Tracking October

What do Cinderella pumpkins, honey bears in forests, and gorgeous weddings have in common? October. It has been awhile since I have written a “Tracking” post, but October has inspired the theme once again. It was a fun-filled month of festivities.

Exhibit 1: A hot October for trips to the beach.

 

 

The pumpkin patch with two special visitors. Oliver and Hazel came all the way from South Africa for a family visit. Lucky for us their Nana lives across the street, so we got to adventure with them like old times. Long car rides in the court, popcorn and movies, chalk art and blazing hot pumpkin patches. Not to mention birthday parties complete with swimming! Hello Indian Summer.

Exhibit 2: Aunt Beth and Uncle Michael’s wedding celebration! Hosted by the greatest Grandma and Grandpa a Mini Mack could have! Paulette decorated with perfection and hired the best ring bearers and flower girl possible. Their security detail wasn’t half bad either! The rehearsal dinner was most exciting with s’mores, family from New York (Great Grandma, Uncle Andy, Aunt Wendy, Austin and Lauryn) and New Jersey (Great Grandma Mack, Aunt Deb, and cousin Julia) and even a few raccoons bellied up to the fire (Uncle Tim! Get your BB gun!).

Exhibit 3: Apples! Apples! And more Apples! As mentioned earlier, a trip to great-great uncle Jonah’s was a huge hit. Ryder and I adventured with my dad to my grandparents’ house where we visited my grandpa’s older brother Jonah. And if that wasn’t enough excitement, we also went to a chicken stew potluck in a neighbor’s backyard where country singing, good food, and a serious game of football commenced. Ryder and I both sat on the sidelines shyly wanting to join the game. I finally mustered the courage to walk up to those professional ten year old football players to ask if Ryder could join the game. The quarterback, Carson, was a true southern boy and instantly made Ryder his wing-man. He’d sneak Ryder the ball and Ryder would sneak his way through the tall crowd of kids to various touchdowns. HOURS of play, muddied sneakers, and chickens running for cover (literally) were finally settled when the sun went down. Ryder had a blast!

Exhibit 4: Vacation! From Denton, North Carolina and the Brushy Mountains we traveled northwest to Virginia’s blue ridge mountains for a week of vacationing. Ryder went on his first camping trip with his Daddy (more on that later)! Chris and I went golfing.

We watched movies, ate, played games, ate, piled Mini Macks in giant bathtubs, ate, scaled boulders, ate, hunted in the woods for honey bees and fuzzy bears, ate, went to Luray Caverns…I got to overhear Ryder’s deepest wish for the wishing well, “I wish to be a Ninja!”

 

 

November has its work cut out for it!