My weekend favorites...

A celebration of us.

This past Friday we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with beers, sushi and sugar cream pie. Three of our favorites! Then spent the rest of the weekend hanging out all together.

Get out and go...

Hiking.

Since summer is over and our schedules have gotten busier our weekends of camping and hiking are pretty much so over. We are hopeful for an event free weekend with warm weather to get one last family camping trip in. If we are unable to make that happen, we are pretty lucky to be centrally located between all of our state parks, that day trips are possible and we are even luckier that we don't have to travel far to get to some great local parks for playing, walking, running or hiking. 

Here are three of my favorite parks in the area that we regularly explore and play in.

Play ground in Forrest Park.

Most weeks we take advantage of our great city and county parks. At least once a week we walk, run or play through Forrest Park in Noblesville. Our city has done a great job with the trail system. We are able to walk a few blocks to a trail head and then in less than one mile we are inside this great wooded park with paved trails, playgrounds, a skate park, basketball courts, tennis courts, swimming pool, baseball fields, golf course and shelters. It's an awesome gem! 

Paved Path to Potters Bridge

There are several side trails off the paved trail, down to the river.

White River from the trails connected to Forrest Park.

Fall Creek in Ft. Harrison State Park

Then when we have some time but can't take an entire day to hike we head out to Ft. Harrison State Park, aka Ft. Ben, in Lawerence. This is a great place for all level of hikers. There are seven different trails with just over 11 miles of hiking ranging from easy to moderate. There is a trail called Harrison Trace Trail that is a 2.5 mile loop all paved and hilly, it is one of the two easy trails. It can give you a great challenge as the hilly areas are a significant incline and decline but all paved making for an easier walk or run. I love taking the boys here on my own because Emerson can walk any of the trails and Rhys is content riding on my back. The moderate trails are rugged enough for experienced hikers to be challenged.

Syd enjoying an awesome fall day at Ft. Ben.

Our expert hikers being daring.

Watching the geese at the Duck Pond in Ft. Ben

The Ruins at Holliday Park

Last, one of my favorite city parks of all, Holliday Park in Indianapolis. I love everything about this park. It has a great back story and ruins. A city park that has ruins is pretty amazing, by my standards. The ruins are currently being worked on to restore them to their original purpose, which is pretty interesting.  There are 3.5 miles of trails that go through ravines, past natural springs and down to the White River that always gives me a great workout. The nature center is a great interactive place for kids, one of the best I have seen. The playgrounds are awesome and there are lots of gardens and open spaces for great family and friend gatherings.

Holliday Park Ravine Trail 6

Trail that leads down to the White River.

Holliday Park Nature Center

My little hiking partner at the end of hiking Holliday Park.

These are a few of my favorite parks, that I wish I was able to enjoy more especially on these Indian summer like days. I like these three because all of them have great potential for exploration and play. I love that they all have easy and moderate paths and trails, that the boys can learn to walk, run and hike on. Also, they all have pretty great playgrounds, so the boys can burn off the little bit of energy they may have left after hiking. Lastly, all of them are some of the best places to spend a day with your family.

Hopefully, we have a day that has great weather, no tasks or events, and enough energy to keep up with the boys for a great day of hiking. But for now, afternoons in our own backyard are fulfilling our need to get out and go.

Get out and go is about more than traveling, it's about getting outside and being active right outside in your own backyard. 

The doctor will see you now...

Words that we all want to hear within minutes of entering the waiting room.

This past week found us with two sick boys. First Rhys, then Emerson. This meant two trips to the doctor's office.

Taking Rhys was pretty simple. Emerson was in school so I only had one kid to juggle. Rhys was feeling so terrible that the only thing he wanted to do was sit on my lap and snuggle. He doesn't like going to the doctor anyways and usually sits in my lap and fights the doctor and nurses off. So, waiting our turn in the waiting room was pretty easy.

You would never guess that he was sick in this picture.

Emerson on the other hand, is never simple. I am pretty sure that kid could be puking and still bouncing off the walls. He is hard to keep down.

This leads me to our trip to the doctor for Emerson. We went on Monday and I had both boys home that day. We got an early appointment hoping that the waiting room wouldn't be full of patients. On the short ride to the office, I told the boys that when we got there they needed to sit on the chairs and wait for Emerson to be called back.

We walked into an office full of people, mostly because a family with four kids and another with three were taking up half the waiting room. They were all sitting quietly in the seats reading books and whispering to each other. That was when I got a little nervous.

So, I checked Emerson in and I got handed a clip board with a form to fill out. I wanted to throw it right back and say something along the lines of, "Can't you see I have two little boys with me? Filling out paper work isn't going to happen." I didn't, I dropped the boys hands, grabbed the clip board and pen, and smiled. That is when, I believe all control was lost.

The boys walked with me to where I wanted all of us to sit and immediately started bouncing from seat to seat, running around and finding their favorite hiding spot. There are two couches that sit back to back with enough room in between them that my boys believe is a fort that they can hide in. I would let them stay there if I knew everyone in the office was ok with it because they are not hurting anything but pretty sure it's not acceptable.

I got them to stop hiding in the fort and to stay by me but then Emerson decided to crawl underneath the end table in the corner. Great! So, I asked him why he wanted to be under the table, his answer, "I just want to play."

"Well, this in not the place to play and I need to you get up and sit on the chair and wait for the nurse to come call you back and this isn't acceptable behavior and all these people in here don't want to hear me talking gently to you for behaving poorly over and over again." As I am saying these things, wanting to scream my head off, Rhys is peering over the arm of the couch at us. He is laughing at us and making Emerson laugh, which makes my head want to pop off.

Then Rhys starts patting my head and repeating what I am saying to Emerson and in a super quick second he grabs a handful of my hair that is pulled back in a pony tail and starts singing, "I got your hair."

That moment, that moment right there, was when I smiled, because I knew how ugly, unruly and out of control it looked. I kept from laughing but all I could see was a picture in my mind of how we looked, which is exactly what motherhood looks like, a hot mess at times.

I got Rhys to let go and Emerson out from under the end table and shuffled them across the hall to the bathroom to compose ourselves and when we walked back into the office it was a little better. Finally, after those few minutes that felt like an hour I got both of them to sit down and then we were called back.

I kid you not, while in the exam room they both sat perfectly in their chairs and did exactly what they were told to do. Then they calmly walked out of the office holding my hands.

As I melted into the drivers seat, thinking about how that could have possible gone better. I came up with the idea that the doctors office should have pagers like restaurants. That way you can take your kids back to your car or walk around with them while waiting.

We have many great outings with our boys but the few that are just like this make it hard. I am thankful that we keep trying because we both know that we are raising strong, independent, productive men of our society.

Sleepy Superman...

One tired little boy after a day of being Superman. He fell asleep on daddy's lap. This little crime fighter has been working hard fighting a sickness. 

This is my favorite picture of the weekend. 

Things I love...

Home improvement projects.

A couple weeks ago I was at a friends house, they have several projects going on at their house. We talked about what they were doing, their plans and their wants for future projects. All the talk got me to thinking about some of our unfinished projects at home. Mostly, the touch up painting and staining of our deck and wood furniture.

I had hired a contractor to finish, fix and paint some small things on the outside of our house. He had dripped paint on our deck and I asked him to please clean it up. He said he would pressure wash the deck and if we wanted sand and stain it. We said yes because it had been on our list of things to do for almost as long as we have known each other. 

He pressure washed the deck and then it rained a couple of days and then we went out of town and then two weeks had passed and then his ladders and things were gone. I am not sure what happened but oh well because he didn't leave us with more work than when he started. 

Rhys playing on the deck. This shows what the deck and the furniture looked like.

So, back to the day with my friend. All of our talk got me to thinking about our project and calling up the contractor and having him come finish. Then, by the time I got home that afternoon I had convinced myself that I could get the sander out to finishing prepping the deck and stain it myself. I already had the stain, so why not. 

Prep work almost complete.

When Eric got home two hours later I was almost finished with the prepping. We tested the stain and we loved it. I planned to finish the project over the next few days. 

We were so happy with the deck that it made staining all the furniture that much easier. It took a long time but finally after nine days of working on picking out the right kind of stain, picking up supplies and doing the actual work, everything is stained. 

The hardest part of the entire project was having the time to do it. Time is the reason why we had put it off for so long to begin with. Also, I know once I start a project if I don't finish it all the way, it might be years before I get back to it. 

Even though I knew it should have taken a few days to complete everything with out distractions, that is not my reality. I learned to work each part into sections so I could still give pushes on the swing or find a snack or break up an argument. 

When I finished the last piece of furniture I felt so accomplished. Now, every time I look out our back windows or return home and walk up to the door, I smile.

Fall...

Afternoons are the best. 

Saturday was a great day of hanging out with a bunch of different friends. We all met up at a family friendly Oktoberfest. 

This is my favorite picture from the weekend. Rhys was super thirsty and we had gone through all of the drink that we brought for the kids. He kept asking me for a drink of my beer. We went in search of a drink for him and we found this giant lemon shakeup. He was excited!

The cup was so big and so full that I had to sit it down on the sidewalk for him to get a drink. 

It's Fall...

Y'all!

Last week, Emerson learned about Johnny Appleseed and the last day of his school week was Johnny Appleseed day for his class. They were all to wear pots on their heads and make applesauce in celebration of Johnny. Well, Emerson missed that day because he was at my parent's house but, my mom came through and was able to make the day happen for him. 

I look forward to this time of year because every year I get a box of apples from my parent's apple trees to make a couple apple crisps, one apple pie and maybe some applesauce. It's enough apples for a months worth of apple desserts and usually I just make apple crisp because it's the easiest of all apple desserts.

Emerson and Rhys picked apples and made applesauce with grandma and loved every minute of the process. When I picked them up, we picked a box full of apples and were set. I was thankful for this because I could finally make apple crisp and I didn't have to make applesauce for the boys. 

I was ready to get the apples home and make a pie with Emerson or just crisp because let's face it he doesn't know the difference. Plus, I was excited because he had made a super cute craft at school that looked like an apple pie and smelled like one and he really wanted to try to make a real one, too. 

A few days went by, I kept putting of making any dessert because we had just returned from a trip and I needed to get back on track with my nutrition. Then on Friday night Eric asked if we could make some crisp and with no hesitation we started the task. I peeled the apples and Eric prepped the topping and filling mixes. We mixed and layered everything together, then baked the sweet treat for forty-five minutes. I couldn't wait!

We waited a minimal time for the deliciousness to cool and then served it up.  It was great but after a few bites I asked what we ate for dinner that was spicey that I am just now tasting? There was just enough zing with every bite to make us wonder, what could have possible been in the seasoning that was on our pork chops? When I say spicey, it's like the spicey you taste when eating a cinnamon gummy bear or red hots. So, it wasn't horrible and we ate our entire plates of apple crisp and then decided that we weren't going to give any to the boys because they would have taken a bite and hated it. 

When we finished and started cleaning up, I asked again, "What could have been on the pork chops or did you accidentally use cayenne pepper instead of cinnamon?" As I said it, I remembered that they are both in the same type of bottle and stored next to each other, for a very easy mix up. Eric looked at me and started laughing and said, "That's exactly what I did!"