Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday, so I got to do what I wanted to do, and I wanted to go on a family hike and go shopping, so WE DID. First, we made the trip to Ha Ha Tonka State Park, and I got to go on a nice stroll through the fall colors with my two favorite boys. The trails were a little wet, but there happened to be a break in the rain while we were at the park, so really, the weather was pretty much perfect! We took a trail to a natural bridge that we weren't able to make it to during a previous visit to the park.

Weird, red, Ha Ha Tonka bugs

We are super smart hikers and didn't look at any maps before we started walking down the trail and didn't know exactly where or how far we were going. We thought we were walking to the natural bridge and back, but the trail actually went on past the bridge and circled around another route back to the parking lot. When we first passed the bridge, we didn't realize that's what it was--it was cool, but I think we were expecting something a bit more dramatic or at least a rock formation over a creek. Maybe in the spring there's running water for the rock to form a bridge across, but we didn't take the rock that we walked under as a bridge since it didn't go over any water. Anyway, we walked passed what was the bridge, but we didn't know it, and I didn't take any pictures, partly because I didn't realize that was the bridge and partly because I thought we would walk under the cool rock again on our way back. We didn't. We ended up walking around back to the car and I hadn't taken any pictures! So while I ran down the slippery, rocky hill to take pictures, John and Colter lounged about on a bench and played with the leaves for a few minutes.

Colter found a giant leaf bigger than his head! It's hard to tell how big the leaf was from the angle in the picture, but trust me, it was a big leaf. It was a bit windy, and we had fun trying to catch leaves as they fell from the trees.After our walk, we got some frozen custard to celebrate my second 29th birthday and then hit the outlet mall in Osage Beach where I bought my own birthday presents. It was a good day!

Amazing Maize Maze

Surprise! Instead of being rainy and cold, today was beautiful! It was an awesome autumn day--not too hot, not too cold, and the sun decided to come out from behind the clouds for once. It was a perfect day for playing in a field of corn, so we visited a local farm with a pumpkin patch, corn maze, and other fall activities.

First, we saw a few animals. I'm pretty sure this guy is scheduled to be a guest at the farmer's Thanksgiving dinner.Then we ran around in a hay bale maze. Such memories! My siblings and I used to run amok in my dad's hay bales all the time. SO fun!Guess who we randomly ran into at the farm! We had no idea that Rachel's family would be at the farm at the same time we were. We would have went at a different time if we had known. JUST KIDDING, Rachel my love! I was so excited to see our friends at the farm and that we got to spend a bit of time with them.Mom, Courtney, and Sawyer were at the farm with us, but they ended up leaving after we waited for the hay wagon ride to take us to the corn maze for around 45 minutes. Overall our visit was fun and worth the trip, but the wait was ridiculous. Thankfully, there were things for Colter to do while we waited.

Colter loved running around in the corn!Fun times!

Sunday School Hooky

My boy loves Sunday school, but today he must not have been in the mood. Usually, when we drop him off at his Sunday school room, he goes right in and begins to play with his friends. Today however, he immediately started screaming when I dropped him off and did not want me to leave. I tried to calm him down and convince him to stop crying, but no such luck. I was assured that he would stop crying and be fine, so I went ahead and went to my Sunday school class. I was there, perhaps, three minutes when someone came to get me because Colter had gotten so upset he puked! ICK. His classroom was filled with the not-so-pleasant aroma of curdled milk and regurgitated waffle when I rushed over to retrieve my vomit-covered kiddo. My poor boy! He was a teeny bit congested, and I guess he just got so upset that he choked on some phlegm and threw up, because the rest of the day he was his usual hyperactive self, so he obviously wasn't sick, thankfully.

Needless to say, we couldn't remain at church after Colter threw up on his Sunday school teacher in case he really was sick. Instead of spending the morning at church, we played hooky and visited the park! Feeding the geese and playing at the playground made Colter feel better after his yucky puking experience.

The fall leaves are beautiful!Catching Daddy on the SlideI'll Catch You, Mommy! Yellow