Syrup Soppin' 2011

My parents drove up in late October for the annual Syrup Sop in Loachapoka. This has become an event that we all look forward to each year.  And of course, Turner loves it when Tootsie and Pop come to town - for any occasion!

These two are completely silly...

The train made an early appearance this year while we were waiting in line for the "bathrooms". 

These two are two peas-in-a-pod.  That man is completely smitten by that child.

It seems unfair that while this good man works dilligently to make the popular syrup...

...kids like Turner get a joy ride on the big horses!  This was the first time for her to ride the really large horses and she really enjoyed it!

For some reason, the pictures I get of Mark and Turner at this event are some of my favorites of the year. I just love these!

After we ate our biscuits and syrup, took Turner for a ride on the horses and watched them make syrup for a minute...we got down to the real reason we go to the Syrup Sop.  The shopping!  :)

After about 5 min of waiting on us, Mark informed Tootsie and me that he and Pop had no intentions of spending 20 minutes per booth so they'd be going across the street to Pioneer Park.  We had never been over there before but I know now that has been a mistake on our part - Turner had a BALL!  Here, she's getting the corn off the cob, then below she's grinding that corn into meal.

But her favorite place of all was the school house!  She visited it twice with Mark and Pop, then brought me and Tootsie back across the street to see it!

This was her telling me that she was the teacher and that I needed to do what she said...check out that finger pointing!  Where in the world did she get the notion that teachers were bossy like that?  :)

We stepped across to the living quarters they had opened for tours...I just love this picture.

There was live bluegrass/folk music...which means Turner is going to dance!

And at another booth they let her turn the crank and make apple juice from apples!

She got the opportunity to dig sweet potatoes with a sweet farmer, and she learned quickly that if you pull too hard and your feet aren't properly planted...you'll likely end up in the dirt!

I am already looking forward to next year!!

A Chi O Reunion

On the Saturday of the Auburn/Florida game, some of my Chi Omega pledge sisters organized a small-scale reunion for our '97 pledge class.  I am so happy that my college friend Kristy keeps me in the loop and it was such a treat to meet up with Kristy and her oldest Addison to attend this reunion.

We met in the new Chi O chapter room, which is impressive to say the least!  We even got a tour of the new Chi O hall in the new Village dorms and it makes college living look easy for sure!

Mom obviously had Turner on a little mini-photo shoot here...can you tell Turner is loving this?

Turner and Addison chowing down on Marco's Pizza - the owner is the husband of one of my pledge sisters so if you live in Auburn check them out!

There were even precious owl coloring pages for the kiddos!

A picture of the whole group.

Addison didn't love me taking her picture and most often gave me the stink eye...but I'll take 100 stink eyes for one picture this cute!

My little one got very tired, very quickly!

If you only knew the stress behind actually snapping this photo with everyone standing still...these are four of the 8 or 9 girls who lived in the Chi O Mansion for our last couple of years at Auburn.

Though we were small in numbers, it was really neat to reconnect with some of these girls that I haven't seen since college and see where our lives have taken us in 10 years!

The Pumpkin Patch

Our friends, Mitch and Dawn Lazenby, transformed their family farm into an awesome pumpkin patch during the month of October.  One Friday evening we met up with my parents and headed out for some pumpkin patch fun!

It's not hard to see how much Mark loves Turner, and how much he enjoys being with her and playing with her.  I love to watch him find such joy in her!  The seesaw, hay maze, and the cotton-picker turned into slide were our first stops of the night.

Then we climbed aboard the hay-ride and made our way to the pumpkin patch!

This is such a great picture of my parents...but in trying to hide his cast Dad looks like he only has part of an arm!

I think she was about to panic here - picked up a little more than she could handle!

We had to check out the cotton field and pick our very own cotton!

And the corn bin was perhaps Turner's favorite activity of all!

We had a "cotton-picking good time" at the Cotton Pickin' Pumpkin Patch!  We are already looking forward to visiting again next fall!