Pellissippi State Balloon Festival

Last night we went to the Balloon Festival at Pellissippi State Community College.

When we got to the festival, the balloons were being set up to all do a short flight over the ridge. Carter LOVED the balloons.


Rylan wasn't as impressed ...












Once the balloons were out of sight, Brian and Carter watched a dog show where the dogs did agility courses and caught frisbees. It was really crowded (Carter had to sit on Brian's shoulders to see) and the speakers were super loud so Rylan and I found a spot to set up for the balloon glow.

The boys did amazing for the hour and a half we had to wait for it to get dark. The temperature dropped pretty quick as the sun set, but we came prepared and we all stayed warm. I took Rylan back to the car once to eat, we fed Carter some food we'd packed, and Brian and I ate food we bought at the festival. The rest of the time, Carter was hyper jumping all over us and running in circles around the picnic blanket. Luckily though he stayed with us and we didn't have to go chasing after him. Rylan was pretty content either laying on the picnic blanket or sitting on my lap under some blankets.


The balloon glow started on time at 8:30 pm (thankfully, because Rylan was starting to get fussy). All the balloons filled up again, but this time they stayed on the ground. Carter really wanted to see them fly again because he kept pointing at the balloons and then pointing to the sky.


The pilots ignite the burners of the balloons along to music. It's pretty cool.



Here are a couple of videos of the not-so-syncronized-to-the-music balloon glow ...

We watched the glow for about 15 minutes and then made our way back to our car. Rylan had had enough. And it was super crowded and we wanted to try to avoid sitting in traffic. Unfortunately the police and security staff did a terrible job of getting everyone out of the parking lot and it still took us forever. Rylan screamed the entire time too.

So except for the very end of the night, we had a great time.

Maple Lane Farms

We took the kids out to Maple Lane Farms yesterday morning. We went there with Carter last year (also on the first Saturday in October). It was a gorgeous day - perfectly clear sky and not too hot or too cold - just like last year.

We got to the farm, which is a little bit outside of Maryville, just after it opened at 10 am. After feeding Rylan in the car, we made our way to the corn maze first. Carter was initially really excited about following the paths through the corn.




Carter's awe wore off pretty quickly and he wanted to be carried ...



Luckily Carter let Brian put him on his shoulders most of the time which Brian thought was the easier way to carry Carter.



Carter's "cheese" face ...


"That way, Daddy" ...


Whenever we came to an intersection where we didn't know which way to go, we asked Carter and he'd point. Sometimes he'd look like he was seriously trying to figure out which way was right. He'd stick out his bottom lip, squint his eyes, look from side to side, and then point. We were really surprised by how often Carter was right!

I carried Rylan in the Bjorn while we did the maze. He actually slept almost the entire time. He was heavy and I was starting to drag after awhile. My back is pretty sore today.

Carter refused to walk after the first 5 minutes and wasn't in the best mood while going through the maze. Brian even made the comment, "We paid money for this?" Brian did find a way to keep him entertained by the end though - Carter liked when Brian would run him into some leaning corn.

I have pictures of Carter putting his head in these boards last year too ...



I tried to get some pictures of the kids with the pumpkins, but it was difficult. Carter was not cooperating - he wouldn't stay where I put him or look at me. And it's hard to pose Rylan since he can't sit on his own yet. It didn't help that there weren't many areas set up for pictures. I think I still got a few cute pictures.












After our little photo session, we took the kids on the hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Carter really liked the tractor ...


Rylan was happy at first (not crying may be a better description) ...


Carter liked looking at the everything on the farm. He's been chewing on his fingers more and more lately. He especially does it when he's not 100% comfortable, such as when he's around people he doesn't know.


"Moos!"



This is what Rylan was like most of the hayride. I was able to calm him down for awhile, but I think he was getting hungry because eventually there was nothing I could do to console him.


I think that the farm had a poor crop of pumpkins this year. Last year we were able to pull pumpkins off the vines. This year, most of the pumpkins were already cut and just sitting in the field. I think the farm had to purchase pumpkins from somewhere else and put them in their fields because I noticed one pumpkin with a sticker on it!

Carter had fun exploring the pumpkin field but got frustrated because his feet kept getting stuck in the vines.


We picked out two small pumpkins for Carter and Rylan. After the hayride, I fed Rylan again and Brian got Carter a snack. I wanted to try to get some more pictures of the boys with the pumpkins, but it was already 12:30 pm and we needed to get Carter home for lunch and a nap before he started to melt down.

This year was a lot more work on our parts than last year when we just had Carter who was almost one year old, but we still had fun!

Fun Saturday

We had a super fun day today. I'll post more about it tomorrow because we just got home and put the kids to bed and I want to go to bed soon too. But here are a few "teaser" pictures from today ...

What I've been missing ...

Carter FINALLY started calling me Mama this week. He used to say mama when he was just starting to make sounds, but he probably never really knew what he was saying.

Carter has been able to name everyone in our family (Daddy, Baby, Doggie) except for me forever. It didn't bother me, but it's pretty cool now that he calls me Mama.