Chapter 456

Wishing Scott a speedy recovery from his surgery! 

So, I ordered myself a $9.00 pair of headphones. The cheap ones work well for me since I don't need full range or lots of base for listening to my audio books. The headphones came in a fancy magnetic box with a fancy zipper case, a bracelet, and a big foam brick to display it all. They must have $8.50 is packaging and accessories leaving 50 cents for the actual headphones themselves. 

I met the kids at the airport to bring them home from their trip to Maine. Reagan was so happy to be back on Washington terra firma...at first. When the group choice for lunch did not include a burrito, things didn't go as well. Her attitude is written on her face as I try to distract her with a selfie with the bear.

A photo taken 30 seconds later clearly demonsrates the mercurial moods of a four year old. Ironic after spending time in Maine, the first stop was Black Bear restaurant with the North woods Maine decor. I guess they didn't see enough of that stuff for two weeks.

I scored on some really cool thimbles, one from Acadia National Park two from Bar Harbor and two from Salem. The two from Salem had the stereotypical witches on them. Although I, literally, have THOUSANDS of thimbles, I have none with witches on them.

Seriously? We haven't even had Halloween yet!

A few days later, the kids were back at the house for Chris' drill weekend. Reagan hit the garden for a last tomato and one of the last carrots. They are getting really big this time of year so she and Bear split this big one.

A big surprise to all is that Reagan actually loved her "new" Jeep. She drove all over the yard and turned into a darn good driver.

Since we still have all the cones from our Jaguar slalom event, Grampa put some out so she could drive around them. She didn't use them as we had intended, but she still had a real good time. Check the video out here.  

My dad came up to visit while Reagan was out in the yard so we sat out in the nice weather and watched Reagan drive her Jeep around even longer. Although Dad took lots of pictures of Reagan, this is the only one I got of him and Reagan together. I never seem to remember to take photos of the family gatherings. Instead I can take a million photos of a pumpkin patch, but always miss out on the great gatherings we have.

Reagan has a Spiderman outfit that she loves to wear so when I saw this Spiderman costume for Reagan's Build-a-Bear and I had to have it. Reagan is such a caring person, she didn't want either of her Build-a-Bears to feel left out so she split the Spiderman costume between them. How darn thoughtful is that?

Sunday was the kick off to Reagan's 2018 pumpkin patch season. We went to Carpenito Brothers Pumpkin Patch. They have a corn maze, petting zoo, and fun activities for kids and Reagan has been lookng forward to this trip for quite a while.

This is the dinosaur corn maze that we went in this morning. We started at the top of the dino on the left and made it down to his lower jaw. She was very confident choosing paths and exploring...until she didn't want to anymore. Thankfully, they had an app that helped us navigate out of the corn maze in roughly the time frame that Reagan expected. Last year, she was hesitant on all of the activities we attempted.

Traditional pumpkin patch photo, and from the sounds of it, the first one of the season.

Grampa and I are working on this "new" selfie thing. We're getting the idea, although I wish one of the subjects was more photogenic.

Reagan and Grampa are taking a victory lap around the parking lot with Reagan's two large and two small carefully chosen prisoners.

No problem with going through the straw maze all alone this year!

Pumping water down the troughs to send the duckies to the other end where another kid pumps them right back at her. All the kids really enjoy this activity. Check out the video here. 

   

I had to be in the corn box with Reagan last year. This year she was off and running all on her own and having a blast. She made about a million corn angels. 

This year, when I got it the corn box, it wasn't to reassure her that this was safe to do, but to cover her up with corn. Check out the video here.

Reagan is certainly not one to let a cartoon cut out go by without getting her photo taken in it. Ths time she managed to coax Grampa to join her.

With a fist full of kettle corn and a bottle of water, we head for the car with a happy kid.

Then home for more Jeep riding and a fun outdoor lunch taken in her Jeep like a drive-thru while the rest of us lounged in the watery fall sun.

Have a great week everyone!