November Happenings

Last weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom, sister and nephew Mason. We were supposed to travel to Cincy but snow in the mountains prevented us from going. I'm so happy they came to us!!! It's so hard for me to look at this picture because I love this sweet baby so much. Miss him...

Addy's 9th birthday was on Thanksgiving Day but we celebrated the weekend before at her party with school friends.

We also celebrated Aaron's 5th birthday. The highlight was a trip to the Lego Store.

One weekend we explored north Charlotte and hiked at the Latta Plantation.

We went to the Raptor Center nearby which has tons of rescued birds.

This one was my favorite. Addy collects owls and we have one in our woods we hear hooting sometimes.

This is a picture of the park just through the woods behind our house. The kids love to go here.

We just walk through this forest to get to our house. It's so beautiful, especially with the colored leaves!

I didn't get the kids pictures in their Halloween costumes this year. But here's Benny in his festive bat shirt.

He's still got his baby blues.

So proud of this girl, she finally loves to read. We go to the library often to keep her interested.

And finally I want to brag about Jackson. His handwriting is almost better than mine! And he spends hours everyday with paper and pencil writing and illustrating books. So proud of him! Here's some of my favorites...

Welcome Visitors

Last weekend Bernie, Beth and Grandma Neubauer made the long and beautiful drive to NC. We stopped to take this picture while frisbee golfing at Idlewild Park near our house.

The Wrezinski's stayed downtown for the weekend while we got to hang out with Grandma. Saturday we went to a fall festival at Lazy 5 Ranch.

The best part was the safari you drive through in your car. The only rules were #1 don't get out of your car.

#2 Don't feed the zebra. And #3 don't run over the animals.

Within the first few minutes of the safari, an animal knocked Grandma's food bucket out of her hands and she GETS OUT OF THE CAR. She got out, not for her food bucket, but to get her glasses that were knocked off by an animal.

The kids freaked out from the large animal heads peeking into our car. They all jumped into the back seat where they stayed most of the drive.

It was hilarious and we all had a great time!

If you come to visit us we'll be taking you here.

On the last day of their visit we went to the town of Chimney Rock. Wow! A beach on Lake Lure with mountain views in the background. There's also a cute downtown where we ate lunch with views and a creek.

Jackson's described what he hopes heaven will be like...this is it. Heaven = Quiet + Nature + Pencil.

Here's Bernie and Aaron exploring the creek behind the restaurant.

This is at Chimney Rock State Park on our way up to the top. I got to take the elevator with Benny.

Everyone else wanted to walk up 26 flights of stairs.

Our honorary guests Uncle Bernie and Aunt Beth at the top.

We hiked up even higher to get this view.

We will be back to this place. It's gorgeous! And we didn't even get to go to the waterfall.

P.S. Happy 35th Birthday to me today!

So Much to Share

Today we went to a festival in Waxhaw, NC just 30 minutes south.

Josh paid $10 to participate in the BBQ tasting of 18 different competitors. He was full at 15, even with our help.

We were lucky enough to see a train pass through town. It was close enough to scare the kids.

The rest of the day we spent at Cane Creek Park also in Waxhaw.

It's so fun to go places you've never been before, espcially when they are this beautiful.

The lake was so peaceful. Most people must come in the summer because we were almost the only ones there.

My happy girl...I think she likes it here.

Our favorite Friday night activity...Metrolina high school football games. On the way to the game we saw 2 rainbows and it wasn't even raining.

This is Addy's friend Carmen. We sit with her parents at the game.

Our kids love going. I think it's the candy from the concession stand.

Last weekend we visited Patterson pumpkin farm.

This stand sold a drink famous in the area Cheerwine. Yummy!

The kids got to feed a bunch of different farm animals.

And playing in corn is way cleaner than playing in the sand.

Two weeks ago we visited an apple orchard on the top of a mountain near Hendersonville, NC.

It was beautiful but way too crowded. It was worth the wait for warm apple cider donuts.

Then we left shortly after because the lines were way too long.

Afterwards we explored downtown Hendersonville and went to a cute little aquarium.

The perfect end to an evening...roasting marshmellows by the campfire.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Neville for the cute Halloween PJs.

Benny already picked out his Halloween costume. He's going to be a power ranger.

Yay! Addy FINALLY learned how to ride a bike. I'm so proud of her and she loves it.

Here's the boys on their bikes on the greenways.

We caught this crayfish in the creek along the greenway.

We also saw the biggest catipillar ever!

This summer the kids favorite thing to do was play in the creek.

Speaking of giant bugs...we found this crazy big slug in our yard.

We made it to downtown Charlotte twice.

It only takes us about 20 minutes to get there.

We walked around and ate at a brick oven pizza place.

Another day we went to Freedom Park.

It's known as the central park of Charlotte.

Here are the boys trying to catch a lizard in the rock.

My sweet baby boy in the creek.

He's so much fun! I don't want him to get any older.

These spiders were everywhere. We even have one at our house. Yikes!

This is at Morrow Mountain State Park, just east of Charlotte about 1 hour.

Addy and Jackson were in school.

Love these action shots. And he didn't even cry.

The University of Charlotte botanical gardens.

And one final creek picture that makes me miss summertime.