A Fabulous Fall Break

So our Fall Break started out not so great.  We had plans of driving to Florida and spending some time with Jay's family (all of them).  We were even going to Disney World!  But then everyone got sick :(  Jay had pneumonia; Graham had a sinus infection; Cole had bronchitis; and Payton was getting over an upper respiratory infection.  Since everyone was sick we decided it was best not to travel and let everyone rest and get better.  A total bummer but it worked.  After a few days of nothing but sleep, sleep and more sleep (and of course some meds from the doctor) everyone started feeling better :)

We decided to make the most of our fall break and do some things locally that we could all enjoy.  The kids wanted to go to a new playground so we went to the Tennessee Riverpark.  It was the last warm day and it turned out great.  The kids played on the playground and swung on the swings then we all walked around the water.  The kids watched a boat launch into the water and to quote Graham it was "totally awesome".  I really love seeing all of these things through my children's eyes and experiencing them all over again.  As always I took a ton of pics so here are just some of my favorites.

The next day was cold and rainy so we figured what better way to pass the day than at the movies ;)  Our local movie theater plays movies for $1.00 on Wednesdays.  I didn't realize that every child in the two local counties would be there but we still managed to see what we wanted.  First we saw Cars 2 and the kids did so well that when they asked if we could also see The Smurfs we said sure.  We were pleasantly shocked that  all the kids made it through two back to back movies!

Fall Break would not have been complete without hitting up an orchard and doing some fall festival things.  We drove into the mountains south of us (it felt like it took forever) and it was a beautiful drive with all of the leaves changing and great fall colors.  We went to Hillcrest Orchards and the kids had a lot of fun.  We had our very own private tracker ride around the orchard - it was Lilah's first.  Then we went to the petting zoo where everyone got to hold baby chicks (their favorite), pet goats, a baby cow (he was really soft), a pig and some bunnies.  Then it was off to the play area with slides and climbing walls and even a zip line.  We played there for a while until it was way too cold and headed back inside to pick our bag of apples.  The day ended with a visit from an overly friendly large black cow who was quite interested in Baby Lilah :)  Every time Jay moved the cow moved to get closer and even licked Lilah a couple of times.  We all totally cracked up and the kids thought it was great.

Payton is 3 apples tall.

Cole is also 3 apples tall.

Graham is 2 apples tall.

Baby Lilah on her very first tractor ride.

The kids being their usual silly selves :)

Picking out which apples they want.

A fun day for everyone!

Lilah Grace getting licked by a cow.

Since we have an upcoming photo session with our favorite photographer and this time she is coming to our neck of the woods we wanted to scope out some possible photo locations so we all hopped in the van and headed out on an adventure.  We started out at the Chickamauga Battlefield.  A very big and nice place full of history.  As we drove around and saw all the monuments, signs and cannons we tried to explain to the kids about the Civil War and how battles were fought right there where we were.  Payton wanted to know who the "teams" were and which one we were cheering for (love that kid).  And of course in Cole's new obsession with all things fighting he just couldn't ask enough questions about the blood, fighting and finally "Daddy do you think some of the men who lost the battle also lost their heads?".  I am still not used to having boys and how everything gets turned into a gun or some sort of fight.

The kids favorite part of the battlefield was the 'castle' which Daddy took them to the top (twice).  

Then it was off to the Chattanooga Nature Center.  We have a membership and had been there before but part of it was closed that day so we went back to check it out.  It ended up being the perfect spot for our upcoming session and is at the top of our list.  The kids enjoyed getting out to check out all the different areas including a bamboo forest, wishing well, pond, pavilion and of course the open fields where they ran around and chased each other.

As usual Payton posed for each shot, Cole acted goofy and Graham watched what they were doing :)  Oh and Lilah Grace looked adorable as always.

We also drove through and checked out Pointe Park on Lookout Mountain and Coolidge Park in downtown Chattanooga but didn't get out to play.

As Fall Break came to a close we decided to check out our town hayride and Halloween celebration.  We went on the hayride which took us down the Ringgold Nature Trail and dropped us off at a camp fire complete with roasting marshmallows.  Then we went to The Depot where a live band was playing and people were waiting in line for the Haunted Depot tour (way too scary for our kids).  We finally left once Graham announced "this place is freaking me out" (he is so funny!).

Even though we didn't go on our planned vacation we were able to spend a lot of quality time together as a family and make more precious memories with our children.  We also were able to get some much needed rest that will hopefully carry us through our next couple of extremely busy months!