Weekend apple picking

Last weekend was a busy one.  Well, when is it not a busy weekend?  I talked Amy P. into meeting me with her boys to take some pumpkin patch photos.  The pumpkin outing turned into a 'let's play at our house' afternoon which are the best afternoons.  We headed up to Woodstock for a Big Green Egg dinner of ribs with the Mitchell's.  Mmm, mmm, thank you Bridgette and Dave.  Kobe met his first dog since he's been in seclusion until his vaccines were current.  He made an instant friend with Sam and the Mitchell girls loved having Kobe around.
We started Saturday with a baseball game for Zach, then on to the zoo for the kids with Stephanie and a GA Tech football game for Dave and me.  It's finally football weather - woo hoo!  Dave must have eaten his Wheaties Sunday because he was up and rushing us to Dobbins for the Blue Angels airshow.  I saw parts of the show all week in my backyard, so I wasn't as enthused.  Turns out, it took us an hour in traffic and parking, and then on the bus ride to get to the airfield.  Throngs of people made it very difficult to keep up with the kids.  I'll spare you the details, but we left within the hour.  I love the airshow, but it wasn't worth seeing the inside of one plane to deal with that crowd.  Our backyard is just fine....

On to north Georgia for some apple picking.  We went back to BJ Reese Apple Orchards and took Kobe with us this year.  That little pup got lots of attention.  We picked 1/2 a peck of apples; they were all so yummy.  I think Olivia ate 5 apples that day and I had 4!  Yes, they were that good.  Zach had his eye on the apple cannons.  He was big enough this year, so we had fun shooting apples across the field.  I'm looking forward to it again next year.  This orchard has a petting farm as well, so Olivia spent most of her time with the bunnies and Zach had a few near misses with pony and goat poop.  Kobe and a goat had a stare down and a few words with each other.  This family was busy from sun up to sun down (as always), but it was all good :-)

I couldn't resist getting a photo of Zach taking a potty break.  Ah, boys!

30 minutes in the life of...

Starts out as......Kobe staring at neighbor cleaning screens, said neighbor walks over and offers blow-up pumpkin decoration for my yard (this should have tipped me off), Jennifer works, slaves, fights with said blow-up pumpkin 'witch' in my front yard.  Kids 'help' by leaving socks, flip flops, toys in my direct way, Jen fights with extension cords and tie down stakes.  Kids bring Kobe out, Kobe tries to eat metal stakes, Jen trips over flip flop and Kobe.  Kids hop on scooters and plasma car, Kobe chases after them into the street.  Jen runs in to grab leash (thanks kids), ties Kobe to railing, trips over Kobe, kids disappear down the road...don't worry, they'll come back...with soiled socks since they've tossed their shoes.  Jen plugs in blow-up pumpkin, pumpkin (which is now staked down) is facing the wrong way.  Crikey! Jen corrects the problem, thinks to herself, "hmm, I could use a drink".  Jen walks in house to get a timer.  Timer has battery leak, so it doesn't work, Jen writes 'timer' on her Target list.  Jen pours a glass of wine from an opened bottle, wine is gross (typical).  I'm starting to get winded at this point, but I have to finish.  Jen goes back out to clean up.  BIG dog, Jake, next door has escaped and neighbor is running after him.  Jen thinks, 'hmm, Kobe is tied down and is approximately 7 times smaller than Jake, I should take him in.  Jen spies a hawk flying ahead, circling....what is it with this dog?!  Protect the dog!!  Jen isn't wearing shoes either (wonder where the kids get it) and scrapes her big toe across the concrete.  Goodbye beautiful pedicure and part of my toe nail.  Kids have disappeared again, Jen walks Kobe down to pool to check on them.  Zach is 'training' Olivia to race and has a race track drawn in chalk on the concrete.  Kobe poops in the green space and Jen doesn't have a poop bag.  Jen walks back to house to get poop bag, runs into neighbors who give me one.  Finally everyone heads home to bed.  Olivia forgets to close garage door, Jen forget to double check, garage door is open all night....Dave is out of town.  Yes, this is more than 30 minutes...


Jen wakes up to garage door open, takes Kobe out to pee, which he does, then he proceeds to go upstairs to Zach's room and poop (in 3 wet and messy spots).  Ahhh and another day has begun.  But the blow up pumpkin is cute :-)

Dad's 70th birthday and much more

How is it that you can turn 70 and no one serves you cake?  That's what happened to my dad on October 5th.  Yes, he turned the big 70 and he was big enough to not ask for the cake.  Even though, we all know he loves my mom's German Chocolate cake and her Coconut Cake.  Poor thing, he's watching his diet and good for him!  We celebrated his birthday at our huge Patterson family reunion with a potluck.  After all of that food, he didn't need cake!  What better way to celebrate, than have your brother from Oregon join you?  My dad and Uncle Ronnie are best friends, so they look forward to their (hopeful) annual visit as soon as the last visit ends.  My dad is the true gambler with the Hard Rock shirt on, but they both take the cake when it come to being funny!  Take a look at that huge family; that's what you get when your great-grandparents have a bunch of kids!  We've always had fun together and the tradition continues.

I'm a bit behind in activities, so I'll catch up quickly....

Happy Birthday to Nonnie (aka Joan Pryor) on October 5th as well.  Dave's mom and my dad share a birthday.
Zach was psyched about the Petit Le Man at Road Atlanta that weekend as well.  We were there all day Saturday (first weekend in October).

He got a boost and help with the pedals on the Xbox game from our favorite, Hurley Haywood.  

Dave is prepping to race with Hurley Halloween weekend in the Cayman Series, so stay tuned for updates on that one!

Let's not forget about baseball...this is our first year with Smyrna Little League and it is so much fun.  The season will be over Halloween weekend.  The pitching machine is hard to get used to, but the kids are enjoying themselves, so hopefully we'll play this coming spring as well.

This past weekend was busy, busy, busy, and I have lots of photos to share....later. So now I'm only one week behind.  Eh, not so bad.

Tim McGraw and Nashville dinner

Before I forget....Dave and I had the chance to head up to Nashville for the night on Sept. 29th for an event featuring chef Tim Love and music by Tim McGraw.  Tim Love is a wonderful chef and hey, who doesn't love a good meal?  Wine pairings were served - way too many wine servings.  Faith Hill and Tim McGraw were both supposed to entertain, but they had just returned from Australia and we were told that she wanted to put the kids to bed.  Sweet.  The chef and Tim McGraw shopped the local markets for ingredients for the meal.  We do not know many country songs, but with only 70 people in attendance in the small Union Station venue, it was a truly great experience.  I apologize for the crappy photo, but I realized our camera was no longer working at the dinner.  Thanks iPhone camera for coming through!  McGraw is in the middle (no hat...WITH hair!)  The wine guy is wearing the hat.

Fall 'crazy' Break and beyond

When Fall Break came around, I was more than happy to take a break from the routine of school, activities, cooking and homework.  We had Dave for a full week, no interruptions.  It was bliss for the most part while we had a quiet few days at the lake with our puppy, who now loves the beaches and boat.  We also stopped by Auburn the day after a big win to witness Toomer's Corner and the TP celebration.  Kobe and the kids did not know what to think of it.  Of course, they soon found the entire mess tons of fun.

The latter part of the week, we flew to upstate New York to visit Dave's mom and family.  Unfortunately, Dave's 92 year old grandmother, Nan, passed away while we were there.  Ninety-two is amazing age for anyone, and Nan is in a much better place.  

The Adirondacks were in full color.  This is the first that Olivia and Zach have seen (or remember) of this area of the country. Olivia was three months old for her only trip to Nonnie's.  What a wonderful time to visit!  We missed a photo with Dave's cousin, Sue and her daughter, Katelyn, who turned 16 while we were there.  Happy 16th to you!  This is Dave's other cousin, Larry and his wife, Denise and daughter, Danielle.  

Dave and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on Sept. 22.  Dave surprised me with a trip north of his mom's and we stayed at a B&B, called Inn by the Mill.  The Inn is historic for being a stopping point in the Underground Railroad.  The innkeeper was an interesting character, to say the least.  He didn't let us get a word in edgewise, so we did say the least!  The Hog Haus, seriously, it housed several hogs during the day, was our room for the night.  It was overflowing with hog decorations.  Where do you find all of that stuff, anyway?

Dinner was at Beardsley Castle, which is said to be haunted.  Check it out during Halloween on the Sci-Fi channel.  They will be airing a special on the castle.  We didn't witness any ghosts, but we did put back a nice dirty martini in the dungeon bar.  Guess what?!  They had gluten free appetizer bread for me and it was wonderful!  The food was fabulous and the castle is in a beautiful part of the country.  We finished our trip off with a hike up the rocky riverbed the next morning.  It was a slippery, but we love a good hike anytime. Happy 9th Anniversary to us!

Dave and I took the kids to the Utica zoo.  This zoo has been around for a VERY long time, witnessed by the surroundings, but we all has so much fun.  We will all remember the little fox named Sherlock.  He reminded us of Kobe.  

After delayed flights from NY and a late night/early morning arrival, we settled back in.  Gavin's 6th birthday party beckoned us out of the house to celebrate.  It was rainy, but I don't think any of the kids cared.  They had a silly string fight, watched a movie, decorated cupcakes and ate lots and lots of candy.  Olivia was so pooped after the party, she passed out with a lollipop in her mouth.  Cavities anyone?

It was nice to be back home, and made me appreciate 'routine' a little more.