October 2012

October 2012 was an extremely busy month for the Walker family! We started off the month celebrating Uncle Kent's 60th birthday (Ian's uncle). Uncle Kent played a special role in Ian's youth and continues to be an important part of our lives and our children's lives. Jude loves to talk about his Great Uncle Kent and always looks forward to their visits. We already had plans to be out of town on Kent's actual birthday, so we celebrated a little early by having our own little party for Kent at our house, which included myself, Ian, Jude, Channing, Kent, and Grandma Bonnie.

Happy 60th Birthday, Uncle Kent! We love you to pieces!

Every other year, during the first week in October, we get to join my parents at their time share at Chetola Resort in Blowing Rock, NC. This past October was Jude's 2nd trip to Chetola and our little CC's first trip to the North Carolina mountains! On our way to the mountains, we planned a small side trip to visit my very good friend, Julie, who lives in Mocksville, NC. Jude and Channing adore Julie, as do I, and always have a blast when visiting with her. Julie and I came up with the idea of visiting a local pumpkin patch together and Julie picked out the perfect one in Clemmons, NC. Channing had fun exploring the pumpkins while Jude pulled a wagon all around the pumpkin patch.

Following our fun at the pumpkin patch in Clemmons, NC, we went back to Julie's house and spent some time carving a pumpkin to then take some of our Walker family pumpkin pictures, a tradition we started with Jude's 1st Halloween. I'll be doing a separate blog post for the pumpkin pictures! Here's a picture of Julie and I at her house in Mocksville, NC in October 2012:

Once we wrapped up our visit with Julie, we loaded up the car and continued on our way to Blowing Rock, NC, where we spent five days at the Chetola Resort along with Nana and Papa (my parents). While in the mountains, we made a trip to Grandfather Mountain, visited the Mast General Store, and ate at The Dan'l Boone Inn, which is one of the oldest restaurants in Boone, NC and serves their amazing country cooking family style. Here are a few pictures from our Grandfather Mountain 2012 adventure:

It was extremely foggy that day on the mountain!!

Our 10 month old CC was NOT amused with the thirty degree windchill on Grandfather Mountain!!

Other fun things we did during our 2012 trip to the North Carolina Mountains include enjoying dinner at a local barbaque restaurant that had live music in which Jude was enthralled, roaming around the downtown Blowing Rock area, and a trip to a children's museum called The Children's Playhouse, where Jude and CC were able to get down and explore/play along with their Nana and Papa.

There is also a playroom and a playground for the children at Chetola; there is a train set that the children can play with as well as a train that follows it's track around the perimeter of the room above your head. Here's a picture of Nana helping Jude and Channing with the trains in the playroom at Chetola:

We had a great time during our trip to Blowing Rock, NC and look forward to coming back in October 2014! Here's a picture of the Walker Family in downtown Blowing Rock in October 2012:

My birthday is in October, and to celebrate this occasion, we participated in one of my very favorite Fall festivities: The NC State Fair! Jude, Channing, Ian, and myself all had a great time people watching, enjoying various types of fair food, riding a few rides, listening to a few local bands, and just enjoying the overall atmosphere of the NC State Fair.

Jude and Mommy on Mommy's 32nd birthday at the NC State Fair! Mommy's favorite time of year.

The NC Forest Service had a helicopter at the fair that Jude was thrilled to be able to climb in!

Once we were home from our trip to the fair, my dear friend, Libby, and her husband, Jason, came over for a quick birthday visit! Libby and I have been friends for 30 years! We met when we were two years old at Lake Park Swim Club (the same swim club that we are still members of today!) Here's a few pictures of our visit:

Jude was excited because Libby surprised him with a few trucks just for him!

Thank you for the visit and the gifts, Libby and Jason! We love you!

Wrapping up our October 2012 was Halloween! This was Channing's 1st Halloween and she dressed up as a sweet little strawberry!

This was Jude's 3rd Halloween and he was not as thrilled about dressing up a blue monster. He kept saying that he wanted to "take his jacket off!" (He called his costume his jacket. Ha Ha!)

Because our children are still very young, instead of going door-to-door to trick-or-treat on Halloween in our neighboorhood, we take Jude and CC dressed in their costumes to visit their various local relatives. We started off our Halloween evening by eating dinner as a family at Char Grill, with the children dressed in their costumes. Then we went to Jude and CC's Great Uncle Kent's house to visit with Uncle Kent and Uncle John.

Next we went to my parents' house for a Halloween visit with Nana and Papa!

To cap off the evening, Jude and Channing went trick-or-treating at their Grandma's house (Ian's mom). Grandma Bonnie had even put together some Halloween treat bags just for Jude and CC!

Happy Halloween 2012 from The Walker Family!