Lyon Family Farms

It has been such a hot, dry few months. I was so excited to see some rain a couple weeks ago. We have lots of low spots on our land, which makes for great puddles. One morning while it was still raining a bit we got out and played in the water.

This one is more like a pool. Avery's hair is the best in this picture. I don't think it had been brushed in a few days.

Back in June Rory Feek posted on his blog about a movie he was making about Joey and their journey. I immediately bought my mom and me tickets, and we had been waiting patiently for it to come out. I went to Birmingham Tuesday and we saw it that night. I absolutely loved it! I thought I would cry the whole time, but Rory did such a good job focusing on her life, not her death. 

For an early dinner before the movie we went to Avondale in downtown Birmingham and ate at Post Office Pies. It was pretty good, and we were so stuffed we didn't have room for popcorn at the movie.

Meme came to visit last Friday, and we took the kids to a pumpkin patch close to our house. 

Lyon Family Farms is in Taft, TN. Never heard of it, but it's only fifteen minutes from here. That never happens when you live in the middle of nowhere. 

We had to take the obligatory pictures in front of stuff before we could start playing.

This pillow bounce looked super fun. I thought the kids would play on it for a while, but it only lasted a minute or so. 

Some cool pipe swings. Colt kept telling me to go higher. I was waiting for those ropes to snap.

Avery talked us into going through the corn maze, then led us through. We only had to cheat once.

We made it!

Avery loved this the best! It is called Rat Race, and she could have done it all day.

Pipe slides. The one Colt is coming out of was super tall. They were both hesitant to go down it, but once they did, they didn't want to stop!

Did I mention how hot it was? It was mid morning, and it felt like 100 degrees. I don't think I've ever been so hot. Wherever the kids went, my mom and I looked for shade. Absolutely miserable.

Hillbilly drums

They had pig races, and it was hilarious. For some reason I thought the pigs would run fast. I was wrong. They were so cute and fat.

My little sheep and piggy

Love these sweet kiddos

We made our way over to the hayride to pick out our pumpkins. I had to talk Colt out of getting a tiny green one. See that paper in his hand? That's the map of the farm, and he read that thing the entire time. I was amazed at his map reading skills.

Even though we were dripping with sweat when we left, we had so much fun!! And we got free passes to come back in October. Hopefully we will pick a cooler day. 

After lunch Meme took Colt home with her, and Avery and I went to the movies to see Storks. Not the best movie I've ever seen, but Avery thought it was cute. 

This week is homecoming at school. I love that Avery goes to a K-8 school. She gets to go to pep rallies and participate in fun things like this. Cute homecoming week outfits to come...

A Visit to Columbia and the Lincoln County Fair

Last Saturday I wanted to take the kids somewhere, but I didn't know where. There's a little town called Columbia about an hour north of us. I found a Children's Museum online, so we decided to check it out. It's like Itty Bitty Magic City at the McWane Center, but on a much smaller scale.

We had fun playing in all the different areas. Colt had the most fun with the ice cream. He is still asking me if the place with the cones is still closed. I have to say yes, or else he will want to go back. Columbia is a cute little town. I was getting hangry, so we didn't explore too much. The kids wanted Mexican, so we found a restaurant and had a good lunch.

There is rarely just smiling for pictures anymore.

I found this park in Columbia, and we headed there after lunch. What did people do before Google Maps?? It was five thousand degrees, but they wanted to play. It was a very good park with lots of things to do. Right after we got there, Colt ran up and said he needed to poop. I took him to the bathroom there. If you work for Maury County, TN and are reading this, you should know the women's bathroom was the most disgusting place I have ever been. I was trying to hold my breath the whole time because the smell was beyond anything I've ever smelled. Toilet paper covered the floor. I've never seen anything like it. We left soon after that, what with the blazing heat and Mommy being traumatized...

Before we headed home, I needed to stop at Walmart to return something. While I was waiting in line I saw the most ridiculous transgender person ever. It was a middle-aged man dressed like a woman, and it was almost as bad as the bathroom at the park. Obviously it's wrong and God says it's wrong. That's not even the issue anymore. It's for our safety. Do you really want to meet this person in the bathroom or send your daughter in without knowing what his real motive is? It blows my mind how accepting people are of this ridiculousness. Moving on...

The Lincoln County Fair was in town this week! Avery had rolled her $84 and we were set to go. Except the day before we were to go, both kids had some major bathroom mishaps. I was so outdone, I didn't think I could handle both of them by myself. In the end I took them because I knew how much they wanted to go.

I love how Colt's hair makes him taller.

That little piggy is so stinkin cute.

This was the first ride we went on. Colt almost got kicked off for trying to stand up. That smile went away after the ride operator stopped the ride to tell him to sit down.

They did this one twice. You had to climb up to the top and slide down. Colt didn't understand that it cost money and he couldn't just keep going up.

They rode this one twice too. It was pretty fast for little kids, but they loved it! And I absolutely loved hearing their squeals and seeing those faces every time it came around.

They have races at the fair, too, and we stopped by to watch them warm up. Avery kept yelling, "Go, horse, go!!"

My favorite part of the fair is the food! Last year I had morning sickness and the food all looked gross, so this year I was excited to chow down. Colt wanted cotton candy, then instead of buying a $6 funnel cake I knew they wouldn't eat, we settled for ice cream. Colt didn't eat any of the dinner, so all he had all night was cotton candy and ice cream...

Another fun year at the fair! This is on my (very) short list of why I like living here. 

One night the power went out (why does it always happen at night?) Thank goodness for leap pads! We went to bed hot, but it finally came on a little after 9:00. 

And a couple of cute pictures of Colt Man. Don't be fooled by that sweet smile...

My mom sent me this picture from Birmingham when he was there last. That smile kills me.

BFFs

Only a couple more weeks until Alabama's Homecoming, then another until our big trip for fall break! Exciting days to come, if I don't go crazy before then...