Friday, November 5, 2010

Fall Activities

As I mentioned in a previous post, we did several "fall" activities during October with Bella. First, we took her to Carroll's Pumpkin Farm in Grinnell. It was a pretty hot day when we went, but Bella had lots of fun! She kept very busy looking at everything there was to do.
Our attempt at a picture- obviously she was more interested in looking at something else!
Bella as a cute pumpkin head.
Bella loved driving all the tractors that were around, just as she likes to pretend to "drive" our car.
She also enjoyed sitting up on the "moo!"
The pumpkin farm had a big jumping pillow that Bella was very eager to check out. However, when we went on, she was not a fan. There were lots of kids on it, so it was very bouncy and I think it freaked her out a little bit.
Bella also took a ride on the "neigh!" She refers to many animals by the noise they make, rather than the actual name. :)
Peering through a pretend car.
Daddy and Bella on top of a giant turkey haystack.
There was a tractor ride for younger kids, so we decided to take Bella on that. And we found that one of the cows was named Bella! I tried to fit into that one, but it was a smaller cow and there was no way I was going to fit into it.
So we drove another one instead. :)
Driving yet another tractor!
There was also a big corn bin to play in. Bella liked doing this, but Mommy was not such a fan so we didn't stay in there too long.
Posing as "baas" with some cows!
Bella is much easier to take pictures of when one of us can stand to the side and entertain! She liked having her own little "punkin" to hold- that has been a favorite of hers this month as well! She loves playing with all the pumpkins we have outside our house.
The farm also had goats that kids could feed and pet. Bella was a little uncertain about petting and feeding them at first, but she warmed up with Mommy's help.
Feeding the goats some food, which I believe she tried to eat herself. Yum!
After the pumpkin farm, we stopped in Sully at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Grandpa was raking leaves, and Bella had lots of fun walking around in them and hearing them crunch! We don't have big trees at our house, so she doesn't get to play with all these leaves.
Throwing them around with Grandma.
On another Saturday morning, we brought Bella to Center Grove apple orchard. I had wanted to go somewhere to get apples, and this orchard had a lot of activities for kids, as well as apple picking and pumpkin patches. It was bigger than the pumpkin farm in Grinnell, so it was even more fun than that. There was another jumping pillow, and this time Bella loved it! They limited how many kids could go on it, so then it wasn't quite so bouncy.
She thought it was very fun. :)
Jumping with Mommy.
There was also one of the big slides that you go down on a feed bag. This was definitely the favorite activity of the day! Bella wanted to go down several times in a row. Here is Daddy taking a turn...
And Mommy....
And Mommy again!
There were also lots of animals out to feed and look at. Here is Bella getting up close and personal with a goat. No fear from this girl!
Checking out the ducks...
And the wild turkeys! Bella was not in love with the turkeys. They gobbled very loudly, and that made her a little nervous.
There were three little houses set up like the Three Little Pigs. Bella enjoyed going to play in all of these! Here she is in the house of sticks.
And heading with Mama into the house of bricks.
Peeking through a face hole. :)
Bella took part in a tea party with the Mad Hatter (like in Alice in Wonderland). She loves pretend play, so this was another fave.
Posing with a little pumpkin of her own!
There were also ride on tractors. Bella is of course to little to actually ride them, but she had to sit on each and every one. And we mean every single one!
Driving around!
There was also a corn pit like they had in Grinnell, but it was Daddy's turn to take her into that one. :)
Bella had fun throwing the corn all around and getting her feet buried by Daddy.
All in all, we had a very fun time at both of our little outings! I do get a little sad that our baby is growing up so fast, but it is so much fun taking her to kid-friendly places and seeing her excitement.

Fall Days!

We have had absolutely BEAUTIFUL fall weather this past month. So we took advantage of it and took some pretty adorable outside pictures of Miss Bella. Here is a sampling!
These were all taken in our backyard after church one day. Bella was being very photogenic. :)
Another afternoon we took Bella to the park because I wanted some pictures of her in the leaves. At first Bella thought it was okay for Mama to be behind the camera....
But then that was no longer okay. As indicated by the little crying hissy fit in this picture.
She is saying "walk" here, complete with holding out her hand. This means she wants you to go somewhere with her... now. :)
So Daddy switched positions with Mommy and all was well again! Bella always wins... :)
She had fun playing with all the leaves!