Pumpkin Time

It's that time of year again.  Time to get out my fall pumpkins that I have collected for years.  For years I looked every fall for just the right pumpkin to add to my collection.  It couldn't just be ordinary.  It had to be unique and different.  I have added so many pumpkins to my collection that I have decided that I have enough.  I don't need anymore.  Every year I tell myself to not even look, I just don't need another pumpkin in my life.  Well, this picture contains my latest and greatest pumpkin.  I couldn't resist adding this little number to my collection.  Landon was with me when we saw it and he was so convincing.  He kept telling me to get it.  So with a little prodding, I purchased this unique pumpkin.  I liked it because it was on a pedestal type stand and I thought the gold/bronze color was quite cool and unusual.  I love it!  It kind of goes anywhere in the house.  It's been on my dining room hutch and now it sits on my living room coffee table.  When I get the Jack-o-lanterns out this week, it may find a new spot.  And maybe next year will be the year I stop adding pumpkins to my collection.  Because seriously, how many pumpkins does one girl need?

Leaving

 

 

Well, it's official.  Little Landon has grown up and left the Carroll nest.  Sad, but true.  Last Monday evening (Sept. 9) we loaded Landon's packed suitcase and took him to the airport to send him on his way to Brigham Young University Idaho for school. 

Charlie senses something is happening and already has his mopey face on.

Landon has his stuff all laid out, ready to get help from Mom loading it in the suitcase.  I had to teach him the method of unfolding everything and laying it flat so you could fit more stuff in.  When both suitcases were packed full we weighed them and were ecstatic when both came in under 50 pounds!  I remember well when Ashton had struggles at the airport trying to rearrange stuff in her suitcases to meet the 50 pound minimum.  It's a good thing she's cute because I think her suitcase never did weigh under 50 pounds and it somehow got through!

 The guys getting things situated in the airport parking lot.

 Easton is a great, helpful little brother for Landon.

We made it to the airport with plenty of time.  We didn't want it to be stressful.  After hanging out with some Burger King Smoothies we walked Landon to the security lines and said our good byes.  We know Landon will have a great experience at BYUI studying and having good times.  We can't wait to see him at Thanksgiving!

Cycling

 One of the reasons we wanted to go to Calloway Gardens was to rent some Tandem bikes (bicycles built for two) and ride through the trails.  Landon has asked to do that all summer and we were finally going to get to do it.  When we got to the bike rental place we discovered that they no longer have those types of bikes; something about liability and lawyers.  A little disappointing but we all rented our own bikes and headed out.  We had an absolute blast cruising along the paved bike trails through trees and around beautiful lakes and bridges.  The weather was perfect.

 We stopped along a bridge to feed the ravenous fish and poky turtles.  We tried to hard to feed the turtles but they were always too slow to get to the food and the fish beat them to it.  We would cheer like someone had just scored a touchdown when the turtle would actually beat out the fish and get a piece of food.

 We made a stop at the Butterfly Conservatory, a beautiful indoor greenhouse full of amazing, colorful butterflies.  The butterflies just fly around free and land on flowers, plants, and sometimes YOU!  It was quite warm and humid inside, but it was fascinating to see the fluttering creatures.

 Another stop on our biking journey was at the Victory Garden, the famous garden used in the PBS show, Victory Garden.  We walked around admiring the beautiful flowers, and especially the vegetables.  The sunflowers were tall and amazing.

 Stephen loved picking and eating the wild grapes, "Muscadines".  They have a very strong flavor and are kind of slimy, but he loves them....it's a southern thing.  They grow wild all over the place and he grew up eating them as a boy.

We loved the Georgia bulldog mascot that was grown out of ivy!  And look....I even had my Georgia shirt on to compliment the picture.  Cool.

It's an A

I love projects....and I love helping my children with their projects.  It was 9:20 the other night and Easton said he had to make a flag for the country Singapore that he is studying.  We looked at it on the Internet and I went off to gather supplies.  I presented Easton with red and white poster board and he informed me it wasn't creative enough.  Mmmmm....we thought about it and came up with a flag tshirt!  We cut out the red fabric from an old tshirt hanging around and used one of Easton's yucky white tshirts to create the form for the pillow.  With my handy dandy sewing machine we were able to create an amazingly creative flag of Singapore.  Do you think we are deserving of an A? 

Tree Adventures

 What an experience we had on the Tree Adventures in Calloway Gardens....seriously, so cool!  I took a ton of pictures.  Tree Adventures is an up in the trees adventure where you walk and climb through various obstacles and zip lines for over two hours.  You are always attached to cables with your harness and it's pretty safe, as long as you are always clipped.  Throughout the journey you have to unclip and then clip to another rope.  I thought the zip lines were the best part of the experience.  It was such an adrenaline rush.

The guys are looking good in their helmets.

 Easton Gets his harness on.

 Landon is all decked out!

 Stephen is ready to go!

 Easton makes his first climb up the ladder.

 We are always attached to the orange line...

 The boys are waiting on a platform high above the ground for some scared little girl to go down the zipline.  We were backed up for quite a while as the workers and the little girls' Dad tried to coax her into "zipping" along.  After a really long time waiting in our perches, she finally got the courage to do it.  Everyone cheered, including people on the ground!

 These obstacles were always harder than they looked because the wobbled, and swung around.  It was hard to balance and not fall off.

 Easton had no fear and plowed through the obstacles!

 This was the most challenging obstacle, each one of the steps is an individual swing that is dangling.  It really required some upper body strength to stabilize the swing from moving out of control.

 This was my first time going on the zipline, a little nerve racking at first but once you left the platform it was awesome!  I loved it!

 

 You had to wear heavy, leather gloves to help you slow down when you were heading down the zipline.  If you happened to drop one, you would yell, "Glove Down" and one of the workers would toss one up to you.  Easton had a lot of "glove down" moments.

This is Stephen on a zipline.

And Easton shows you how it's done!

 

Now it's Landon's turn.