Under the Sea

My kids are currently glued to The Little Mermaid, Steve is cleaning the upstairs bathroom and since I finished unloading the dishwasher and unpacking from our overnight getaway, I thought I'd take a moment to blog.

Steve, the kids and I went with the group of people we work with on an overnight getaway to "bond." We wanted to go somewhere to enjoy the peak of the fall foliage. And while I complain and make fun of Ohio, THIS is one time of the year it is glorious to live here.

Steve is the king of Internet deals and a few weeks back he booked the group of us several suits on the east side of Columbus. The group checked into all kind of fun outdoors-y kinds of stuff to do (which isn't easy with 5 kids 3 and under and a 6 month old.) It was even more challenging when it began with a torrential down pour yesterday morning and continued on all night.

We went to Granville, which is a beautiful college town... which we saw from the inside of our vehicles. There were several laughs over failing GPS' and washed out roads. We finally made it to a mall where the kids played. Okay, at this mall I discovered perhaps the 9th wonder of the world. A children's clothing store called Crazy 8. HELLO... why has no one told me about this store???

It is a daughter company of Gymboree. Gymboree cuteness without Gymboree prices. I'm in l.o.v.e. Now who do I talk to about getting one to move Dayton? With the promise to spend lots of money there? If you have kids and you like to dress them cute but hate to spend the ridiculous prices out there, I'd HIGHLY encourage you to check this store out. MMMmmm... total kid yummyness.

It was a late night for the kiddos with lots of playing and fun stuff. This morning brought more clouds and threats of rain. But we braved it and off we went to Ohio's largest festival (or so they say) Circleville's Pumpkin festival. It was a virtual sea of humanity with all things pumpkin being offered. Quinn's favorite thing this week has been to point out pumpkins. Fun when you're NOT at a pumpkin festival. When you are at a pumpkin festival it's just downright annoying. "Yep, there's *another* pumpkin, Quinn. We're at a pumpkin festival. You just might see a few. Stop telling me about it."

We watched a pie eating contest that was all too eerily familiar to the scene in Stand By Me with Lard *ss. We ate pumpkin doughnuts and fried bologna sandwiches. It was too cold/too crazy to take pics. So I'll spare you the snotty noses and wind blown tears, I'm sure you can imagine.

So now we're home, unwinding and warming up. We may even carve our own pumpkins tonight. If we're feeling crazy. Thankfully the rain has stopped and we still have one more day of weekend. And all God's people said, "Amen!"