Professional Pictures

As usually, I was a few months late of Charlie's milestone to get pictures made (these were supposed to be for 2-years old).  He was a little under-the-weather but was a good sport and we got some good shots...

Happy Birthday James!

Charlie finally "gets" birthdays so we had fun picking out a present for Dad this year.  Maybe next year he'll better understand that the point of a present is to find something the recipient might want not just what the giver wants :)

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to the Ashland Berry Farm to pick out some pumpkins!  We had never been to a "real" pumpkin patch and it was a beautiful day so it was well worth the drive up north after Charlie's swim lesson.  They hauled us on a hayride out to the patches where there were thousands of pumpkins to pick from...

"Whose feet are those?"

Serious dude on a hayride

Here comes the farmer

Surveying the patch

"Found some!"

"These make good drums!"

"Lots of drums!"

Posing with the two we picked out

Granny and Grandpa also came up to play with Charlie on Saturday.  They brought Thomas choo-choos so they were quite popular :)

State Fair 2011

Today we ventured out for our annual VA State Fair tradition... going on a rainy, cold day just to the animal and tractor side then eating at Bass Pro Shops for lunch on the way home :)  Remembering our trip last year was a great way to see how much Charlie has changed in a year!  He was still a little shy about going up to the animals but was all about climbing all over the tractors.

First some comparisons...

Last year

This year

Last year

This year

And some other things we saw...

A little shy by the chickens

Donkeys!

Cows! We saw A LOT of cows.

Goats or are they sheep?

Goats!

Tractors...

and more tractors (technically this is a digger)...

and more tractors...

and more tractors!

Lunch at the Bass Pro Shops is always interesting.  Not exactly my kind of place but it is interesting to see a bunch of stuffed animals once a year I suppose.

Last year... not so sure about the bear.

This year... pretty sure he hates the bear.

After the restaurant buzzer went off he was a little more open to looking at it.  I don't blame him... it is gross and scary.

Touch a Truck

Today we went to the Touch a Truck event at the race track!  There were every kind of truck there for kids to climb on.  Charlie had a great time getting in and out of...

Exiting an ambulance

Fire truck

Driving the fire truck

A green fire truck

Hopefully the only time he sits in the back of one of these

CarMax had a car carrier there

Sitting in a helicopter with a new friend

"Yea, helicopter!"

Riding a slide out of a bus

Tractor

Up high in the loader

Getting out

Posing in the loader

Silly guys