Day Trip to Evans Orchard

I've had this post in draft for a few weeks so here it is, finally.

Today we went to Evans Orchard with a group of ladies from our ward. There was no school for Porter today so it was a perfect excuse to get the kids out of the house. I love being able to pick fresh fruit and am really missing Green Bluff in Spokane.
There was tons of stuff to do. Here is the tractor ride that took you to different parts of the orchard.
Luckily I remembered to pack lunches. Cheese!

The boys' favorite part was the play area and Coolidge could not get enough of this Corn Hole game.

Here's a video of him in action.

Here are the boys making their way through the hay castle maze. They also had a small corn maze.

This picture cracks me up! Mason was stuck like that for a few minutes trying to decide which way to go.
Coolidge even found a little tunnel just his size.
And if you have boys you will totally appreciate the power of a huge dirt pile. Yeah, they were covered from head to toe by the time we left.
Porter and Campbell loved these huge tubes.
Unfortunately, if you lost your balance you had to hold on for dear life until the tube stopped rolling. This was NOT one of Mason's favorite things.
And I even had a great time on this slide. A little bumpy but it was fast.

Campbell on a John Deere tractor.

Mason and Coolidge were fascinated by this goat and wouldn't let me leave.
And of course there was apple picking. Can you tell it was a posed picture? Work with me guys.
There were rows and rows of trees to pick from so we got a great variety. We got a huge bag of apples, but I have a feeling it won't last very long. The apples are delicious and I even got a gallon of apple cider that is amazing. I wish I had gotten 2.

Oh well, there's always next year.

One Year Old!

Wednesday, September 17th was Coolidge's 1st Birthday and I was just thinking that it is amazing that one little person could go from this...

...to this in just one year!

Now, due to a miraculous event the night before (Campbell got up on his own in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom) Andersen promised that I would make WAFFLES Wednesday morning. Fortunately for Andersen I was able to 'kill two birds with one stone,' and agreed to make Birthday/Good-job-for-getting-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-to-use-the-bathroom waffles. So here is Coolidge enjoying his Birthday waffles.

And here is Campbell enjoying HIS waffles. Mason is just enjoying having waffles, totally oblivious to anything else.

It was a pretty calm day, but somehow we managed to wipe Coolidge out and he fell asleep right in the middle of dinner (which really is quite a feat at our dinner table).

After the power nap Coolidge was ready to party!
And his nap gave me just enough time to finish putting together his cake. Hopefully you can tell that it's a big number 1. Porter kept telling me all day long that a number 1 would be a boring cake and kept making other cake suggestions. But I did eventually hear him comment, "that's a COOL cake."
I really don't think any of them cared what it LOOKED like, just what it tasted like.
Every one but Coolidge that is. All he was interested in were two round packages my parents had sent. Porter and Campbell helped him open them up and they were two huge bouncy balls that are still wreaking havoc around the house.














Coolidge really had no idea what the cake was, and Andersen had to force some frosting on him before he understood.

"Now I Get It!"
Here is one of the presents my parents sent (Thank you Grandpa Adams). When our mailman delivered the package to our door he warned me there was a toy inside and as soon as he handed the package to me something inside said "To the Bat Cave" and then started shaking. Apparently this toy is activated when you shake it and I can only imagine how long our poor mailman had to listen to "Turbo engaged," and "To the Bat Cave" before he finally reached our house. But it is perfect for Coolidge because all he has to do is pick it up and drop it and it will take off. He thinks that's pretty neat.

He also got some great books (that Mason insists on sleeping with) and a stuffed Pluto doll from Grandpa & Grandma Grigg that the boys strap to the top of the Bat Mobile to "give him a ride." Hey, no better way to get around if you're a stuffed animal, right?

Since Coolidge had no idea what to do with the cake he definitely wasn't grasping the concept of opening presents. Luckily his brother's knew what to do and they all chipped in to help. Unfortunately they all claimed whatever they opened. Thank goodness Coolidge doesn't care yet.

But he did finally get the hang of the cake and kept reaching into everyone's bowls for another handful of cake. Here is Porter trying to save his cake.

Happy Birthday my little Coolidge!