Family Vacation 2016, Part 3: Pumpkins & Fun with Grandma & Grandpa

Now we're up to Thursday of our vacation, almost a full week. We spent some more fun time with Grandma & Grandpa! We decided to enjoy our fall family fun while we were there, and found a pumpkin patch that offered a hayride and other fun fall activities. The hayride was basically a tractor with a bed full of hay-- nowhere to even sit!

And the pumpkin patch was a field where they'd methodically placed some picked pumpkins & scarecrows. They didn't actually grow there. It was really kind of funny. The kids still had fun picking out the perfect pumpkin.

And when we got back they stuffed a scarecrow.

These are the least scary scarecrows I've ever seen!

After a nice lunch out, we relaxed at home the rest of the day and then of course we had to venture out to Sweet Frog, one of our favorite ice cream places in the south. The kids always make interesting concoctions with candy on their ice cream. And Jacob just enjoyed rearranging all their chairs.

Friday morning we went over to the fire station where Grandpa volunteers. (So if you're following along, our school lessons on vacation have included history in Philly, science at the Great Wolf Lodge (the physics of waterslides) & at the pumpkin patch, and now we're adding in fire safety.) The kids tried on some gear, and then explored the fire trucks.

This might just be one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip.

After the fire station we headed to the playground. Out of all the opportunities we have to do different things on vacation, the playground is always something the kids ask to do.

Jacob doesn't care what we do as long as he can crawl around and get dirty.

Later that day we decided to carve our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. It would be almost Halloween before we got home from vacation, so we knew we'd miss the chance if we didn't do it there. And how often can you carve jack-o-lanterns in shorts and a t-shirt? Certainly never in Vermont.

They each designed their own pumpkin's face and scooped the guts out. They just got help with the carving.

And in the down-time with Grandma at their house, the kids made some crafts-- painted seashells & cut out paper pumpkins. (Add art to our list of school activities.) 

Family Vacation 2016, Part 2: Great Wolf Lodge & the Beach

After three nights in Philly, we headed southward toward my mom & dad's house. BUT, the kids have been raving about the Great Wolf Lodge since last year when we went, so we decided to go again this year. They love that place! This time we went to the one in Williamsburg, and Grandma & Grandpa met us there. It was nice to have plenty of adults around to help with the little ones so we could all have a chance to go on the bigger water slides. 

Jacob was an absolute FISH! He did not want to be held and instead crawled all over the hard cement floor in the shallow water. He had no fear of water on his head and couldn't get enough of it. Abi was still a little timid & didn't really want to go on much but loved playing with Daddy in the big hot tub and the shallow kids pool.

Leah and Andrew knew what to expect, so they wasted  no time hitting up the big play area with super fast slides, and even went on a couple of the longer slides with us.

At bedtime, we enjoyed some pizza, then went trick or treating in the lodge like last year, and went to hear story time in our pj's. They got to meet Leah's favorite Great Wolf character, Violet.

The next day, Tuesday, we played the Magic Quest game in the morning, running around the hotel trying to find different things to finish a quest. Then we went back into the water park.

Of course before we left we had to pose for our family photo in front of the Great Wolf Lodge sign!

We left early afternoon and drove two hours down to Grandma & Grandpa's house for the next week. Wednesday the kids made cookies with Grandma, and we enjoyed some time at the beach! It was beautiful weather for October, and they were even able to get into the water. The tide was super high and the waves were pretty fierce-- Brett even got pulled under once, but they had a blast playing at the shore line and running from the water.

My littlest fish enjoyed the sand for a little while (the biggest sandbox he'd ever seen!) but tired of it quickly as it got stuck to his hands and his face, got all in his shorts and his shirt. He got fussy after an hour or so but we didn't stay much longer anyway.