It's Always Better When We're Together: Stone Mountain

We had a great weekend. It was one of the first weekends in a long time that we were home together and able to spend time as a family. John was actually out of town for a few days, but flew in Friday late morning. Sophie was so happy to see him! Of course, Tripp and I were also. It's tough when he's gone. Not just for me, but for the kids also - well Sophie mostly. Every morning she wakes up and goes through a list of things. If I get her in the morning, the list usually goes something like this: "Hi mommy! Hi mommy" ...."I want to see Twippy" ... if she's lost her paci she says, "Mommy, paci, right der" ....then "I want eat cerweal" and then "Daddy! I want to see Daddy!" She's a motor-mouth in the morning! When John's out of town I have to try to explain that he's not here. She runs to our room to check to see if he's there. Once downstairs, she runs to the office to check. She finally gives up and stops looking, but it breaks my heart to see her searching so hard for her daddy to no avail. Needless-to-say, she's completely thrilled when she gets to see him. It's that daddy-daughter thing, I'm sure!

So anyway, part of the reason we had such a nice weekend was that Johnny, Lori, and Lola (my brother and his family) were here visiting from Florida. The last time we saw them was at Tripp and Lola's baptisms in May. Typically that much time does not pass without us visiting Florida, but Tripp is such a pistol in the car ... by that I mean a lot of screaming, yelling, and crying ... so we haven't been brave enough to try another road trip to Florida. We haven't flown because we have to pay for Sophie's ticket now that she is 2. It was so good to see sweet Lola (you, too, Johnny & Lori) :-). Lola is my niece and is cute as ever. She'll be 2 in February. Sophie is only 5 months older than Lola. I imagine that they would be best buddies if we lived closer. That's the sad part. We see each other so rarely that I'm not sure Lola really remembers us. I hope to change that soon!

We all went to Stone Mountain for the Pumpkin Festival along with one of my brother's best friend and his family (Mike, Nicole, and Lilly). We had a great time. We took the kids on their first train ride and they all loved it. The train ride ran into nap time for all the kids and Lilly & Lola actually fell asleep on the train. It was precious. Sophie had such a blast. She was so excited and her facial expressions said it all. I think these are the moments that parents love - just seeing their kids so innocent and truly happy. It was like Christmas Day for Sophie and she was just riding a train. I loved it! I loved watching her smile and gasp with excitement. She's such a little sweetie (with a mind of her own these days). When we got off the train she said "Bye bye twain, bye bye." She's been asking to go back on the train each day, too. Tripp also had a good time and smiled a lot, but by the end of the ride he too was sleepy.

Once the train ride ended everybody except us headed home to put the kids to sleep. We, or should I say I, wanted to make sure we got to see the pumpkin patch. You would think for $25 a pop and a park theme called "Pumpkin Festival" that the pumpkin patch would be a grand event. Nope. Nadda. No. There were like 20 pumpkins. It was weird. Really, hardly any pumpkins and they were just kinda pushed off to the side of the walkway (see pictures below). They did give out "mini" pumpkins to the kids for free and had a little painting station set up for them to paint their pumpkins so that was nice. Sophie picked her pumpkin to take to school and one for Tripp as well. Oh yeah, there wasn't even a hayride. Apparently this was the first year with no hayride. Just my luck! I will say, though, that the train ride made the day and was worth the money. I just wish we could have stayed longer and taken the kids to the laser show.

I'm going to follow this post with another post to include pictures of my brother, Lori and Lola. I'm so glad we all got to share this trip together!

Great family picture of us on the train. Thanks, Lori!

This was Sophie's first train ride. She was ready for the train to start moving!

Tripp is ready, too! Hold on!

Train is moving. Sophie & Daddy are enjoying the ride.

Tripp is just such a cutie. Love him! Look closely, you can see some of his teeth.

I just love this picture.

Tripp & Mommy posing for a picture by the huge fake pumpkin. Stone Mountain is in the background. That's kinda cool!

Hmmm .... which pumpkin should I choose? Or is she thinking "Hmmm... mommy has the camera. How much longer can I avoid her?" This is also a cool picture because you can see Stone Mountain and the carving of the Generals in the background.