Anderson Farms 2009

With Fall comes pumpkins, corn mazes, apple cider and Anderson Farm's!

This was our second annual trip to Anderson Farms and we always have a great time. When I looked at the calendar we had only two dates open that would work for Anderson Farms, one of which was last Sunday. We thought we had better take advantage of the nice weather that was forecasted since we didn't know what we would get later in the season. The advantages of going on their second weekend open was there were no crowds, tons of pumpkins to choose from and 80 degree weather. WOW!

You may recall this bumpy train ride we took last year. I once again convinced to squeeze into this tiny train car (barrel) so that Oliver could enjoy a ride. He loved it, so I loved it. I'm not sure that by 5'11" body enjoyed it, but it too survived.

Ready for take off... Dad was equipped with the camera and even put an artistic edge to this shot!

Here we GO with a wave to Dad!

Sitting behind us was our friend Stephanie with her son Freddie and her daughter Evelyn tucked in the car right behind her.
Oliver finally gets HIS chance in the driver seat. After two years of being a back seat driver he is wondering what took us so long to hand over the wheel.

Miss Evelyn loving the ride

Oliver at the goat feeding area.

He loved the animals and reminded them all what sound they say.

The funnies part was the goat at the top of the pulley. You put food in the bucket, pulley it up to the top and there was a goat anxiously waiting to chow down.

You can see in the picture below, the goat is the dark spot in the middle of the picture on top of the rim.

Oliver and Evelyn in the hay bail maze for kiddos.

Oliver and Keith on top of the maze. Once again, Oliver's in pole position.

"Which way did they go?"

Geoff going one way and Keith going the other way.

Oliver and Mama in the corn maze. This year we actually made it all of the way through one whole maze.

I don't even know where to begin explaining this photo of the cow milking station.

Oliver wondering who engineered these utters?

Still Wondering....

Clearly, he is not a dairy farm kid

The farm uses only Oliver tractors, so Oliver had to have a picture with HIS tractor.

The driver actually remembered Oliver from last year. I guess they don't have many Oliver's around the farm. The driver offered to let us put Oliver on the tractor for a photo but he was too shy.

On the way to the pumpkin patch in the wagon pulled by the Oliver tractor, we stopped to feed some long haired/long horned cows. Evelyn and Oliver had a great time feeding the cows and would giggle when they got a slobbery hand lick.

Dad and Oliver headed out into the pumpkin patch.

It is the most plentiful pumpkin patch Anderson Farms has ever had since we had such a wet summer. This photo cracks me up. Freddie and Evelyn must be thinking the same thing about Oliver.

Group Photo!

Freddie, Evelyn and Oliver

Just the Boys!

Freddie, Geoff, Oliver and Keith

Family Photo Op!

Back at the farm with two pumpkins for carving.

Oliver got a little upset that the pumpkins got to ride in the wagon and he didn't, so we made room for him.

We had a great visit to Anderson Farms.

Thanks for joining us Geoff, Stephanie, Evelyn and Freddie!!!

Such a Big Boy

Every day we notice how Oliver is growing and changing. Just in the last week his single word phrases are turning into sentences, he is doing more "myself" and asking for "help" and he is expressing favorite characters like Pooh, Elmo, Little Einstein's and Handy Manny.

Saturday, I took note of a few actions that Oliver repeats every day that make me realize that our little boy isn't so little any more. We're not the only one noticing, we were notified that with Oliver's second birthday approaching, he is moving into the Early Pre-School class on November 2. Wow! Time sure has flown since the days in the Infant Room.

Actions of Note: He holds his own drink with "two hands". No sippy cup required. (even though we do use them for the traveling beverage)

He practices good manners like using a napkin at meal time. (not that he gets all of the ketchup off of his chin, but he does get an A for effort)

He shares with others (sometimes) and wipes their chin too

He eats a corn dog all on his own, not cutting necessary. He even ate the crunchy stuff off the stick. Yup, he's my kid!! I LOVE the crunchy part... and a good corn dog! YUM!

"In My Life", "We All Live In A Yellow Submarine", [with] "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

Two weekends ago, Oliver and I went to Costco while Keith went to watch football with his friends. As we were cruising the music section I noticed that they had the Beatles CD's. I have been waiting for them to hit Costco again for literally fifteen years!!! My Mom bought them at Costco when I was in high school and I loved listening to them. When I moved out I thought they should move out right along with me, but she disagreed. Bummer! I know I could have bought them anywhere, but there was something about holding out until they were at Costco. Nostalgia, maybe. I was so excited!!! Later in the week, we were playing the music during dinner and after dinner Oliver decided it was time for a dance marathon. Keep in mind, a dance marathon is actually doing laps around the coffee table while waving your hands around like a crazy person. Oliver's dance marathon is also more fun when Mom joins along. There is no way I could resist "more dance, Mommy" every time he would see me slowing down.

Even Oliver would take a quick break now and then to lay his head on the cool leather couch.

As the dance marathon went on, Oliver's clothes came off and the laps around the coffee table continued.

(This picture reminds me that we have the next Michael Phelps with a long torso and short legs. Now you can see why his pant legs are always rolled up)
Shortly after this, we ended up with a streaker in the house when Oliver managed to get every stitch of clothing off. I'll save those pictures for an embarrassing moment when he brings his first girl friend home.

All good things must come to an end, even dance marathons.

If they must end, there is nothing better than dancing a slow song with mother and son.

Memory Walk in City Park

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning in Denver as we headed out for the Memory Walk in City Park. Our friend Sue flew in from Chicago for the walk and we were all part of Team Parker's Posse.

Here, Jen and Parker are gearing up for the start.

Keith, Craig and Jen are ready to begin walking.
Oliver has a balloon, so he is set too.

Half-way through the walk we decided to take a detour to go to Snooze for breakfast. It was 1.2 miles away, so we figured that it was no different than doing the 5K, actually probably further by the time we completed all of the walking. Breakfast was fabulous and we had a great time surrounded by wonderful friends.

Here is Parker, having breakfast.

Miss Sue smooching on Parker

Oliver telling me what he wanted for breakfast

Craig and Oliver having fun

On our way back, we stopped to take a few pictures in City Park with the Denver skyline in the background. You can see all of the tents from the walk but by the time we got back everything was over.

Sue, Jen and Carrie

Family photo in City Park

We had a great morning and it is flowing over into the afternoon. Keith had some yard work to do and Oliver is all about helping out these days.

"CHEESE MOMMY"

Note: This week Oliver has decided that we are no longer Mama and Dada, we are now Mommy and Daddy. He walks around announcing to the world "My Daddy!" Today I gave him some yogurt and he said "Thanks Mommy!". Well, I'm more of a fan of Mama than Mommy, but if he's going to be polite AND cute, well, I'll take Mommy.

Rain Rain Go Away

Last weekend was our annual block party. We had a garage full of beer and we were fired up to hang out with the neighbors. However, Mother Nature had a different plan. Saturday presented us with a serious rain storm that wouldn't let up. Oliver put on his coat to go check out the situation and discovered that he loved the rain. Keith and Oliver didn't find any of the neighbors out and discovered that the party was going to be moved to Sunday. Oliver wasn't going to let a perfectly good rain coat go to waste so he splashed around outside for a while.

On Sunday, we had the block party. It was a nice day, but once again the rain came in. There was about 30 minutes that the whole street was huddled under two tents. Eventually the rain let up and we all ventured out into the street and the boys started up a game of kick-ball. You may have heard me say that we live on a great street for families with a lot of kids and all but two are boys. Check out this picture for proof, and this isn't even all of them.

Oliver wasn't much for playing kick-ball with the older kids, he preferred to rummage through the toys they left behind. Who knows, we may have lacrosse in our future.

Weekend for Pop

Late last week Keith received a phone call that his 93 year old Grand Dad's health was declining. It didn't take much thought to decide to take the gift of a three day weekend and make the seven hour drive to Sheridan, WY to visit him. We had the opportunity to visit him both on Saturday and Sunday at his place. Oliver was a champ and charmed him with his smile and giggles during both visits. He even sat with Pop and gave him some hugs. Oliver also had a great time playing with his cousins Lauren (6) and Kaden (4). Those three were nearly inseparable.

On Sunday, we all went to the Powderhorn club house for lunch. Oliver had it made! He was the only one with his own ride and driver. Notice the arm out the wagon window and the driver pulling with determined attitude.

Sassy Man, Oliver!
Oliver and Lauren in Nana and Papa's backyard.
Pop requested fried catfish for dinner, so that's what we had.
This is Bill (Keith's Dad) and Uncle Jim frying up the fish with Aunt Donna and Stephanie keeping a watchful eye on the hush puppies.
Oliver, Lauren and Kaden taking a break from running around for a photo.

After dinner, Lauren came running into the house telling her Dad that Uncle Keith can do more push-ups that he could. The challenge was on!

Come to find out, Keith was playing with the kids in the backyard and Kaden jumped on his back. Lauren said that her Dad (Brian) could do push-ups with Kaden on his back and Keith's response was that he could do more than Brian. Next thing you know, Lauren has the boys doing a push-up contest.

Here, Keith (middle child), Jeff (youngest child) and Brian (oldest child) are taking off in the push-up contest with Lauren leading the way.

Oliver had to get in on the action and coach his Dad. No distraction here, right?

Jeff finally gave in and let Keith and Brian battle it out. It finally came down to a tie. Neither one was going to let the other win.

Boys will be Boys!!!

After a great weekend with the family and visit with Pop, we headed home on Monday.

We stopped for lunch on our way home at Burger King. There's not much to choose from in Wheatland, WY. Oliver had a good lunch of Macaroni and Cheese with Apple slices. You would think that would be enough and then he decided that ketchup would be a great shooter. I found it so funny that I had to take a picture before we told him that ketchup straight from the cup is not a great idea. He seemed to like it though!

We had a great trip and Oliver was a great traveler. It isn't every trip that we can say that. To simply state it, Oliver was nothing short of a

SUPER STAR!!!