Sad Days

I was considering stopping writing this blog, since the main fan of news of the kids was their grandfather.  He sadly and unexpectedly passed away last week and we are all devastated.  As I was reading back through some of the posts, though, I realized that this is a place of lots of good memories of time spent with Ray Ray, and just as I appreciate that now - there may come a time in the future that I will look for words and memories and thoughts from these years too.  So, I will skip over the last couple of weeks that I will likely never forgot for how sad and shocked and heartbroken we all have been and jump right in to the last couple of days!

This weekend we went with So-So to see Frozen, Disney on Ice.  Fabulous show, and even more fun than watching the kids try to recreate the theatrics once we got home - backyard version, which was pretty hilarious.  I can't explain the fanatical love of the movie by every child I know, but I do admit that it is a pretty good movie and was fun to watch on ice.  It is a very different experience nowadays than when we went to ice shows and circuses and performances when they were younger.  Back then they were probably more in awe, but now they truly get what is going on and can enjoy all aspects of the performance.  Big thank you to So So for braving ridiculous traffic and it being super cold inside of the arena, to treat us to a fantastic afternoon. 

This morning, as I was trying to get my and the kids schedules straight in my mind for the next month - lots going on with the end of baseball (which Tyler still absolutely loves) season, school activities, holidays, school breaks, etc. - I realized that we will not have an opportunity to go to any of the Fall festivals or pumpkin patches any weekends before Halloween.  Fall activities like that are some of my favorite things and I really love that Nashville has so many fun things to do once Autumn arrives, and I didn't want to miss out this year!  So, today, we made a trek out to Lucky Ladd Farms.  It is about an hour away, but the farm we usually go to was visited by the kids on a school field trip just a week ago, so we wanted to check out somewhere new.  It was awesome!  Lots to do, perfect weather, and definitely worth the drive.  The friendliest animals ever in the petting zoo, good ole fashioned farm activities like tire swings, playing in the corn, hay rides, and sack slides, topped off with candy apples and fresh squeezed lemonade - made for a great day!