West Point

We made the 6 hour drive from Niagara Falls to West Point so we could visit Dustin's old school and see some of his family and friends.

We drove onto West Point Saturday morning for the football game. The first thing we saw when we came in the gate was the new prep school campus. Dustin attended the prep school when it was in New Jersey but it has recently been relocated.

At the game we saw cadets from his old company and got a picture with their mascot - the G4 Guppy!

 

We sat with the band for a little while and it was good to see them doing some of the same things that they were doing when Dustin was there. But the band is very loud so we moved to our seats to watch the game.

We got to spend some time exploring the campus. Grace's favorite part was the leaves of course!

 This is the bridge where Dustin proposed.

 And the fall colors over the reservoir were beautiful.

While Olivia was napping in the car I took some pictures of Grace enjoying all of the leaves that were on the ground.

It was nice to be able to go back after more than 5 years and see good friends and family!

Niagara Falls

Dustin had another business trip. This time he was in Rochester, NY. We decided that I would fly up with the girls at the end of the week and we would make it into a little vacation. 

I headed to the airport with the girls on Thursday and met Dustin in NY. This was the first time the girls had both flown together and they were great on the flight.  Getting into the airport with 2 carseats, the stroller, and our bag and carry-on was the hardest part of the entire trip.

As soon as Dustin was finished on Friday we made the 1.5 hour drive to Niagara Falls. We walked around the American side for a bit.

The girls spotted a gray squirrel! In our part of the country squirrels are brown.

On the American side we could get pretty close to the falls.

 Olivia checking it out

 

Grace had fun trying to catch the falling leaves. She really got to see how leaves change colors and fall off of the tree in the fall.

 

Then we found the bridge and walked to Canada.

 

Our first stop once in Canada was the Hershey store. I think this was Grace's favorite store ever! 

 They picked out some candy as a souvenir.

 

From Canada you could see the entire waterfall! It was really pretty and I think it was probably a great time to be there because we got to see the fall colors as well.

After we saw everything we wanted to see it was time to hit the road.

Pumpkin Patch

One Saturday in October we visited a The Big Orange Pumpkin Farm in Celina, TX.

With our admission we each got a cup of food for the animals. Grace fed the sheep but then decided that wasn't her thing and so she let Olivia have the rest of the food.

 

Olivia loved feeding the goats!

Grace was tired of feeding the animals and wanted to check out the pumpkins and hay bales.

 She sat so still and smiled big for the camera!

Then Olivia joined us but she didn't want to sit and take her picture. She wanted to climb on the hay and the fence.

We let the girls pick out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.

Grace decided she would rather leave hers for another little girl or boy to take home. But she did want to go for a hay ride!

Halloween 2012

We had a great Halloween!

We started the day off by heading to the community center for our neighborhood playgroup Fall Fest. 

The girls had lots of fun jumping in the bounce house and painting pumpkins.

 

 That evening the girls put on their costumes and went trick or treating in our neighborhood. Almost everyone was passing out candy!

Olivia wasn't a fan of her costume at first but she quickly forgot about it once she started getting candy.

Dustin took the girls around our side of the neighborhood while I stayed home to pass out candy. We had quite a few kids come by and I think we will have more next year since there won't be construction on our block.

Gymnastics!

Grace started taking gymnastics over the summer. She loves it! Every week we can tell that she is improving. She gets so excited when it is time to get ready to go. And she can hardly stand still when it is time for class to start. While she is having fun in class I watch through the big windows when I am not chasing Olivia around. 

I took a few pictures with my phone the second week. When she is doing the bars, beam, or trampoline she is further back in the gym so it is harder to get a picture. And it would be too much of a distraction to take Olivia in there to get some pictures so these will have to do for now.

Grace is rolling down the wedge in the first picture. In the second she is about to get up on the semi-circle and in the third she is jumping!

 

My Mom is planning on coming to visit during the week sometime soon so she can watch Grace at gymnastics. Grace is SO excited! She got both of her leotards out today and asked me which one she should wear when her Grandma comes!

Movie Night!

We are finally in our new house and pretty much moved in. We still have pictures to hang on the walls but all of the boxes are unpacked and put away.

But for now we are enjoying our first movie night in our new house :)

Flowers

Grace loves pretty scents.
She loves good smelling soaps!

And she loves to stop and smell flowers....