A weekend of outings

It's October...which, for us spells c.r.a.z.y.b.u.s.y.

The whole month usually turns out to be a big blur, but it's so much fun and so gorgeous around here at that time that we are always sure to take in some of the beauty in nature and breathe some fresh air.

The weekend kicked off the month of running with our city's annual Komen Race for the Cure. Our sorority chapter has now hosted a team for this event every year for TEN YEARS! I'm so proud of our little team!

This was McKinley's second Race, my ump-teenth. Up until I lost Dad I was heavily involved in all things Komen. I served as a board member and the chair of the Education Committee, a vital and active part of the Komen brand. I loved the challenge of meeting the members of our community, meeting deadlines and attending the inspiring trainings. How lucky I was to have served such a wonderfully interesting role in my community in my early and mid-twenties. It's always so easy to get caught up in the meaning and the true celebration of the day. I've got goosebumps just typing about it!

This year, like every year, there is a parade of survivors and every man, woman, child and dog on that campus stands at attention, cheering and clapping. I knew so many faces from that parade, as did Mom. There was a special one missing this year, but she is in a better place than we are now. Even more chilling, I knew the youngest survivor of this year's parade! She's a year younger than me and someone I have been friends with since high school. I'm so happy she's doing well now. What a tough road. Much respect for all of them...much.

The morning was brisk, so Mom, McKinley and I bundled up - big time. I love that kind of weather where you layer and layer and shed those layers throughout the day as the sun warms you all over! Gosh, I love fall.

I made McKinley a very special t-shirt of his very own since no one has come up with the idea to add baby and toddler size shirts to the registration sheet. McKinley's shirt has a sweet hot pink-ish breast cancer ribbon on the front, and in blue boy-ish font above the ribbon says, 'Real Men Wear Pink'.

LOVE IT! I was so proud. Now, I do realize that someday he may get really irritated with me about that one...but it's all for the cause!

We had a wonderful day, but boy were we tired at the end...you can tell because McKinley really wanted his pacifier. He only wants it when he's really tired. Nuff said.

On Sunday, we again took advantage of this gorgeous weather. Cary, McKinley and I headed West to a small town about an hour away, the home of a long-standing tourist destination called Rockome Gardens. We had an awesome Amish-style home cooked buffet in the Gardens' restaurant, then went out into the actual park where we made our first stop to take a picture that has certainly become a tradition within our families. It's the picture in the GIANT rocking chair. When my family took me they took the exact same picture. When Cary's family took him, they took the exact same picture. Now, McKinley has one of his very own and I hope someday my grandchildren will have the opportunity to have that same picture. I should frame all three of us in the giant rocker.
We walked through the lovely gardens (forgot to take pics...duh!). The garden 'walls' were sculpted with rock in various shapes and sizes, they also feature a sunken garden and a secret garden, that made me just want to sit inside it's concrete walls for hours. It was beautiful.

After that, we toured main street of the 'ole town'. It was like stepping back in time. There was a blacksmith, a weaver, a horse barn (where Cary played a game of tic-tac-toe with a CHICKEN...no joke), a bakery, an old school house and a petting zoo. I loved the massive amounts of red ladybugs that were EVERYWHERE. They were seriously swarming, it was beautiful to see them float through the air.

McKinley thought the goats were pretty dang funny. Every time they would call out or run over to the food we had for them, he would let out this loud belly laugh! So funny!

At the end of the day we shared some yummy ice cream in the old ice cream parlor and went for a 'train' ride. Unfortunately, the train was 'robbed' on our way back to the Gardens and the 'robbers' took three prisoners and one lady's handbag. Ha ha ha. All in good fun. When the robbers came onto our car, McKinley was really just looking them over like, 'Um, what do you think YOU'RE doing?' He was quite the observer.

Finally, we packed it in and headed home.

We had such a fun weekend!

Yay for road trips!

Lynn