Oh How I Love the Fall...(just wish winter wasn't almost here).

Yesterday, I had the best day.  I have a lot of paid time off left at work for this year, and if I don't use it, I lose it.  So, I just took a day off.  Not because we were traveling, not because we had company, not because I was sick....just to spend the day with Glenn and Eliseo.  I even planned it on Glenn's 2nd day off so that I could wake him up relatively early (those of you who work nights,  or whose spouses work nights understand this).  It was a little rainy in the morning, so I took my time waking up and just enjoyed time with my little man.  We took a short nap after breakfast, and woke up at 10.  Luckily all the clouds rolled away and the sun was a-shinin!  We left the house a little after noon, but the places we had planned to go were only about 15-20 minutes away.

A couple of people recommended we went to a place called "Pumpkins Galore," or known the rest of the year as Mikus Farms.  What a great place!  A lot of the weekend festivities were not going on, i.e. funnel cake/kettle corn, punkin chunkin, live entertainment to name a few, but for the things that were open, we pretty much had the place to ourselves (after a big field trip left).  Now don't get me wrong, I love funnel cake, kettle corn, exploding pumpkins and live entertainment, but I'd take a slow day over a crowded day every time.  Especially with an 18 month old.  I didn't have to worry about rushing him along, or getting trampled by the older kids and therefore me having to beat them up.  He just took his time, walking up and down the rows of the pumpkin patch, touching every pumpkin.  And we just let him wander til his little heart was content.  Until he wandered into the goat area.  Talk about some good entertainment.  He was so enamored with the goats!  Constant laughter!  And then the sharing of the apple juice, he offered his sippy cup to every single goat.  And a couple of them took him up on it. 

Next over to the tractors.  He tried out a few different models but found that the Daddy assisted John Deere was the best.  And lastly, we hung out in the "grain boxes."  I have no other way to describe these than as would be sand boxes that were filled with corn kernels instead of sand.  Freakin brilliant!  OK, so I've mentioned that E likes to "cook,"  in these kernel pools, they had all kinds of sand castle makings, shovels, sifters....he played in here for at least an hour.  I jumped in with him....cuz....why not??? 

On our way out, we hit the baby swings, if he wasn't having so much fun laughing he would have totally passed out.  Which he did....in the car and during lunch.

After lunch we headed out to an apple orchard a little further away.  Much of the same type of activities and scenery, but we picked up some fresh apples and cider.  YUM-O. 

What a fantastic day.  I might have mentioned, I'm 39 years old now (ugh).  I've been working for the better part of 20 years.  I have an 18 month old child.  I can afford to take a day off every now and then just to spend with him.  A lot of my friends are stay at home moms, and they get to take their kids to do this stuff any day of the week.  I want Eliseo to know that he is special enough to me that I can ditch work for a day to do nothing other than what HE wants to do.  I plan to do this more often, I work to live, not live to work.  :)))!!!

Now, the insane amount of pictures that were taken...below.