Bucket List

Who doesn't have riding an elephant on their bucket list?! I didn't think it would ever be checked off, so when our neighborhood announced that they would have an elephant at our fall festival I was so excited. So check that one off!!

There were also other things that Russell was probably more excited about doing, like the petting zoo. He was in animal heaven chasing them all over the pen. He really wanted to catch a chicken or duck, but never succeed. 

There were also carnival rides that Russell was trying really hard to convince us to take him on. He mostly wanted to go on them because they were a car ride, boat ride and airplane ride. Maybe in a few years little guy! But he did get to go on the little train, so not a total loss.

Totally thrilled to be on a train...

Our neighborhood is pretty awesome! This is our second fall festival here and it did not disappoint!

Ka-Chow Parties

As all birthdays should, Russell's birthday was celebrated multiple times! He was lucky to celebrate and open lots of presents many times around his actual birthday.

His first celebration was the day before his birthday. We went to Chili's for his birthday dinner. He got to open a couple presents, was sang to, and got a free birthday dessert.

Working on his ice cream mustache

Russell started his birthday in a very traumatic way by tipping his chair back and smacking his head on the floor. Luckily he was able to recover (his chair is too scary to sit at now though) and still have a fun day. He spent the morning partying with Wesley. First they invaded the library and spent lots of time in their kid section reading books, doing puzzles and playing on the computers. After the weather warmed up a bit we headed to the park and they ran around like mad men until it was time to go home and nap.

That night Aunt Ashee came to party while her parents went to Austin. We had a mini party with a rice krispy cake and presents.

Happy birthday boy with all his new big vehicles!

Then a few days later we had his 'big' birthday party with friends and family. He was a popular guy this year. Wesley and his parents, Emily (Stephen's coworker) and David, Papa, Bear, Ashee, and Grandma were all able to come party with us. We had Navajo tacos, birthday cake, ice cream and presents! He was very spoiled and wanted to play with each present as he opened it... except clothes, those got tossed to the floor immediately!

Successful birthday celebrating! 

Pumpkin King in a Pumpkin Patch

We were so lucky to have my mom come and visit us for Russell's birthday. We had her and Ashlyn with us that weekend, so we decided to spend our Saturday exploring one of the many pumpkin patches near us.

Russell was in outside heaven. There were wood cut-outs of lots of cartoon characters for Russell to check out when we first got there.

There were also tons of big blow-up play areas. Russell decided he wanted to go down one of the slides, but was too scared to go up himself. Luckily Aunt Ashee was nice enough to assist him since Mommy is too big for those things now.

Then he headed to the major pumpkin part of the patch. There was a lot of fun in that section. They had wagons to pull pumpkins in, which worked great for pulling Russells temporarily too until they decide they need to push it. There was a hayride, giant hay mountain to climb, tons of pumpkins, and a small train ride. Russell could have stayed for hours!

We did take some family pictures in the patch. Mostly to have a nice picture to finally fill a frame that has been empty for months in our front room.