Thomasson Family Farm

We did our annual trip to Thomasson Family Farm. I actually got to go twice this year. Once with Baylor's preschool and then we went together as a family.

The day we went with Baylor's preschool was not quite as fun as when we went as a family. When you go with a preschool group, you got to different areas and are there for only 15 minutes so you go through the different areas pretty quick. Baylor was not in the mood to be social and was super shy. She clung to me or held my hand pretty much the entire time we were there and really didn't want to participate. I hope that by the end of the preschool year, she is a little more social with friends but we will see. She did warm up a little more towards the end and was really happy that she got to pick out her own pumpkin to take home. After our allotted time, we could have stayed longer but at that point I was done and that day was SUPER busy. In all the years that I have gone there, I have never seen it that busy so I was fine to go home and look forward to the day when we came as a family.

The day we went as a family was so much more enjoyable! It was a little cooler and we went on a Thursday in the afternoon and there was hardly anyone there which made it so much better. We took our time and we were there for about 3 hours. It was such a nice afternoon and we all had lots of fun.

McCall's first time going! She did great the entire time we were there.

Baylor's favorite spot is the corn box.

And McCall got to experience it for the first time. We are lucky she hasn't quite learned to put things in her mouth yet or she would have had a mouthful of corn kernels.

This was an added addition this year and Nate and Paige really liked it.

We all really liked these mazes.

Annual picture to see how they have grown and changed

I can't believe that I have 3 girls!!!

Then we did the corn maze all together. This was my favorite part of the day. It was fun and relaxing. We took a picture of the maze on a phone and Paige drew on it with a highlighter to keep track of where we were at and led us through the entire thing without getting lost. The corn was SO tall! Baylor wasn't the biggest fan and I ended up giving her a piggy back ride towards the end but I loved it and thought it was so fun. It was fun to have this quiet time together as a family as we visited and enjoyed the adventure and completing the challenge together.

McCall thought it was so relaxing that she fell asleep.

Back for more fun after the corn maze.

This is also a new area that they added this year which was great.

These bubbles were awesome!

One last picture before heading home- it was a great day!

This was McCall's first year going which made me want to look back on all the years that we have gone to Thomasson Farm. We have gone every year since 2013! 

Here is Paige throughout the years- this year she made it a whole decade of going there!

Baylor's years going

See how they have grown!

I love traditions and outings with my family. It is amazing to see how my girls have grown over the years. I'm so grateful to be their mom and that I get to have a front row seat in watching them grow and learn. 

4 Months

Four months has flown by! I could kiss her sweet cheeks all day. She is the cutest little thing and has all of us wrapped around her little finger.

Here's what McCall is up to at four months:

• McCall is 11 lbs 4.5 oz (3rd percentile); 2 feet tall (26th percentile); and her head is the 67th percentile. Still tiny but still growing!
• The last couple of weeks, her sleep has changed a little bit and she has woken up a little more at night but still is a better sleeper than my other two girls. She also is taking short naps during the day unless being held or in her car seat but she is happy when she is awake most of the time. So yes I don't get much done but she is so worth it.
• She loves toys that makes noise and have lots of movement. She zones in and really focuses on the toy with the most determined look and kicks her legs like crazy. You can tell that she wants to grab it so bad but hasn't quite figured out how to use her arms yet.
• If she does get a hold of something though, she has quite the grip and immediately takes it to her mouth.
• She loves to suck on her hands and fingers.
• She has the sweetest smile with a cute dimple in one of her cheeks. She will do big open mouth smiles when she is really happy and kick her legs when she is excited. She gets super excited when you are about to pick her up. She still isn't quite laughing but is so close and I can't wait to hear that glorious sound.
• She loves to play peekaboo with her blanket and loves to grab your hands when you put them in front of her face. She is getting more interactive which has been super fun.
• She still likes to be held facing out and wants you to be walking around if you are holding her. She is a very alert and active baby.
• She still loves to be outside and loves bath time. She loves people and doesn't like to be left alone.
• She has quite the little voice and makes all sorts of noise when you leave her alone or when she wakes up from a nap. It is necessarily a cry but just loud babbling to let you know of her presence. 
• She still has yet to roll over and still isn't the greatest with holding her head up. She is really good and strong at tummy time on occasion and then other times just arches her back and fusses when you put her on her tummy.
• She is still great at nursing and eats quite often during the day, every 2-3 hours. Then she usually eats 2 times during the night. 
• When you go in to kiss her cheeks, she anticipates it and it's the cutest thing. She will squint her eyes and open her mouth like she wants to kiss you. She also has the cutest little tongue and this past week has been sticking it out more trying to figure out what that thing in her mouth is.
• She brings us all complete joy and we love our little girl!

Bainbridge Island

This is now our third year in a row going to Bainbridge Island in October for the pumpkin walk. It has become one of my favorite traditions that we do. It has given us the chance to explore all sorts of places on the island. This October we have had absolutely gorgeous weather and it was so nice to be out on the Sound enjoying the warm, fall weather.

Our first stop for the day was at Fay Bainbridge Park. It is a really nice campground with RV spots and cabins along with campsites and is right on the Sound. We enjoyed the playground there and had a picnic and then spent lots of time on the beach.

 

The beach is truly our family's happy place. We love any chance we can to be there and it was such a gorgeous couple of hours. The girls found some shells and lots of flat rocks to take home to paint. We spotted a couple of seals in the water and the coolest thing that I have never seen before was harbor porpoises. At first we thought it was seals but then you could see the dorsal fin and they were smaller. There were quite a few out there and they were swimming around in pairs. I wish we had some binoculars to get a closer look but it was pretty exciting to watch. The funny thing is that in the morning I told Paige to wear her dolphin earrings so that we would see dolphins and I guess it was good luck. We also saw a fish in the water that was about a foot long and a big jellyfish swimming around. It was a great day for being at the beach!

Paige dug a hole under the blanket that was a bed for McCall when she fell asleep.

The perfect spot for a nap!

The tide was coming in and Nate rolled this log into the water so that he could see more into the water which is when we saw the jellyfish but it also brought some entertainment for me with the waves coming in and I always had the camera ready and waiting for a fall to happen. :)

Then we made a quick stop at a fun little unique spot- frog rock. 

Then we made it to Bainbridge Nursery for the pumpkin walk. This year we painted our own pumpkins to add to the walk and for others to enjoy.

Our beautiful creations

It is always a fun thing to wander through and see everyone's artwork and creativity.

Where we each put our pumpkins.

This was McCall's first time being in the front pack facing out and she loved it and slobbered and sucked on the fabric.

Some fun photo ops

We then checked out a free museum- Bainbridge Art Museum. It is was what you expect out of an art museum with some really cool and interesting pieces and others pieces that you wonder how it is considered art and think to yourself that my 4 year old could do that.

We then wandered around the local shops and found some interesting things.

Then we went to this playground that we have gone to each time we have made this trek. We first got some McDonald's for dinner and ate it here before playing and killing some time before our ferry ride home.

Not quite big enough or a fan of the swing yet.

The ferry ride was gorgeous as always. I love riding ferries in the evening. The sunset was GORGEOUS and so pink and I love the view of the Seattle skyline especially at night when all the lights are on. The moon was also out and reflecting on the water which made the view spectacular. 

 It was such a wonderful day and another great adventure with my sweet family.

Ape Caves

The last weekend of September we had a small high adventure activity with our ward's young women. This is something that we have thought about and planned for a couple of months now and it was fun to see it happen. We only had 4 young women go but it was worth it to those that came and it was such a cool experience. The summer was just too busy with other activities so that is why we planned this overnight activity for September. Because it was during the school year, we just had one night. I took Paige out of school after lunch and we went down early to get camp set up. I rented a cabin for my family and it was so fun to be able to take my whole family with me. We stayed at Cougar RV Park & Campground. 

Our little cabin for the night. It was nice to have our own little space especially with the baby. It had 2 bunks beds and one had a full sized bed and there was enough space for the porta crib for McCall. It was a very nice cabin and it was super nice to have heat during the cool night.

There was a burn ban which was a little disappointing but our cabin had a firepit and a picnic table with it so I brought a dinner that we enjoyed right outside our cabin. Then Nate and I worked on setting up the tents for the young women and other leaders that were coming since they wouldn't be arriving until late. Since they couldn't leave until about 5 because of afterschool activities, they didn't arrive until about 8:30. I had brought some treats and we were going to have an evening devotional around the fire but since there was no fire and by the time we got everything set up and chatted for a bit and a long week of school, the girls were ready to go to bed and everyone was pretty much in bed by 10 pm. 

It was a pretty relaxing morning since we didn't have to check out until 11. We had breakfast, did the devotional that I was going to do the night before, we packed our lunches, and cleaned up.

We then drove up to the ape caves and ate our lunches first.

And did a little team building activity before going into the caves.

Then it was time for exploring the caves. They are lava tubes and we ended up climbing over 27 big rock piles in pitch black and had to even climb up a 5 foot wall. It was so cool literally and figuratively. I would totally go again. Nate kept McCall and Baylor and did some of their own exploring while Paige and I went with everyone else through the whole thing.

We all had headlamps and some of us had small flashlights too. At one point we were led the wrong way and ended up on our bellies but soon realized it was a dead end. We did end up splitting up into two groups which worked well for our circumstances.

These girls are pretty amazing and so fun to be with!

Paige was my exploring buddy and it was a really fun thing to experience with her and makes her even more excited to be in young women's.

There was this opening that was towards the end that was pretty cool to see. Then there was a ladder that you had to climb up to get out of the cave. It was pretty crazy to feel the temperature difference as you climbed up. 

Our view as we hiked back to the parking lot.

It was a quick trip but so worth it and it was such a fun way to spend the weekend. I would love to go back again once McCall is a little bigger. I'm grateful for my calling with the young women and the experiences that we get to have together. They are pretty amazing and help me realize that teenagers aren't so bad and can be pretty fun. I'm also grateful that my little family got to experience this with me and how supportive they are.