Pumpkin Carving

Last night was pumpkin carving night. I really do not remember carving a pumpkin last year, so this was Drake's first experience. David is the artist in our house, so he did all of the pre-drawing and carving work while I just cleaned the pumpkin out. Drake seemed to have fun and wanted to get involved in the whole activity.

Helping with the design

Dinner break

Fall Fun

Fall has to be my favorite season of the year. I love to see the leaves change colors, I love the brisk mornings and evenings, and I love that it is not too hot during the day to be outside. Fall also brings a lot of events and activities. This weekend was packed full of fun.

We started the weekend with an event called Rock the John. This is Clemson's attempt at midnight madness although it is not at midnight, not mad, and actually a week after the office start of basketball season. I enjoy it because it is the publics first introduction to the year's basketball team. We decided to take Drake this year, even though it was a late night for him, and he did great. I'm hoping this will be a good sign for basketball season and that the constant activity, music, and timeouts will keep his attention.

Saturday morning I had to meet golf recruits before the football game, so we decided to Take him to his first football game of the season. Going into it, I knew that we were not going to stay at the game long; noon games just don't work for a 20 month old that needs to nap! In the end, we stayed one quarter and Drake fell asleep in the car on the 3 minute drive home.

It was such a beautiful day that we decided to have a fire in the fire pit and cook dinner outside. This helped us clean some of the falling limbs from the woods around us while spending time outside. Drake knows that the fire was hot and stayed away, although he did want to try and throw some wood in as well. Our neighbors joined us toward the end of the evening for some s'mores.

After an afternoon of yard work on Sunday, we headed to Greenville to go to Boo in the Zoo. I know, it is early to start Halloween celebrations but, the event started this weekend and we already have two Halloween events to attend next weekend, so we decided to stretch it out some. I think it was a good decision because Drake was not too into the whole thing yet and, I imagine, the crowds were thinner this weekend. Next year, we will play to go a little earlier in the evening (we went at 6:45) in hopes that more of the animals will still be outside/awake. Our little cow did moo...

Birthday Celebration in New Orleans

It is very convenient that my mom's birthday and Fall Break often fall on the same weekend. I was worried that we would go from the beginning of August until the end of December between Drake seeing his Nana and Papa, which I thought was unacceptable. So, Drake and I planned a trip to New Orleans to visit for a long weekend. As a surprise to my mom (which ended up not being a surprise), my sisters decided that they would visit also.

Nana, Papa, Drake, and Ellie

We went on a few outings while in New Orleans. During the day on Saturday, Jeff, Amanda, Ellie, Drake, and I went to the Audubon Zoo to visit some animals. This was Ellie's first zoo visit and while she slept through the majority of it, I think she had a good time. Drake is enjoying zoos more and more with each visit and each new animal that he has learned.

This lizard ran in front of us, grabbed a caterpillar, and took it back to the fence for a feast. Drake was very interested in watching it eat and even offered it a rock (it ran away at that point)

Watching the giraffes

On Sunday evening, everyone had left but Drake and I, so we decided to take him to City Park to ride the carousel. His first carousel ride was about a month ago while we were in Jacksonville and at first he was a little scared but then really enjoyed it. I thought it might be the same this time, but he really only enjoyed about a minute of the ride. I think he wanted to get off the whole ride, but we were committed to the ride once getting on. After the carousel, we took Drake on the train around the park, which he loved! He now keeps saying choo-choo. We also visited Storybook Land where he was able to jump into some famous nursery rhymes.

Nana and Drake on the train

We had a great visit and look forward to going back in December for Christmas. I love introducing to Drake to things in New Orleans that I always enjoyed when I was young. It is so great to be able to experience things for the first time all over again with him.

Drake with the Roman Candy Man at Audubon Zoo

Aunt Genevieve, Drake, and Ellie