Saturday, October 24, 2015

Gilcrease Orchard, Year #4

Keeping with our yearly fall tradition, we made our way across town to Gilcrease Orchard to pick our annual pumpkins!  This may be one of my favorite traditions of all the holidays we celebrate, and each year tends to get better and better.  The weather was gloomy and cloudy when we first arrived, with some overcast clouds making for real fall feeling weather.  It couldn't have been more perfect!  As the day wore on and the sun came out, it heated up quickly and started to become quite warm, as it usually is when we visit every year.  Regardless, we had our fair share of pumpkin hopping, hay climbing, and our usual inhaling of those amazing apple cider donuts! Yum!

Nolan loved being able to run around up and down the aisles of pumpkins this year, trying to keep up with Dad, looking for the best pumpkins out there to our liking (Nolan like's the bright round orange ones, Daddy likes the ugly, most grotesque pumpkins, and I'm a fan of the flatter, Cinderella shaped pumpkins).  Nolan liked looking at each one but wasn't a fan of walking through the mud and vines... he often asked for help and struggled to get to the places he wanted to go!  Once we found some pumpkins we thought were our best fit, Nolan helped Daddy load them up in the wagon and tried to help out by pulling them.  Although he got a few inches travelled, Dad took over to save little man's muscles.  







We stopped by the hay bales and Nolan loved walking in circles around the square.  He had fun climbing the bales, and made friends with the scarecrows again (just like our pop-up pumpkin patch adventures), and cheesed it up for the camera while playing. 




While at the orchard, we initially took our announcement photos for Baby #2 in the apple orchards, and although I like how they came out, it was hard to read the Big Brother sign and wasn't the best we could get, so we decided to go a different route for our official announcement picture (bump watch at 11 weeks).  Either way, these were too cute to pass up and Nolan looks so proud of his new role of Big Bro!




Finally, after paying for our pumpkins and finding out the apple cider was sold out for the season (wah!) we made our way to wait in line for the famous apple cider donuts.  Even though the line is long, I swear they are completely worth it, and we may have ordered three orders too many (but ate them all).  I'd wait hours for these babies every year!  Before we left, we made sure to take Nolan's picture in front of the signature Gilcrease barn, in which the mural changed this year and I absolutely love it!  



We love coming here every year and know this will stay as a family tradition for a long, long time.  It's one of the few things in Vegas that is offered that really makes you feel like you are outside of Vegas, ironically, and we love that!  Here's to another year, pumpkins, and memories made!

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

September Happenings

Whoops!  Looks like we're a little behind on updating the blog!  Let's just get right to it for our start of fall!

In the beginning of the month, we started off with a playdate with our friends Kelly and Nolan at Run Plus Fun, followed by some yummy lunch at Smashburger.  These two boys have come a long way from the beginning of their friendship, and we were sad to have to say goodbye to them as they were moving across country.  We will miss you guys!








Nolan sported an awesome mohawk during bath time one night.



We modeled our newest Yoda tee, and with the help of the Playstation Move wand, Nolan felt like a true Jedi.



Later that day, we spent some time at the mall, and Nolan mastered climbing the bridge with his bare feet and kept doing so over and over again... he was giving me and some other moms there a heart attack while we all watched on, but little man is going to get into things like this sooner or later... so I'd rather he know how to fall and get back up!  Although- he didn't fall once :)


Little man has gotten so smart lately, and can identify so many things and is talking up a storm.  We took some videos on lazy morning while playing, to show off his skills!




I spent my very first weekend away from Nolan since he was born, as I was traveling to San Diego to help Erin celebrate her bachelorette party.  It went much better than I anticipated (being away) and I was having so much fun that it helped as a nice distraction from wondering how Nolan was doing all the time!  We had a great weekend, spending lots of time in Gaslamp, visiting wine bars, breweries, the nightlife and enjoying lots of yummy eats.  We can't wait for Erin and Jeremy to finally tie the knot, and look forward to their upcoming wedding!








While I was in San Diego, Jason held down the fort and took great care of Nolan on his own.  He spent the day at the Children's Museum with him and had a ton of fun!















Nolan did a little dance and busted a move (fitting, given his shirt) before we took off for our classes one morning.


We decided to check out the Hawaiian festival in downtown Henderson one Sunday morning, but ended up sweating out booties off after just spending less than an hour down there.  We ended up meeting some cute animals at the petting zoo, and then and grabbed some lumpia, teriyaki chicken and spam musabi to go and had some lunch at home, followed by watching the Ravens game and being silly in our Ravens gear.  

















Nolan and I checked out the new park up the street from us, and he decided that the big kid swings are his new favorite!  He barely swings and can just manage to stay on by sitting, but he sure was proud of himself!


We spent a morning after our Gymboree class at the park, and Nolan became obsessed with this fun Choo-Choo slide, going up and down over and over and over again.  Then he spun in circles because... he can.  





During a weekly Target trip, Nolan spent some time with the Target dog dog and loved every second of it.


One weekend, we took a trip down to the Springs Preserve so Nolan could see the dinosaur exhibit one more time before it left for the season.  He loved the dinos just as much as the first time, and enjoyed showing Daddy all about the place and the cool things it had to offer.  We also got to ride the train, which we didn't do last time, and Nolan absolutely thought it was the coolest thing and sat nicely the entire 25 minute trip around.  We also visited the butterfly habitat since it recently opened for the season, and although I was super excited about it beforehand, I quickly changed my mind as soon as we entered and got bombarded with hundreds of butterflies fluttering around ALL over the place.  I really didn't enjoy having to dodge insects flying into my face, and Nolan wasn't really into it either.  He either couldn't see them half the time or tried grabbing them, which is a no-go.... so we made our round and quickly got out of there.  Eek!  Pretty to look at, but definitely not my thing!  Before we left, we checked out the Nevada State Museum, too, and it actually had a lot of really interesting and cool things inside, including a wooly mammoth!  We couldn't spend too much time there, because lunch and nap were calling... but it's definitely worth checking out!



















He got another haircut this month, and made it through the first time without crying once (even with the clippers)!  He was such a good boy, despite having to sit in the pink car since it was the only one available.  


We took some fun pictures to show off our matching Football tees from M.E.&You, and Nolan really loved showing off his "foot-fall" skills.




Nolan has become obsessed with using the Snapchat filters that change regularly, and they crack him up when we take pictures and videos.  It is so cute that I obviously have to record them... so here's a few...



Nolan tried out his new headphones for our quick plane ride to San Francisco, and he loves them so much he still asks to wear them, even around the house.  They are so tiny and super adorable!


We took a quick trip to San Francisco, to travel a little outside of Tahoe for Dustin and Desa's wedding in Placerville, California.  I was nervous as to how Nolan would do on the plane this time around, since he isn't one for sitting still very long and can throw quite the temper tantrums these days.  The day of our flight, he didn't take a nap (which is super unlike him), so I was really worried about how everything would go.  To my absolute surprise, he was SO excited about seeing all the "ah-panes" and getting to go on one, that he tired himself out and fell asleep right on Jason as we were taxi-ing to take off.  He slept for 40 minutes, and woke up just in time for our landing, which he thought was pretty cool, watching out the window.  




When we got to San Francisco, it was pretty late, so we grabbed some quick dinner at a pizza place close to our hotel, grabbed a few staples from the grocery store that we would need for the morning and the car trip, and checked into our hotel.  By the time we were all settled, Nolan was definitely ready for bed, and slept great through the night in the hotel.  

The next morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and headed out to Placerville so we would have enough time to get ready for the wedding in the early afternoon.  Nolan didn't do too well on the drive over, and was extremely tired of sitting in the car for 2.5 hours.  He was so worked up, he barely ate lunch and wouldn't take a nap for my Mom who tried to put him down while Jason and I were getting ready for the wedding.  We finally had to head out, and he ended up sleeping for a bit, calmed down and had fun with my Mom while we were away.


The wedding was perfect and we were excited to see Dustin and Desa finally tie the knot after so many years!  The venue was adorable and Desa did an amazing job with the decor and how everything turned out!  We enjoyed seeing our friends from college and high school, and had a blast hanging out and catching up with them.  



The next day, we met up with Wade and Rhea for breakfast, and then headed back to San Francisco to spend a few hours in the city before our flight took off in the late afternoon.  Nolan loved driving across the Golden Gate Bridge, and squealed with delight when we passed through a few tunnels leading up to our entrance to the city.  We drove through a few neighborhoods, past Ghiradelli Chocolate, and made our way to Pier 39.  We spent some time at the pier, where Nolan got to see the famous sea lions that he barked at, and we walked around the pier, spent some time shopping and even got to ride the double decker carousel.  Although it wasn't a ton of time in the city, it was nice to get to visit and show Nolan a place that Jason and I loved coming to at least once a year when we lived closer.  Of course, I forgot the camera at home and I didn't have time since I was rounding up Nolan most of the time, and forgot to take pictures with my phone, so we only have a few from the trip.  




Because we had just returned from out of town, we didn't do too much for our anniversary, but we did celebrate with some Cold Stone for dessert after dinner on our anniversary night.  It was nice to have no pressure for gifts or big plans, and just to enjoy each other's company, relax, and spend time as a family together!  I can't believe it's already been 3 years, and can't wait to spend so many more with Jason.  He's the best husband and Daddy I could ask for, he loves us so much and works so hard for his family, and that means the world to me!

...Until next month!