Pumpkin Patch at Old Baker's Farm

Hay Maze - which way should I go?

ZOOM ZOOM - riding the pedal tractor

This was by far Hannah's favorite part of the visit. She spent the whole time in line for this horse ride saying "I do it myself? PLEAASSSEE".

Cotton..you know, there's a story with this. My (Hannah's) grandma used to pick cotton. She used to work in the fields for hours when she was a little girl. And all she got was two pennies. And she did it barefoot. And that was after she walked home from school barefoot in the snow - and you know, it was uphill both ways. I wonder why she didn't just go to wal-mart if she wanted some cotton???

Hannah loved her little pumpkin she picked from the patch. She held it tight on the hayride back.

Decorating pumpkins. Meet "princess pumpkin".

And Still MORE Beach Photos

Yes, this is three posts of beach pictures! Scroll down for the rest. I couldn't help it. Hannah and I had a great time at the beach with my mom this past weekend. It was Hannah's first beach trip and she loved everything about it - the sand, the ocean, attempting to fly a kite, finding seashells, the swimming pool at the hotel we stayed at the first night, the cabin we stayed in the last two nights, fishing from the pier on the lake at our cabin (she didn't catch anything but she had a blast anyway!), the playground next to us, sleeping on her "special bed" (air mattress) and more! She actually was fighting a cold and didn't sleep well during the nights (and I think sleeping away from home in an unfamiliar place is still tough for her anyway), but during the day, she was all systems GO! The girl is a beach bum at heart. She's now talking all about "maybe one day, we go back to ocean!". Watching Hannah enjoy the experience was simply magical...her joy at just running free through the sand was so fun to watch! Enjoy the pictures.

I think this is my favorite picture above!

Hannah and Grandma. It was my mom's birthday on Saturday. Hannah made her a "sand cake", but then we went out to dinner for real later!

BEACH PHOTOS - pt. 2

I just wanted to share these pictures of Hannah from the beach this weekend. Doesn't she look so sweet? That's my 4 year old princess - wow! I truly am so fortunate to have this child in my life!!

BEACH PHOTOS

Torchbearer for the Olympics!!

No, neither Hannah nor I are going to run in the Olympics. Well, I'm never going to run in the Olympics...Hannah, well one day maybe. But, there is a wonderful person in China named Jenny Bowen. She wants to. Jenny is from the U.S. and she's a volunteer with a great organization called "Half the Sky". Half the Sky works with orphanages to set up wonderful infant nuture programs, preschool programs, and programs for older children. Jenny wants to be a torchbearer and if she's selected (by internet vote), she will run with 8 children from 8 different orphanages across China. How neat of an experience would that be for those kids?? So, please go to this site:
http://pub1.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch/members.shtml?mid=212
Once there, vote for Jenny Bowen. She's currently in the lead, which I think is awesome! But, I'd love to see lots of people vote and keep her in the lead.

And for all my Wuhan-family buddies, you may or may not know that this year, Half the Sky is beginning their great programs in Wuhan. In fact, the idea for Jenny to run came from a volunteer working on setting up the Wuhan program. Who knows? Maybe one of the kids from there will get chosen to run and carry the torch.