Jer and Stef: October 2013

Even when Makayla comes home from the bus stop with Ellia and they only have 30 minutes to play, they always make it fun!

Ash wanted to see how heavy dad's helmet is.

Well, we had one small chance of a tropical storm, and we were headed out of town so we brought in a bunch of outside stuff and tied the trampoline in the trees.

St. Francisville was our first stop on the trip, this was a fun and very busy little café.

We went on a very humid hike nearby that led to an awesome little waterfall area. If we weren't already soaked we might have wanted to cool off in the water.

I have been wanting to watch Huck Finn and when we got home we made it a priority. It was pretty cool to see the houses and things in the movie and then there is a scene where Huck and Jim jump off a river ledge/waterfall, and we were like, "Hey we were just there two days ago!" We watched the credits to make sure and yep, that's where they filmed!

This is a little picturesque general store on the top of a hill overlooking a little pond with nothing else nearby. I wanted to see inside the store and maybe grab an ice cream, but it was more like a haphazard antique store.

Walking the grounds at a plantation in Natchez.

Some areas needing a little work, or rather a lot of work!

This screened in pool reminded me of the good old days at "rustic" Mountain Spa.

Catholic Church.

Longwood Mansion. Octogonal building. The first floor is the only one finished. They stopped building during the civil war. It was so amazing to see the "bones" of the old houses, SO MUCH brick...I could just imagine it finished, but nowadays all that wood and brick could be considered beautiful just polished up a bit and not painted and covered.

The belongings were just left on the second floor, so cool! We lost Ashlyn here though. The second the tour was over and people started headed outside she BOLTED to the car and not knowing this we ran up and down the house trying to find her. Bit of a panic thinking she might be either high in the rafters or jumping on some museum bed that is 100 years old.

The molds for the columns.

Indian Burial Mounds.

This would have been a beautiful place to go walk along the river, so picturesque.

Since we were traveling during the government shut down we "couldn't" go into the national forest. We stopped in the first parking lot and started on a little hike. Man it is crazy what will happen to a trail left untraveled for a few days! About every 100 meters there would be a GIANT spider web with a HUGE spider in it. Sometimes we couldn't see them until the spider was right in front of our face...well Jeremy's anyway! I still can't get over how big they were and their webs . At first we tried ducking and running, but on the way back we gave up and just swiped a stick through the air to knock anything down.

Our illegal picnic.

Conference Breakfast.

Quincy loves putting on anything that will hang from her neck like a necklace..this time is was homemade binoculars.

A growth chart I made as an example for Fabulous Friday craft night.

This shelf is a pedastool from a window outside that was left off after they replaced the stucco. They looked like they could be shelves to me, so I tried it out and I am so happy with how it turned out!

Scooter buddies on their way home from school.

Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival. There are SO many festivals here all the time and most cost money so we have to choose wisely which ones we want to drag the kids to in the heat. This one came highly recommended so we went for it. The girls loved touring the yatchs...ok so did I, and there is a two day event where people get specific materials and have to make a boat then they race them and tons of people even sink. Jeremy's co-worker does it every year so we got to go visit his crew and see how their building was going. The girls also got to make their own wooden boat! There were tons of volunteers and Ellia and Ashlyn told them how they wanted their boats to look and wala...spiffy new toys!

Jeremy and I went out to eat for my birthday to a restaurant called Chimes. The food was nothing special but the setting was amazing and the weather was tolerable. We ate on the deck and walked down the boardwalk afterward to a little beach area.

Caught with her hand in the goldfish jar.

Ashlyn loved helping dad change the oil.

Getting some Chuck E. Cheese because Ellia was invited to a birthday party there.

There is a bit of a chill in the air some mornings now....I love Ellia in her school sweater!

Free concerts at the trailhead...Quincy looking big in her seat.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Jeremy has been saving his swag from the last few conferences so I had plenty of presents to unwrap...anyone need a duck or rock stress ball or a keychain flashlight?!

They decorated my coke cake with some of my favorite candy!

Jer at a youth activity.

Setting up their toys on the sidewalk to make a shop.

A walk at the park.

Sleepy buddies.

Some fall fun at Steel's Pumpkin Patch and Christmas Tree Farm.

Look at all those Christmas trees!

Ward Halloweeen Party. (find more pictures?!)

Our pumpkins, why do I think its going to be fun for everyone to have their own each year? It always ends up being so much work for Jeremy and I!

Happy 1st Birthday Quincy!

No! not in the hair!

Ellia got to wear her costume to school, not for Halloween but for Storybook Character day :)

Quincy loves helping with the laundry

Festive food for our annual Halloween trick or treat and pot luck.

oops, kinda burned the mummy dogs.

It ended up being a torrential down pour when we went to trick or treat so we didn't go too far, and had to take the necessary precautions. Quincy in a bubble.