October Madness

October was a very busy month for us.  It was a blur....but we did manage to capture a few memories!

A trip to the pumpkin patch was required.  The kids couldn't wait to find their own pumpkins.   We love the farm we go to in Frederick, Bloomfield Farm.  The day included a hay ride, tractors, animals, and loads of pumpkins and squash.

 We spent two weeks out in Washington State visiting Josh's family.  It had been four years since we had been able to venture west.  So this trip was so special.  Nathan and Kate loved the time with their cousins.  I just loved being with family.  I think we ended up with just shy of 300 pictures from this trip.    Here are some favorites:

Nathan and Alex horsing around  

Kate loved the time with her girl cousins (as she is usually surrounded by boy cousins out East.  She wasn't feeling well in this photo (hence the odd expression on her face) but Bri and Hannah were such a big part of her experience that I wanted to share this photo.  We miss them all so much!

And of course, we spent a lot of time with Papa Dan and Grandma Ann.  My kids ask daily if we can go on an airplane to see Papa Dan and Grandma - as if it were as easy as that.  We loved the time we had with the family.

 On our last day, we ventured out to Snowqualamie Falls.  It was a crisp fall day, and the views were amazing.

 

A special addition to our trip was a visit with good friends Paul and Peggy Wilkinson.  They happened to be in Oregon at the same time we were in Washington.  So considering they usually live in L.A. and we live 5000 miles east of them, we couldn't pass up a chance to drive 2.5 hours to spend a precious 24 hours with friends that really are more like family!   It was great to catch up, but it was even more precious to watch the kids jump right back into each others worlds.

A Day in the Park

Well, Olympic National Park that is...


Since it was the first day that the rain has stopped since we arrived in Washington, we decided to hop in the car with Josh's parents and go on a little adventure for the afternoon. We thought we'd head north to a little quaint touristy town called Poulsbo. But as we reached our destination, Kate was fast asleep in the car. And since our Little One has been sick most of this trip and not sleeping well, no one wanted to wake her (especially me). So we kept driving north and ended up in Washington's northern peninsula. It was a beautiful drive, one Josh and I have taken before when we headed up to Port Townsend. But today we went farther and found ourselves in Port Angeles at the base of the Olympic Mountains. Unfortunately the main road to Hurricane Ridge was closed from the fresh snowfall. But we still managed to get close enough for some beautiful pictures.

Josh and his mom used to hike a lot together. They have visited numerous National Parks over their lifetime. Many of Josh's favorite memories involve hiking and camping. Grandma Ann bought Kate her very own National Parks Passport Book. And Kate received her first stamp from the Olympic National Park. She'll be too little to remember this trip, but this is a place we'll come back to. Breathtaking scenery...simply breathtaking.

The leaves were almost as big as Kate herself!

This tree segment was huge! It began its growth in the year 1349.

We found normal sized tress to play in too.