October in (mostly) Pictures

If you're wondering why I was pretty much MIA for most of October, it was because I feel like I blinked and it was gone! We ran non-stop all month at full speed and I don't think November is going to be much different. October might just be my favorite time of year here in the Midwest though with our crisp sunny days and vibrant leaves. And now that we have Jake we certainly take much more advantage of some fall fun. So without further ado... here is our month in review...

At the start of the month, Jake and I hit the road to head to Georgetown, Kentucky to visit the Vans. On the way we made a pit stop (with perfect timing... Jake was really antsy to get out of his car seat by this point) and spent about an hour with my friend Lara and her family. Lara and I went to high school together and have stayed in touch throughout the years. I felt like nothing had changed after so much time even though we both are married with kiddos now! Now that I know that she's right on the way, I see many more pit stops and visits on future trips!

We finally made it to our destination and guess who was there to surprise us??? Baby Adam! And his mommy of course as well as my mommy! :)

Auntie Angie was over the moon to have both of the boys at her house!

Kevin and Kyle were so good with the little ones. Kevin carried them around pretty much wherever they went and Kyle spent a lot of time playing on the floor with them. They even told their friends that they couldn't come out and play because their cousins were in town.


The two definitely made up for lost time and we felt like they were almost always up to something

They wreaked havoc on the Van household

But they looked so cute doing it! We had them race a couple of times, but since I don't have a copy of the video, you'd have to check out my sister's post about the trip here

We just couldn't get enough of the two of them together!

The best part of our trip was a visit to Bi-Water Farms, a local pumpkin patch

This place had everything! First we measured to see how tall we were in October 2010

Then we checked out the playground(s)... there were several for adults and kids!

Then we did a little trike racing! I would love to show all of these pictures, but I fear that someone might hunt me down for a couple in particular

Jake got plenty of attention from his aunties

And from Gramma, too, of course!

She was so excited to have all four of her grandbabies in one place at the same time... this was a first for our family!

And here is the whole gang sans Josh Van who was nice enough to be the photographer! All of the Elder ladies and their boys!

Next we hopped back in the car and headed north to Ohio. On the way we stopped in Cincinnati to see another Laura... this one is a friend from college! We hadn't seen each other since my wedding and a lot has changed since then! The picture isn't the greatest since we snapped it with a Blackberry, but it gets the job done. For now this is the only picture I have from my Ohio leg of the trip because I am still waiting on the others from my cousins. Hmmm... maybe I should send a reminder! Another point to note was that I got some sort of flu virus while on my trip and I think Jake had a touch of it, too. Three days later Laura informed me that she had caught our bug, but let us know that it was worth it to see us. What a great friend!

Once we were back safely in Illinois, we spent a lot of time outdoors. Jake thought it was hilarious when Josh would throw leaves in the air

We didn't go in the corn maze this year, but we did skirt the perimeter to get our annual family pictures with the corn... so far we have no good ones of all three of us in the corn. Oh well... maybe next year

We had to check out the local pumpkin patch here in town, too! Although it was tiny in comparison, Jake was quite festive in his little orange and black outfit. Josh found a great apple orchard while we were away that we wanted to visit, but the month got away from us. It's another thing on our to-do list for next fall.

Thankfully he is finally starting to smile for the camera! It makes the pictures so much cuter!

And that brings us to the end of the month. We went over to the Tucker's house to help eat hand out candy on Halloween. Brody was a little monkey and Jake dressed up as a spider!

This is the closest we could get to a smile... he was not thrilled with the idea of wearing a hat!


We also carved pumpkins again this year, but this time we used a pattern for the first time ever. I think it turned out great! Sure, I still think it's "cheating" but the end result is so much better!

I wish I had video of him crawling in this costume... it was too funny!

So that about wraps it up. In Jake news, he started crawling just before our trip to Kentucky and hasn't slowed down since. He also cut his first tooth while we were there and got a second one last week! But my favorite thing? His incessant rambling of Mamamamamama... granted, I think Mama is his word of choice for just about everything, but I'll take it!

Now that October has come and gone the countdown for the holidays begins! Yahooooo! Looks like you'll be seeing more of Adam and his parents on the blog soon! I hope you're enjoying the last bit (or first bit for you Floridians) of your autumn season as much as we are. Now bring on the snow!