Daddy goes to "Susanna" and a visit to the "Pumpkin Pouch"

Well, we survived Pete's week in Arizona.  Or Susanna, as Brady would sadly call it.  It wasn't easy on any of us, but thankfully Mom came for the week to help us out.  What a great perk of retirement!  For us, anyway.  I'm not sure it was very relaxing for her!  But the boys sure have missed her this week.

 

The fall festivals started up last weekend, so we took advantage of early bird pricing and hit one that we hadn't been to before.  We told Brady we were going to the pumpkin patch (or "pouch" in Brady-ese), and he was psyched.  It was a nice mix of animals and things to climb up and slide down, and one really awesome hayride.  The only downside was we didn't count on the food vendors closing an hour before the farm did.  Thankfully Mickey D's wasn't far away.

 

And we capped a fun weekend with the brothers' first joint bath.  We are proud to report no injuries... just a little pre-bath incident you'll read about later.

 

Happy fall!

Nathan is figuring out finger food

Brady likes to act out scenes from Finding Nemo

Winding him up

Setting him free

And finding Nemo, lost in the seaweed

More Nemo fun with a memory game



We had some definite bumps... Like when I couldn't build the bridge the way Daddy does

Of course Daddy immediately texted a schematic drawing like a good engineer

Nathan sure is proud of himself, trying to walk like a big boy

Brady is all business as usual heading into the fall festival

We went on a pretty cool hayride, complete with cowboys on horses, a UFO, Superman, and a drive-thru musical barn

Sadly, this is the best shot of the two of them

Finally, Brady gets his pumpkin!

This is right after Brady turned to Nathan and peed on him. I'm starting to question if he's got more bladder control than I realized!

In case you're wondering, Brady weighs 31 lbs to Nathan's 24.

Here's a good shot of Nathan's post-bath curls

Happy little man

Half-marathon

After Nathan was born and I felt up to exercising again, I began a couch-to-5K program.  Once I started running again, I realized how much I enjoyed it (and needed it!), so I decided to turn that 5K into a half marathon (13.1 miles).  I ran one back in 2009, before Brady was born.  I was in much better shape then, and of course I had a lot more free time on my hands.  But I work well with a goal, so with the support of Pete and the encouragement of Suzy, I decided to go for it!

The race was Saturday, nice and close here in our hometown.  But the course turned out to be very hilly (I didn't even know we had hills like that in VA) and there were about 5 miles of gravel roads.  Needless to say it was not easy nor was it my best time, but I finished it and that's all that matters.  Now on to my next goal...

With Brady in preschool, Nathan is enjoying playing with all of Brady's toys in peace!

Brady is not the only one who loves train table time.

An extreme close-up for a shot of his two teeth

I love these curls

The wheels on the firetruck go round and round

Guess who realized he could stand up in his crib?

I promise he doesn't spend all his time in laundry baskets.

Making play dough

Brady chose to make it "bo-bana"-scented (banana)

Guess who also realized he could climb the stairs? Oh boy.

Bright and early, pre-race

My cheering section, and the reason that I run

13.1 done!

At mile 13 we were given tiaras and boas (it was called the Divas Half Marathon, after all)

Brady was pretty excited about my swag. He was saying "Hurray Princess Mommy!" Quickly followed by "I want tiara." What can I say- Tinkerbell and Sofia the First are two of his favorites!

De-princessed and back to the construction site.