Pumpkins, the Pukeys, and a 'Possum!

First, let's start with the fun stuff. Corey went back to McPherson last weekend for a boys golf weekend. He had a blast hanging with the guys and was super stoked 'cuz he actually golfed fairly decently! However, he was also super happy to be home as he mentioned more than once that his old bones cannot handle as much "fun" as they used to (i.e. late nights and alcohol consumption = D~) Today is Wednesday and I think he might now finally be fully recovered!

While Corey was back in Mac, my parents came up to Lawrence to visit. Riley and Gage were thrilled, they LOVE they're Grandma and PopPop! Saturday was a dream day -- sunny, 70, light breeze -- a perfect day for the Pumpkin Patch! This was our first visit to Schaake's Pumpkin Patch that is just outside of Lawrence and let me tell you, we had a blast! I didn't realize how huge that place was. They have it set up so nice for the little ones complete with piled up haystacks, a hay bale maze, and playsets with slipper slides. A great place for enthusiastic little ones to release some coiled up energy! The boys absolutely loved getting a hayrack ride out to the middle of the patch. Riley was in heaven getting to see so many tractors up close and moving as tractors are one of his current passions. Gage was impressed with the cows, constantly saying "moo" and "cows" and wandering that way every chance he got. There were a couple of frisky bulls that kept trying to mount the heifers, so we just kept telling the boys the cows were "wrestling." I am nowhere near ready for having that talk any time soon! Anyhow, picking pumpkins was a blast -- I had no idea there were so many different types! I guess I've been oblivious all these years and assumed all pumpkins were round and orange and the rest of the different colored and crazy shaped ones were gourds of some sort. Apparently, I was wrong -- believe it or not, that does happen on occasion = ) Here are some pics of the boys enjoying the day ...

As you can see, a good time was had by all! Every day the boys are still asking where Grandma and Pop Pop are. When I tell them they had to go home, but they'll be up again to visit next weekend, Riley sweetly demands that we again go to the "Punkin' Patches!" Too cute = )

Now on to some not so cute stuff. After such a fun weekend, we started off the new week with some major yuckiness. Gage came to the office with me Monday morning because he had his 18 month "well child" check-up scheduled for 9:30. Unfortunately, he was not so well. First thing as I get him out of his carseat, he pukes all over the parking lot. Nice. Luckily, he avoided getting any on himself, save for a little on his shoe. So, I cleaned him up with baby wipes and started into the office. He had eaten a ton of pancakes for breakfast, so I figured maybe his tummy was upset from overeating. But, lo and behold, a few minutes later as he was sitting on my lap at my desk, he started vomiting again. Thankfully it went into the plastic bag lined trash can. But, still -- yuck! So, from here we headed to the doc's office where we made it through the check-in and Nurse Debbie was able to get his height (32 .25" - 52nd percentile) and weight (25.5 lbs - 35th percentile) measurements. Being the pro that she is, she set me up with some tissues and a little vomit dish - "just in case." Well, Gage made sure her efforts were not in vain and put the dish to use in the middle of the check-up with Dr Kimuri. Again - yuck! Other than the pukies, he is pretty healthy = ) So, he got to stay home with mommy on Monday ... then on Tuesday I was sick. Double yuck! This was no surprise, though, as once we were home on Monday, each time Gage needed to upchuck, he would snuggle in really close to me first, then let the fun stuff fly. Needless to say, we both took several baths that day and did numerous loads of laundry. Today we're both feeling much better and I'm praying that Riley and Corey both continue to be lucky and avoid this nasty stomach virus.

And now for the opossum. I was cleaning out our cat's litter boxes this morning after giving them their morning chow. One of the boxes has a hooded lid on it, so you cannot see inside it except for the small entryway. Well, this was at 6am, so I wasn't fully awake, nor did I even think to peak inside before I lifted the lid. When I pulled it up I found quite a surprise inside -- a full-grown opposum staring up at me! This particular opossum has visited our garage before, he likes to snack on our cat's food. Unfortunately, this does not seem to bother our kitties, I think they may have even made friends with the little sucker. So, anyhow, there I was barefooted, in my jammies, with this critter just quietly looking up at me. After letting out a little screech, I calmly put the lid back on and left him be. It's kind of a gross place to hang out, but I guess if he's not causing any trouble, I will let him be for moment.

Well, that's all of the excitement for now, should be interesting to see what the rest of the week brings ...