The Pumpkin Patch

Over the weekend we went to the pumpkin patch to get Ace his pumpkin for Halloween!  Last year we went to Circle S Farms, but this year we decided to go somewhere closer to home…Pigeon Roost Farms.

Over the weekend we had our Indian Summer.  It was a blistering 90+ degrees in October!  Take a sick bald man, a pregnant woman, and a three year old out to the farm and into the sun with about 999 strangers and all of their running and screaming kids, and what do you get?  Three miserable people just trying to find a good pumpkin and get the hell out of there.  :D

It would have been great if Ace was about 5 or 6, but the activities were not geared for kids his age. About the only thing safe for him to do was look at the animals, so that is what we did…

After checking out the animals we did make our way through the soybean field maze…

And by then we were hot, tired, cranky, hungry, and pooped…

We managed to pick out some pumpkins before heading out to the truck and calling it a day….

Next disaster?  Carving these bad boys…  :D


Off The Beaten Path

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Ace and I like to get out of the house on the weekend. Momma doesn’t mind because she gets to sleep in. :)

Today we decided to go on a little nature walk.  We went to Three Creeks Park.  If you are friends with me on FaceBook (add me if not) you have probably seen the pictures from our previous visits, but this time we came in from a different entrance that we found last weekend on accident.

When we first walked in we were greeted by this gorgeous pond surrounded by trees.  The leaves are starting to change color, which made it even more inviting…

Three Creeks Park is spider webbed with walking trails…mostly paved, and some hidden gems…the dirt trails.  Ace and I prefer to rough it and take the paths less traveled…

Getting off of the beaten path enables us to see things that most people who are zooming by on their bicycles, or running with their IPods, completely miss out on.  Like the “Volcano Tree” as Ace called it…

And a giant patch of red berries which caught Ace’s eye…

After walking probably a mile back the curvy trail we found the highlight of Ace’s day…a small trail that led down to a bed of river rocks in the middle of the creek.

We spent probably 20 minutes there while Ace worked on his pitching arm by throwing the rocks into the creek.  Yes, he is a lefty… :)

And after his arm was tired from throwing and mine was tired from holding the camera we made our way back on down the trail.

It started off kinda chilly in the morning, but after all of this walking and throwing we had worked up a sweat.  Time to strip off some layers…

One of the most exciting parts of exploring these trails is not knowing where they lead.  I know that some of these trails make their way across the better parts of the East side of town, but luckily this one dumped us out about 300 feet from the truck.

We were both glad, because Momma had just texted us to let us know that lunch was about ready, and we had both worked up quite an appetite…  :D


2010 Vacation – Outer Banks, NC

Again this year we went to the Outer Banks for vacation.  We had a great time!  There were eight adults that went so we were able to split the cost and rent a really nice beach house!

Our Vacation Rental House At The Outer Banks

To get to the house you had to drive eight miles on the beach!  There were no roads to get to the house.  If you ever go to this part of the Outer Banks make sure you do your research and only attempt to drive on the beach at low tide.  :D   We got stuck twice on the way to the house and had to be pulled out both times.  :D

But, once we made it to the house we were able to relax in the pool and hot tub…

Ace In The Pool In North Carolina

Ace In The Pool In North Carolina

And our house was also in the Wild Horse Reserves, so there were wild horses everywhere!  They came right up to our house and even slept in our back yard…

Outer Banks Wild Horses

Outer Banks Wild Horses

Outer Banks Wild Horses Sleeping

Outer Banks Wild Horses Sleeping In The Back Yard

And when we were not playing on the beach…

Jared At The Beach

Jared At The Beach

Ace At The Beach

Ace At The Beach

Ace's Cousin Livi At The Beach

Ace's Cousin Livi At The Beach

Ace and Livi At The Beach

Ace and Livi At The Beach

…we went out to look at the famous light houses…

Currituck Light House

Currituck Light House

Cape Hatteras Light House

Cape Hatteras Light House

… saw the Inn at Roadanthe (From the movie Nights in Roadanthe)…

Inn At Roadanthe

Inn At Roadanthe

… saw all kinds of cool critters…

The Lizard

The Lizard

A Dragon Fly

A Dragon Fly

Pink and Yellow Moth

Pink and Yellow Moth

The Cool Bear

The Cool Bear

Whoever said vacation was relaxing?  :D   At the end of every day we were all pooped…

Ace Worn Out

Ace Worn Out

Ace, Calling It A Day

Ace, Calling It A Day

… and now we are back home…planning next year’s vacation.  :D


Ruby

Ace loves dogs!  He always gets so excited when he sees a dog.  So, after quite a bit of convincing from Momma, I finally gave in…

But Ruby is a puppy…a big puppy!  :D   And a hyper one at that.  The running and jumping is not Ace’s favorite part for sure…but I’m sure he’ll get used to it.  :D


Happy Valentines Day To Me!

It’s been snowing here a lot the past week.  Ace has never really enjoyed the snow.  When he goes outside in the snow he just stands there and looks in amazement and the white fluffiness covering the once green lawn.

I’ve tried to get him to lay down..roll around…pick up a sow ball…and nothing.  He just points,with a big smile on his face and says, “SNOOOOWWW!”

So the other day (I used a sick day…shhhhh) Ace and I went outside to play.  This time I dug my snow pants out of the closet and suited up with him.  I though that if I rolled around  in the snow that maybe he would soon follow and start to enjoy it.

Nope…instead there is a two year old standing pointing at the snow and a 31 year old rolling around in the drifts, making snow angels, and making snowmen like he was 8 years old again.

I had fun…not so sure about Ace.  :D

Anyways, the point of this post is that I took my digital camera outside to take pictures if Ace did decide to play in the snow.   Even though he did not roll around in the freshly fallen flakes, he did look pretty cool in his new snow attire.  So, I got out my camera…and nothing.  It would not turn on.

The batteries are probably dead.  Nope!  The camera is dead. D.E.A.D. Dead.

So, Momma, being the quick thinker and most excellent wife that she is went out and bought me a Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

She knew I would not spend that kind of money on a camera even though I have been talking about getting a DSLR for years!

Ace’s birthday is coming up next month and she was afraid that I would go out and buy a $200 point-and-shoot camera that I really did not want. (And you know what…she was right.)  :D

So, she surprised me with my Valentines Day present a week early.  (I was also informed that I will not be receiving any more gifts until next Christmas.)  :D

I’ve been practicing every night for a week now and am starting to get the hang of the thing.  Many buttons. Many settings.  Many things I have no idea what they are for.  :D

So,without further ado…I present my first photos taken with the new camera…

Me...seeing what I look like with my new companion.

Me...seeing what I look like with my new companion.

Ace being his onry self...

Ace eating pretzels (the only time he holds still long enough to take his picture is when he is eating. :D )

Ace Eating His Fingers

Ace Divided By Two

So there you have it.  I think I did OK, for being a complete beginner.  I’m planing on taking some workshops here in Columbus so that I can learn to use this camera to it’s fullest potential.

Maybe someday I can be as good as a few of my fellow blogger friends turned photographers…PG and Kim.