Williams Family Blog: More October 09 Pics...Including HALLOWEEN Pics!

The first half of October was a busy, busy time for us. Included in our activities were a day trip to the Georgia Aquarium to visit with Papa and Grammy; a weekend with Pops and Gran here in Greenville, which included a trip to Sky Top Apple Orchard in North Carolina; a one night visit with Adam (my cousin); and a visit from Big Daddy and Grand-mama.

The second half of the month was more of the same. It has included a Fall bike ride in the mountains for me with my buddy, Kev-O; a trip to Denver Downs Pumpkin Patch near Clemson, SC, with our Sunday school class and ALL our kids; a Fall Festival at church; a little Halloween trick-or-treating; and some general horsing around.

Somehow, we've managed to find time to fit work and school into our schedules, as well.

Below are some pics (basically in the order in which they happened) from the second half of the month of October.

Bike Ride in the Mountains (near Brevard, NC)

I took the opportunity to steal away from Greenville for a few hours last Saturday for a bike ride in the mountains with a friend of mine. The leaves were brightly colored, the rivers were full of water, and the air was just crisp enough that I almost needed a jacket during the ride, but not quite. Next time I ride with Kev-O I'm gonna have to teach him how to wait until someone smiles before snapping the pic.

See...I waited for him to smile! :) This is Kev-O being a good Greenville cyclist and sporting his Hincapie Sportswear jersey. George Hincapie, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong's for all seven of Lance's Tour de France wins, lives here in Greenville and his brother runs a cycling clothing company that is doing quite well nationwide.

Whoever paved this road had to have been a cyclist. It doesn't look it but this was a pretty steep drop off the back of the second mountain we climbed as part of our ride. The sketchy part was all the loose, wet leaves in the road that I fully expected to cause my tires to slip out from under me. Luckily, the tires stuck and I had a blast snaking down this mountain.

Here's another pic I shot of Kev-O from the top of one of the lesser climbs. Like I said, the colors of the leaves were really great and having deserted roads all to ourselves made the whole thing that much better.

Denver Downs Pumpkin Patch

The day after my bike ride our Sunday school class and all our kids took a trip to a pumpkin patch near Clemson, SC, called Denver Downs. It was a really cool place with a TON of stuff to do including hayrides, corn maize, pine straw maze (for the kiddos), a hay barn with rope swings in it, various games, and even a place to get some bbq. Here we are on the hayride.

Bailey and her friend Ryan enjoyed climbing on the pine straw bales that made up the pine straw maze. Ryan is thinking about jumping off the top of this one while Bailey is excitedly urging him on.

AND RYAN TAKES THE LEAP!!!

Not to be outdone by a boy Bailey takes the leap, as well. That's some pretty good hops for a two year old!

Bailey also enjoyed riding in "Ginger", one of the cows on the cow train being pulled around by a lady on a tractor. Nice Jordan imitation with the tongue thing by the way.

The next few pics are of members of our class and their kids while on the hayride. We had so many people there in our group we actually filled up an entire trailer. Starting with the extreme left is Jenn Byford and her son, "Little" Pete; Riggs, Nate, Stephanie, & Will Manning; and Alison Lupo and one of her twin daughters (Macy or Lydia).

Again, from the extreme left is Kathryn Sinclair and her son, McCain (not named for John even though he was born during John's Presidential campaign); and Anna Kate, Pete, Jenn, & "Little" Pete Byford.

From left: Jason, Melissa, & Ava Grace Payne; Ben, Ryan, Leslie, & Bryce Owens; and Ally, Tommy, Kathryn, & McCain Sinclair.

Jason, Melissa, & Ava Grace Payne. We invited the Paynes on the trip despite the fact that they had never been to our Sunday school class before. In fact, they had just joined the church the week before and Mel and I were their mentors (meaning we simply stood at the front of the church with them when they joined). They accepted our invitation and have since come to class, as well. As a side note, we happened to run into them a few weeks before while eating bbq in NC after visiting the apple orchard with Pops and Gran.

From left: Ryan and Coleman Burnett and Deidre and Sydney Jordan. Ryan's wife, Stephanie, was just out of the shot to the left and Deidre's husband, Matt, was right behind her.

From left: Bentley, Anna, Scott, & Lucas Thompson and us.

Halloween

Our jack-o-lantern...it has freckles!

Here's a shot of us trick-or-treating at one of only two stops for the night (it was rainy). This was taken by our next door neighbor. Bailey is wearing an authentic Japanese kimono picked up by some friends of the family during a recent trip to Japan while Palmer is dressed as a frog (complete with webbed fingers).

Bailey and Palmer hanging out on the front porch by the jack-o-lantern waiting for more trick-or-treaters to stop by.

"WHAT!?! You mean we have to GIVE the candy AWAY!!!"

"Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?"

"Is there a giant frog behind me?"

[Insert your own caption here.]

Bailey showing off her spoils for the evening.

Not sure what Bailey is doing here but it resulted in no harm to Palmer. For a second, there, we weren't so sure he was safe.

Random Pics

Palmer after one of his first high-chair meals. Some of it actually made it into his mouth, too!

Passed out after a big meal of rice cereal.

Bailey being Bailey.

Hanging out in the den. Palmer in the bumbo seat and Bailey in the wooden rocking chair Big Daddy and Grand-mama brought to us during their visit. This is the same rocking chair that I used to sit in at their house when I was Bailey's age and the same rocking chair, I'm sure, that my Dad sat in back in the day, too.