Pumpkin Patch

Last night we went out to Mother Nature's Farm to the pumpkin patch. It was lots of fun for all of us. Of course the first struggle started on the hay ride. Keaton wanted to get down and walk around so there was a little tantrum as we held him back from falling off a tractor, but once we went over a few little bumps he was happy to sit on the bench with us. Next we tried the bouncy house. We waited for a few bigger kids to get out then let him in. He never stood up but loved it when other kids would bounce around him. I was a little worried that he was never coming out....I certainly didn't want to crawl in and get him, but he did. Next was picking a pumpkin. Kids got to pick a 1 oz. pumpkin. This was another difficult task because he just wanted to walk back to the bouncy house. He did pick up a few, but in the end I tried to find a round one with the least amount of bird poop on it. Then came the decorating, he loved sticking all the stickers onto his pumpkin, then was very excited to carry it around, of course ten minutes later most of the stickers were pulled off and in his mouth. But it's still a cute little pumpkin. At the end of the night we saw a box where they were selling baby chicks for $5. Keaton loved listening to those little chicks peep, although he kept saying "quack" at them. But that was close, a baby chick looks a lot like a baby duck, so I give him credit. Just like we planned, he was worn out and on the way home fell right to sleep. Another good family outing.

New York

We recently took a family trip to New York. Here's a quick recap of our adventure.

Day 1: Flew out of PHX at 11:00 pm...arrived at JFK 7:00 am. Flight was pretty good because Keaton slept through most of it. Had breakfast with Grandpa Marty, played at a nice park, headed out to Elaine and Joe's place in NJ had a nice dinner with a few of their friends and family for Rosh Hashanah












Day 2: Picked up Aunt Jenn, went to see Joanne and Mike, had lunch with Marty, headed back to Jersey. We barbequed outside for dinner. It was so nice. Almost chilly outside especially considering we came from temps over 100 here. Keaton loved it there...the horses, chickens, dogs. He really just loved being outside. Plus he had a ton of new friends and family to entertain him. Later that evening we went to see Jackie and Justin's new house and to introduce them to Keaton, since he wasn't coming to the wedding with us. Then back to NY - we stayed the night at John's place

Day 3: Jennifer rode the train in with Elaine. After we met up with her we headed out to a parade. It was for Westchester County fire departments. We watched bands and bagpipers and lots of fire engines. Keaton loved the music and we waved when "Uncle John" came by in his SUV playing lots of fun sirens for us. We also got to see Nicole and her mother and pics of Melissa's wedding. Later we met back up with Grandpa Marty for dinner at the diner :)


Day 4: The wedding - Josh and I were gone from about 11 - 5 for Jackie and Justin's wedding. So everyone else was in charge of watching Keaton. They all had a great time with him...of course. He especially loved driving the golf cart with Joe. We all went out to eat...Elaine, Joe, Marty, Jennifer, Josh, Deanna & Keaton at a Chinese buffet that Josh just really loves. It is pretty big I would have to agree.


Day 5: Monday...we're going home...this was a bit of a crazy day. We spent some time at the mall buying Keaton some NY stuff...a Yankees outfit and a Jets jersey. Met up with Marty again for some lunch at an Irish place with the "best burgers in town" later we saw that same sign on another restaurant. I guess here it was like we drove from Gilbert to Mesa...so we technically were in another town. They were very good burgers. We stopped by a bakery to take some good stuff home with us and we said good-bye to Aunt Jenn and Grandpa Marty. We did a little walking around and headed to the airport....long story short....Josh missed the flight so Keaton and I had long flight home...two dirty diapers and plenty of wiggling on a very full flight! Luckily Josh made it home safe and sound the next morning (although he ate all the cookies I bought for my family).

It was our first MAJOR trip with Keaton and everything is a little difficult with a 1 year old but we survived and he was on his best behavior for everyone he met. Hopefully our NY family and friends will make it out here for Josh's graduation in May. We also plan on going there again before Keaton turns 2 and it costs us money for him to fly.