level of discomfort and the lack of ability for dr.s to perform operations to alleviate any issues above our desires to keep them here suffering on this planet.  despite it being the right thing, it was a terribly sad time and i still cry about it often.

adoption:
we're having to update our homestudy on halloween.  it's kind of interesting to me because we received the call to meet with daxton's birthmother on halloween of 2011.  we honestly never thought we'd be waiting on our second adoption so long and even after updating our profile books this summer, we still did not think we'd make it to the dreaded homestudy update phase.  sigh, but here we are.  dax goes through phases where he asks "why is it taking so long?" because he is ready for "his baby" to be here.  he's ready to have someone to play with and someone to share things with.  he plays in the nursery often, and loves pulling out baby toys.

daxton:
daxton's schedule is busy, but he loves being on the go.  he goes to preschool m - th (half days) and then has an activity every night, except mondays.  every day he asks me "what are we doing today?"  tuesdays he has gymnastics which he LOVES and has been doing for over a year.  wednesday nights are awana and he's in the cubbie class.  he loves being with his friends and he does a really good job memorizing his verses.  thursday night activities are new, and for the past three weeks he's been taking hip hop dance lessons.  it's the cutest thing i've ever seen.  dax loves dancing.  he creates his own moves, mostly some form of pop and lock and break dancing, all incorporated with a strange eye roll and head shake.  (all of his dancing really started with the movie "home" and he loves to "wave his hands in the air like he just does not care".)  dance class gives him a chance to learn some "real" moves and we cannot wait to see it all come together.  will wanted to have him pick between gymnastics and hip hop, but dax said he loved both, so will's given in - at least through the holidays.  friday nights are for soccer practice and then games are on saturday mornings.  dax loves soccer and he's pretty good at it.  his only set back is understanding that while you play against your team at practice, you play with them at the game.  that shift is pretty complicated for him and he sometimes gets upset when his teammates get the ball or even score a goal!  he'll get it soon though!

will and i celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary on the 18th of august.  when we were first married we said we'd take a trip back to hawaii (where we went on our honeymoon) to celebrate the 15th, but we didn't make it.  life changed and our priorities shifted to using all of our airline miles and hotel points to take dax to disney world for his 5th birthday.  the surprise party and trip reveal are coming up soon and we can hardly wait to blow daxton's mind!  in lieu of the romantic trip we settled for a romantic dinner to a five star restaurant i've wanted to go to forever.  it was perfect in every way and we were thankful for auntie conti and uncle keek watching dax for the night so we didn't have to worry about getting home late and we could sleep in the following morning! 

hopefully we'll have something exciting on the horizon to share sooner rather than later, but until then it's just business as usual at the white house!