An "Adventure" Day in the Mountains

Have you ever planned out a day/trip only to have NOTHING go as planned?!  Isn't that life :)  This past Tuesday we had planned to have a fun fall day in the mountains.  It was going to be a fun family outing, and it was fun but there was plenty of unplanned activity as well.  Since we had Bryce right at the beginning of October, some of the fun fall activities we normally do had to be put on hold.  I had really wanted all of us to go back to the apple orchard since this is something we do every year.  I'm big on tradition, so I don't usually take no for an answer on these things.  My favorite apples were going to be in so that made it even more of a priority to go.  Kelly had arranged his schedule to be off of work for half a day on Tuesday and we got Cohen out of school for half a day as well.  We were ready for some fun!  Not only had we made plans to go to the orchard, but Kelly also found this place for the girls to do some gem mining.  It had great ratings and we knew they would love it.  So off we go and we get around Anderson and Kate starts coughing and gets sick in the car!  It was a lot of mucus and water but we were 6 miles from the next exit and when we did finally get stopped it was a huge clean up for us.  I had no extra clothes for her and Kelly and I both decided we wanted to just trash the car seat and get a new one.  After about 20 minutes of cleaning Kate, the car, and the seat, we got everyone rearranged and buckled and decided we would keep on going.  We definitely would have to stop for more clothes but we felt this was an accident and Kate seemed to be feeling just fine. So off we go...again.  At the next Wal-Mart we stopped so I could get another booster seat, find some clothes and I got a trash can just in case.  We never needed it again thank goodness!  We made it to the gem mine first and noticed Kate had a nasty diaper, (because this kid still refuses to poop in a potty), and had a lot more while we were there...not good.  No puke but having the "D".  With a child who won't tell you when they need to go this was not good at all.  We went on into the gem mine and the girls went to feed the baby goats before getting their miner buckets.  This proved to be the best stop of the day because they both had a BLAST!  I think we may have made a new tradition :)  It was so fun watching them!  Every time they would look into their mining tray and see a new rock they would get so amazed and fascinated.  I took so many pictures because I loved watching their faces.  Cohen loved to pull out a new rock and run to show it to the man who ran the place.  She found a big blue rock and told him it was a "Frozen" rock and they would call it Elsa.  I think he got a kick out of her for sure.  They both left with big bags of pretty gems.  

Petting the baby goats

Proud of her gem

This was showing her "Frozen Elsa" rock 

Bryce was happy to sleep the whole time

When it was time to leave the real fun started...While we were mining Kate dirtied her diaper again and this time it actually blistered her skin.  Since she didn't tell us we had no idea until we went to check and change her.  This started the all out screaming.  I know it hurt, bless her heart.  We saw that we did not have our A&D ointment in the bag so another stop was in order at the closest Walgreens.  I also needed more Pull-Ups because we were going through them so fast.  We had not packed that many since she is somewhat potty trained and were not expecting so many poops!  At Walgreens she was in an all out fit but once we got the ointment on her she passed out in her car seat.  We headed on to the orchard but we weren't going to have much time at this point.  Well this made Cohen upset, I was about to lose my mind, but we headed that way.  When we got there Kate was still sleeping so Cohen and I got out and bought apples and donuts.  We also took some pictures.  She really wanted her height picture taken since we do that each year.  I was so tired at this point and Bryce needed to eat so Kelly and I swapped out.  Kate had woke up at this point, feeling better, and wanting to play.  So he took the girls and I sat in the car.  The one place we so wanted to go and planned the trip for and here I sat in the car.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!  The donut and slushie did help though and looking all around me it was so pretty!  The leaves were at their peak!  We were definitely making memories!  We had another diaper change to do and then it was almost 6:00 which was closing time.  Luckily Kate wasn't screaming and this ended up being her last time so that was a relief.  We packed up and headed home stopping to eat on the way.  Even though it didn't go quite as we had planned, we still had fun and most of all I just love being with my family!

almost 4 feet