Sunday, September 29, 2013

Comparisons

I'm a big fan of these comparison photos . . . only because it surprises me how much my two boys look NOTHING alike.  We often have people tell us how much they think they do look alike but I don't see any resemblance at all.  

Today we went apple picking.  I will post more pictures on another day but here are my comparison photos.  And yes, I dressed them in the same outfit 2 years later.  Can anyone tell that they are brothers?
Both loved eating apples at this age:
And just to go back in time, this is one of my favorite pictures I have ever taken of Evan to date.  I have it blown up on a canvas at home:
I'm overdue for Eric's 18 month update so I'll hopefully get to that this week along with the photos from today because he was the only one semi-cooperating for the photos.  It was so much easier to get these photos of Evan at the time when he was the only one.  We weren't as lucky today trying to get similar pictures of Eric.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Farm Day - PM

Across the street from the B&B was some open land belonging to the farm that bordered a stream.  This is where the tire swing was located and where lots of laughs were had:

 
Probably my favorite picture of the bunch of Evan:
The kids were able to try to milk the cows too if they'd like, but Evan was a bit overwhelmed and opted against it.  Eric wasn't too sure what was going on:
Onto feeding the goats:
And back to the meadow for more fun.  Eric throwing rocks into the river, looking very grown up:



While Brian and Evan hit the waters on a kayak:

Evan and Eric would go back and forth many, many times to gather rocks from the gravel road to throw into the river.  They even were holding hands on their multiple trips.  It was so, so sweet:
And more throwing rocks:
Before heading back to the hen house to visit the chickens again:
At first not so sure about the chickens surrounding him:
But he didn't seem to care after a few minutes:
One special part of the day is when the owner let Evan actually drive this 60 year old antique John Deere tractor.  Evan was doing the steering all by himself, moving at about 2 MPH.  We lucked into this one as the other family that was there with us were decked in John Deere garb.  The farmer took this out for them and then let Evan (and me) take a turn:
Brian and I even got to shoot some hoops and even played a game of one-on-one.  The building in the background is where about 150 cows lived:
Evan and his favorite kitty:
If you can't tell, we absolutely adored our time away to the farm.  How could you not love this?
Without a doubt, we will be back next year.  I'm thinking of booking our reservation now for next September.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Farm Day - AM

Our first morning on the farm started bright and early with a 7:00 AM baby cow feeding.  We were able to bottle feed these cows which had been born on Saturday:
The farm had a lot of cats, which both boys were obsessed with.  Evan was asking if we could get a cat but we had to keep reminding him that we have a dog instead:
In love with his "favorite kitty".  When I told him I'd print out a picture of the kitty, he was even excited for that:
Next it was onto horse riding after breakfast.  Evan has asked to ride a horse for awhile now so this was  one of his favorite parts of the day:
Mr Happy riding a mini tractor:
Eric's turn on the horse:
 Next up, it was the ATV:
You can't see here, but the kittens were just out of his reach:
More kitten play time:
The whole crew went on a "tractor train" ride through the farm:
Climbing the steps in the garden:
Next up was a hay ride:
Where we went through a covered bridge:
And then it was onto the hen house to collect the eggs for the day:
And back to see the cats . . . and give them kisses . . . even if the beige cat was either missing it's eye or it was severely infected:
All of these pictures were taken before 10:30 AM.  Next post will have the afternoon's photos.  I couldn't help myself!

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Lancaster - September 22

On Sunday, we headed to Lancaster for a mini-vacation.  We started off our trip with a visit to Dutch Wonderland.  Evan hasn't historically been too adventurous to try the rides . . . and let's just say that he hasn't improved too much since the last time we were there.  Eric was feeding off of Evan's energy and was quite hesitant himself.  We were hopeful that things would have changed this year but no luck.  One ride they did enjoy was the carousel . . . which means we spent a lot of money for them to ride a carousel repeatedly:
The slide was a lot of fun too:
Onto the bulldozers.  Can you see how much fun they are having?
At least it got a little bit better:
Bumper cars - Brian seemed to be having fun but I'm not so sure about Evan: (he refused to ride this ride a second time):
The "frog" ride - one of our more dangerous rides for the day:
Monster trucks:
Waiting in line for Evan's favorite ride of the day (which we rode 4 times):
The antique cars - Evan's favorite.  He could actually steer the car (within the track) and it was the highlight of the day:
The "not-highight" of the day . . . when they had to stop "The Whip" to let Evan off because he was crying so much.  We were so proud:
Happier times - onto a very quiet spaceship ride.  My favorite picture of the day:
Brian trying to liven things up on the carousel.  This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it:
Riding the panda together:
And later on, Evan on his own because Eric had given up on the rides by this time:
While we had a good time, I think it's safe to say we won't be heading to Disney World anytime soon :(

But the highlight of the trip was yet to come.  At the recommendation of our good friends, we headed to stay 2 nights at an adorable B&B called Rocky Acre Farms (www.rockyacre.com) - we stayed in the "Efficiency Room".  It's located on an active dairy farm and, with two little boys obsessed with farm animals, it was pretty much heaven to them.  The house is 200 years old, the owners cook a huge breakfast every morning, there are no locks on your bedroom doors and no tv's in the room.  It's definitely a step back from the hustle and bustle of every day life and it was appreciated by everyone in our family:
The tire swing was a big hit:
Three on one tire swing - a little bit crowded:
And honestly, throwing rocks into a stream is all these little guys need to be happy:
We arrived at 4:30 on Sunday night and getting them to leave to go to dinner at 6:00 was not easy - they didn't want to leave even after explaining that we'd be staying for 2 nights.

I would not be exaggerating when I say I took over 300 pictures at the farm in one day.  So the next day's pictures will likely be split up into several posts.  I won't make you suffer through all 300 but there were so many good ones that I'm having a hard time narrowing it down to the best of the bunch.