We started our fall festivities by visiting the Lake Las Vegas Fall Festival, down at MonteLago Village. Jason and I used to love coming here before kids and even before being married- we even got engaged here! We've spent many beer festivals and taken many family photos at MonteLago Village, but since it's bankruptcy and becoming a ghost town, we haven't been back for any type of event. I was excited to take the kids during the week, even though I knew it would probably be dead, which it definitely was.
When we arrived, Nolan had the place to himself, and instantly spotted the tractor that we needed to check out. He was in heaven but refused to go up to the top to sit in it.
After dragging him away from the tractor, we made our way through the Hay Bale Maze, which I let Nolan lead and he somehow knew the exact correct way to exit, smarty pants! We spent some time climbing bales and jumping off through our journey to the end.
Finally, Nolan was super excited to play in the Corn Pile, which shockingly sinks you down pretty deep as I found out, entering with him while wearing Acelyn in the Ergo. I decided to sit this one out and let him play while Acelyn and I tried to find some shelter in the shade, since it was balls hot outside. Nolan loved the corn pile and played for over 20 minutes in it. I decided to snap some pictures of them in the corn and they turned out super cute, despite Nolan's sweaty face and Acelyn's "What the hell is this" face.
Not long later in the month, we went back for a second time with our friends, Jamie and her boys, Coen and Shaw, and Breann and her son, Ellis. We got there a little early and I tried taking some pictures, but these two didn't have many smiles in them and were all sorts of serious.
Once our friends arrived, the boys checked out the tractor first (of course), and then posed for some pictures with pumpkins before heading off to the hay bale maze. They played in the giant tubes and then spent some time in the corn pile, where they enjoyed chucking pieces of corn into the lake (such boys).
We packed our lunches and had a picnic overlooking the lake, and the weather was so perfect and it was SO nice! There was a guy flying in the air with a jet pack over the water, which the boys thought was aaamaaazing, so it kept their interest for a bit. Acelyn fell asleep for her nap and was out for the count with all the fresh air she had gotten.
Before leaving, we hit up the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory where the kiddos hung out with the giant bear, and were super stoked about scoring some sweets for the ride home (and Mommy got a yummy chocolate covered apple for dessert later that night... SO good)!
The next week, we spent lots of time with my Aunt Denise and Uncle Georges, who were in town visiting from France. We started by visiting the pumpkin patch one morning and Nolan had an absolute blast! We've gone every year since he's been born, but this was the first year that he was really into it and wanted to do everything.
We absolutely had to ride the train, per Nolan's request, so we hopped on first and even Acelyn joined for a ride.
The petting zoo was up next, but apparently didn't open until the afternoon, so we had to look from afar.
Nolan was ready to go on the slide, but once we actually put him to the test, he got scared. I totally made him go on it anyway, and carried him up to go down not one, not two, but three times, and although he was nervous, he liked it and asked to go back on each time!
We also rode the pumpkin cups, and Nolan really enjoyed this one and wanted to ride over and over. He's so funny, because he is super serious when he's riding and doesn't act very excited, but the second the ride is over, he asks for more (he was the same way when we went to Disneyland last year, too). Acelyn hung out with Uncle Georges while we rode and checked it out from the side.
Before we left, Nolan made it a point to climb to the very top of the hay bales, and we visited the animals one last time to say Bye. On our way out, we got up close with the rooster, and he decided it was time to crow over and over again and flap his wings multiple times. Nolan was dying with laughter at this and couldn't stop talking about the "Silly rooster" that he saw all day.
The same day, we decided to visit Opportunity Village's HallOVeen event. We tried going the week before, but we got rained out and they closed as soon as we pulled up, so we had to postpone for a different day. This time around, on our drive down, I realized I had forgot the kids' costumes at the house, so as we were halfway there, we had to turn around and drive all the way back to get them. It was shaping up to seem like Opportunity Village just wasn't in the plans this year for us, but, in the end, it worked out perfectly and we had a great time! It's always such a fun display of lights and there are so many Halloween goodies to see, and the kids even get to Trick or Treat. Nolan loved checking out all of the cool things to look at, and about died when he saw the trucks display!
We took our picture in the signature Halloween Cinderella pumpkin carriage, and shortly after had to visit and check out the ambulance that Nolan and spotted directly across from us.
We finished up Trick or Treating, and hopped on the Train, where Acelyn wanted to bug Nolan with hugging and pulling his giant cookie, and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with it since it was serious business about riding the Choo-Choo! We saw the whole setup from a different view and loved seeing all the festive lights.
We love coming to Opportunity Village every year and have made it a tradition that we hope to continue as the kids grow!
Later in the week, we had another tradition to uphold- the Black Mountain Trunk or Treat. In the past, we've met up with our friends Jamie and Victor and their kiddos, and this year was no different. We didn't get too many pictures, but did manage to capture a couple of our quick DIY family costumes of one of our favorite movies: Monster's Inc. Nolan dressed as Sully, Acelyn as Boo, I was Roz and Jason was George (complete with sock, too)!
We started our Trick or Treating before meeting up with the Nowaks, and Nolan played in some bubbles for a bit before realizing there were Trick or Treating stations set up in the trunks. Once he figured it out, there was no slowing him down for grabbing his goodies and on to the next! His favorite part was seeing the Police car and getting his picture taken with it, even though he doesn't look so excited in the photo!
We met up with the Nowaks during the costume contest, where they won the family category dressed as the Toy Story crew! The boys weren't into pictures and were more concerned about the DJ and music and trick or treating... can't blame them! We finished up Trick or Treating and playing some games before saying Bye and capping off another fun Halloween event for the month!
Finally, we took the whole family down to the Bellagio Conservatory to see the fall display and have a fun day out on the Strip playing tourist. The fall setup at the Bellagio is probably always one of my favorite of the year. It is gorgeous and it never ceases to amaze me at how much work and time goes into decorating for each season! We spent some time checking everything out and taking lots of pictures and videos, where Nolan was quick to point out every single detail he saw, while Acelyn just hung out in her seat and was content just checking it all out.
I wasn't sure if Nolan would like the talking tree or be scared of him... and I was happy to see he loved it! He thought it was hilarious when he would open and close his eyes, and listened intently for each time it would talk. Acelyn was also pretty happy about it!
Acelyn and I were twinning that day with our striped shirts and vests (our first time twinning and definitely not our last!) so of course we had to document with some pictures. Afterwards, we took lots of family pictures, too:
Once we spent a decent amount of time in the Conservatory, we continued through the Bellagio to sightsee and took a quick break to feed Acelyn. We rode the tram over to Crystals, which Nolan was obviously ecstatic about! Once we got to Crystals, we checked out the cool water tunnel features and Nolan was also quick to play in the fountains (which he probably wasn't supposed to do... ha).
After Crystals, we hitched a ride back on the tram to the Park at T-Mobile Arena to have some lunch at one of our favorites, Shake Shack. On our walk over, we saw some pretty sweet art displays of Lego Men, and Nolan wanted a picture with every.single.one of them. We had a yummy lunch, as always, at Shake Shack, and played in the water on our walk back. It was a great way to end our eventful morning, and the kids took some pretty awesome naps for us back at home!
That marks the end of our extensive fall festivities for the month! Stay tuned for Halloween night and our official costume photoshoot!! Happy Fall!!
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