Ride 'em cowgirl!

Success!

Pumpkin Festival

We decided to go to a pumpkin festival on a beautiful Saturday morning. The weather was perfect and Nicole loved combing through the patch looking for pumpkins.


She got to ride the tot train ride, and was a bit terrified at first. But she got over it.

She also got to go into the petting zoo, and petted some pretty sad looking animals. She loved it.

Boston

I was getting that travel itch again, so I convinced Alex to go to Boston with me over Labor Day weekend. Neither of us had ever been to the Northeast, so we were pretty excited. We picked Beth up in New York, and made our way up the coast driving through a total of 6 states in 6 hours. Awesome. You can only do that here.

We happened to be arriving in Boston around the time that Hurricane Earl was supposed to hit, so we spent our first night indoors. This worked out fine because there was a swimming pool in the hotel and Nicole LOVES swimming. And she loves her "Bethy."


The next day we did the city and made our way along the Freedom Trail. This has to be the coolest idea ever. They have a red line going through the city that you follow to see all of the historical and must-see sites. When you actually visit the sites, it makes history become so much more real. Now I know where the famous "one if by land, two if by sea" lights were hung, and I have seen the path that Paul Revere rode to thwart the attack by the Brits. Boston was absolutely beautiful.

Walking through one of the many burial grounds

Paul Revere with the Old North Church behind him

We found this little park with some water fountains and let Nicole run around for a little bit. She was soaking wet by the time we left!

In case you can't tell, Nicole was in love with this little duck, from the "Make Way for Ducklings" statues in the Public Garden. We also took a ride on the swan boats for the fun of it.

On Sunday we drove out to Lexington and Concord and toured through those areas. We picnicked on the Battle Green in Lexington, and ended on a high note at the North Bridge, site of “the shot heard ‘round the world'.”

Beth and Nicole having fun on the Battle Green

Cheers! Enjoying "tea" at the Hartwell Tavern

The North Bridge

Our view of the Concord River from the bridge

We made the trek home on Monday, but not without swimming one last time, and stopping at an orchard on the way home to grab some apple cider and cider donuts. Yum!

Our Last Hurrah at the Please Touch (Me) Museum

Our membership to the children's museum was running out at the end of August, so Nicole and I made one last trip out to have some fun. It's really tempting to get another pass, but I might hold off until after the new baby and he is a little older.

Philadelphia Zoo

Alex's work paid for us to go to the zoo yesterday, and we had a blast! It was our first time there, and we were a bit spoiled - they fed us lunch, paid for us to ride a hot air balloon, gave us free amusement rides, and Nicole got to have her face painted and ride a pony! It was great weather, and Nicole loved seeing the animals that we always talk about, especially the giraffes.

Nicole loved this goat. It was the first one she petted, and then other goats would come along and she'd look at them for a little bit and then run after this one. She followed it around for a good 5 minutes.

She wasn't quite sure what to think of the face painting. She really wanted to do it, but when the guy started painting, she didn't like it. I think it just felt a little too weird for her. It looked pretty cute, though!

We were all pretty excited about the hot air balloon ride. Alex and I have never been on one, so we got to enjoy something new.

Nicole's first pony ride. She was scared to get on, but once she did she loved it!

Nicole

Here are just a few random pics from the past couple of weeks I wanted to get up here.

Splashing in the rain puddles!

She's gonna be a soccer player!

Big girl bed that she absolutely loves!