October Fun

October is my favorite month to live in Virginia. The weather is beautiful, the trees are changing, and there are activities for the family every weekend! We ended September with the Annual Pig Roast at the Curtis' house. The kids played on the moonbounce and the adults enjoyed an afternoon of football, chatting, and excellent food! I sat under the tent with my friends from Orange/Culpeper Le Leche League, Jen and Melinda.

The first weekend of October was the Farm Tour. Josh had to work so Jennifer (my gorgeous younger sister) came up to help me out. It was nice to have an extra pair of hands with the boys. We went to the depot and got our passports then headed over to the farmers market to have a sample of goat cheese dip. Joshua often mistakes "free samples" for "all you can eat buffet" so we usually skip that vendor on our frequent saturday farmer's market trips. He enjoyed a triscuit while Jennifer and I tasted several flavors of local goat cheese dip. River happily hung out in the stroller. Our next stop was Andora Farm, where we saw a demonstration of horses herding cattle (by number- wish I remembered the name of the competition). It looked challenging, and the boys liked the animals. Joshua sat on a very large professional working cattle quarter horse and despite trying to be a cowboy, he was afraid when he realized how high he was. From there we went to Old House Vineyard. It's a lovely place, perfect for photos. We took a hayride tour of the vineyard and then Jennifer went to take the official walking wine tour and have a wine tasting. I got hotdogs and sodas for the boys (hmph I had a coke instead of wine!) and we ate on the picnic tables. I happened to see my friend Heather there so our boys played in the trees while we chatted (and I nursed Rylee). Rylee happily hung out in a ring sling all day, barely making a peep. This day it was our trusty Sakura Bloom double layer linen. It's my favorite sling, I used it frequently with River. I have one that is lilac/flax for Rylee, but for some reason the cloud/bayou colors call my name.

The next day, Sunday, Jennifer had gone home so I took the boys to the Alpaca farm. We went last year but the memory was tainted by the flat tire on the truck we got while getting there on the gravel road. (also named Gravel Road lol). The Alpaca's were cute and the boys liked it.
The baby Alpaca was just days old. After the Alpaca's, I took the kids to the pumpkin patch next to Dominion Square to play on the moonbounces. Joshua had been asking to go since he saw the moonbounces inflate! We didn't get pumpkins yet, we are hoping to go again.

We took a hike on White Oak Canyon. I wore Rylee in my Gypsy Mama Bali Baby Breeze. Stretchy wraps are so comfortable with newborns, and I knew it would be supportive enough for the long hike. We went with our friends, John and Christy Bahl, and their new sweet baby, Johnny. He is about 12 days older than Rylee. After hiking about 15 minutes I realized how out of shape I am! I stuck with it though and Rylee and I made it to the top (well- the lower falls for those of you who know!) I would like to do that hike once a week until Thanksgiving.

The second weekend in October brings the Air Fest and Graves Mountain Lodge Apple Festival, as well as the Taste of Culpeper. Friday we headed to the corn maze at Cows N Corn in Bealeton. We went to the Air Fest on Saturday, but it was windy and sprinkling and they announced that all the planes wouldn't be flying. So we left and headed to Graves. On the way, it became sunny and the rain stopped. Figures!

So halfway through october and we have had LOTS of fall fun. There is one more pumpkin patch place I want to take the kids and that is in Ruckersville. I hear they have one mean shark slide and lots of moonbounces! Since Joshua and River both seem most into the moonbounces these days, I figure we need to make that trip.