A hayride for the ages.

Our fall festivities continued this weekend.  We met one of Lleyton's friends from daycare and his family at a farm near our house yesterday afternoon.  This farm has what many others you might visit during this time of year have, a small petting zoo, a corn maze, a small pumpkin patch, and a play area for the kids made out of hay bales. 

What sets this experience apart from others is the hayride. 

It's no ordinary ride, as it takes you deep into the farm where all of the cows reside. These cows are accustomed to having visitors and are not bashful about coming right up the their new friends and "politely" asking for an ear of corn or two. 

This one in particular seemed to have his eye on me (and I was thankful that I was on the other side of the trailer).

Here are a few other pictures from our enjoyable afternoon/evening.

Today's activity was making jack-o-lanterns.  What better way to spend a few minutes after yet another Bengals loss than by taking out my frustration on a couple unsuspecting pumpkins.

Pumpkin picking fun.

Our travel this afternoon took us back to Tuttle's Orchard where we spent some more quality time with the Lopers.  Our little guys were very excited to get back to the orchard, as we really enjoyed our apple picking adventure a couple of weeks ago. 

It didn't take long for Lleyton to take off running through the seemingly endless fields of pumpkins in search of the perfect gourd.

His goal was to find a "huge, huge, giant pumpkin.  The biggest pumpkin in the world."  This wouldn't win any contest, but it was the one that caught his eye after a lengthy search.

He had quite a selection to choose from.

This boy never objects to having his picture taken.

Our future Gap model.

The unseasonably warm weather (not complaining) we had here today cut our time at the orchard a little shorter than we had expected, but not too short to try to capture a decent shot of our little ones enjoying hanging out together.

Lleyton thoroughly enjoyed his time on top of the tower of straw.  He could be heard from far and wide exclaiming, "I am king of the world!"

Last, but not least, how could I fail to share this gem of Sara with her straw chewin' country girl Addy.

Our first annual visit to the apple orchard.

We took a very enjoyable detour on the way to Kokomo this afternoon, as we made a stop at Tuttle's Orchard outside of Indianapolis.  Sara has been wanting to take the kids to pick apples for quite awhile and now I know why. 

We met up at the orchard with one of Lleyton's friends and his mom.  Roman and Lleyton lived together in the orphanage in Samara.  Their birthdays are only separated by a couple of days, so I am pretty sure the staff at the orphanage really had their hands full starting in early December 2006.

The boys had a great time together playing in the hay maze and on the swing set and sandbox.  After reuniting with his little buddy for the first time in over a year, Lleyton proclaimed that Roman was now his best friend.

I am sure these boys stirred up a little trouble during their time in the orphanage in Russia.

I could write about every apple we picked (or threw...Lleyton is in a phase where he is liking to throw anything he gets his hands on), but I think the pictures tell the story best. 

Go to Tuttle's.

Americana

Growing up, I always knew that summer had arrived when the sounds from the Lawrenceburg Speedway filled the air on Friday and Saturday nights.  The speedway has been a fixture in the community for decades and I have lived or worked in Lawrenceburg for the vast majority of my life but before tonight, I had never been to the track. 

I'm not sure what took me so long.

The boys and I, along with their cousin Will, accompanied Pop for a evening at the race track. We arrived not knowing what to expect, and we left with Parker's head in his hands because he was so upset it was time to head home.

On the way to the track (which, for you racing fans, is known as the fastest 1/4 mile dirt track in the world) we discussed who each boy wanted root for.  Not surprisingly, Parker said he would be pulling for #85. 

What are the odds that there would have even been a #85 in any of the races? 

What are the odds that even if there were, that the #85 would win the race? 

I'm here to tell you that it happened.  A black #85 car won the last race we watched. 

The boys loved being at the track.  They loved the noise (which was extremely loud), they loved the cars, they loved the dirt flying off of the track, they loved it all. 

Who knew the Lawrenceburg Speedway could be such family friendly fun?

Here is Pop teaching Parker some of the finer points of sprint car racing.

Here is Lleyton assuming his standard position when subjected to loud noises.

Can you tell that the boys really like their cousin Will?

And what picture filled post would be complete without a snapshot of our little man looking like he should be a model?

Rocky Top

This past Saturday was our annual pilgrimage to Knoxville for a day full of fun on the Tennessee River. If you are a fan of college football and you enjoy everything that comes along with it (tailgating), Knoxville is the place for you.

This year we stepped it up a notch and rented a houseboat and had a prime spot in the middle of the Vol Navy. Good times were had by all.

A special thanks goes out to the people of Tennessee for being the nicest folks this side of the Mississippi. In the words of Lloyd Christmas in the critically acclaimed movie DUMB AND DUMBER, "I love these laid back country folks." Those same fine people of Tennessee offered a buddy and myself a bite of a moonshine soaked plum. A very kind gesture in and of itself, but I wouldn't highly recommend trying anything associated with moonshine to anyone else.

While we were gone for the day, the boys got the chance to spend lots of quality time with Grandma Susie and Grandpa Don. They had a blast. Another special thanks goes Grandma and Grandpa for coming down and allowing Sara and I to go join 18 of our closest friends in SEC country.

Here are a few pics from our adventure.

The Vol Navy remains strong although the Volunteers are having a bit of an off year.


Husband and wife, Emily and Andy, face off in a Battle of Titans flippy cup match up. Andy won by the slimmest of margins...


But Emily didn't let the first loss deter her, and came right back and made the finals of the next game, only to again lose by an even slimmer margin. Well done Emily, I am certain Mom and Dad are beaming with pride as they read this.


The vessel with the maroon top was our home for the day.


We came back from Tennessee only to find Wendell had three legs. (For the faint of heart, he did not actually lose a leg, but it sure looks like he did)

A little slice of Americana

The arrival of the last weekend of September always brings with in Fall Fest in Lawrenceburg. Fall Fest is Americana at its finest. The combination of free country music (Willie Nelson himself headlined last night's lineup), fair food, free carnival rides, and airbrushed tee shirts brings people in from far and wide, and we wouldn't miss it.

We ventured over this afternoon and the boys loved it. They rode rides, played games, ate funnel cakes, and showed off their temporary tattoos.



Sidenote: Our first stab at potty training has led us to reward Lleyton with a temporary tattoo each time he goes to the bathroom by himself. As you can see from his well decorated abs, he is enjoying going to the bathroom.

Here are a few pics of our boys enjoying Fall Fest 2009.







It's pretty amazing when I sit and think that less than 4 months ago Parker was living in an orphanage in a very remote village along the Ethiopian and Sudanese border and today he was enjoying a festival in my hometown in Indiana. The magnitude of the change that he has endured is mind boggling. Although the transition has been difficult at times, I must say it has been fascinating as well. The boy just soaks up everything around him and won't stop asking questions. He must be the most inquisitive person ever. His language has progressed much faster than we could have imagined and he is now ever beginning to learn how to spell words (he has mom, dad, pop, and Parker down pat).

He told us today he was interested in going to college at either Butler, Tennessee, or Indiana. We will probably hold off on gathering applications, but I am considering urging him to attend Tennessee, as I wouldn't mind being a fixture in the Vol Navy on those sun kissed autumn afternoons in Knoxville.

FFA

After seeing how much fun Lleyton and Parker had yesterday during our visit to Grandma Susie and Grandpa Don's farm, I am thinking we should look into getting applications for the FFA (Future Farmers of America, for those of you outside of Indiana and Kentucky). Here are some pictures from our visit. As will be clearly illustrated in these photos, we had a blast! Happy Birthday to Grandma Susie.





















We couldn't visit Kokomo without finding time for some quality fun with Grandpa Paul and Grandma Monica as well.