A parade, pumpkin picking, Fall Festival, & Strep!

We managed to fit in so many things this past weekend - all in between poor Claire getting strep!  My weekend started with a day home on Friday with Fielder because his school was closed.  We had a fun day together with errands, shopping, playground, bikes, and lunch with Claire.  Then Friday night I was awakened by Claire with the phrase that sets fear in every parents' heart:  "Mommy, I threw up." Oh dear God, she has a stomach bug...  Rob and I were so scared because he is in the middle of a CAT and is working non-stop and I'm by myself at work now so neither of us want to take time off.
The next morning, however, she woke up and seemed perfectly fine.  Weird, must be something she ate I thought. So we went on to the fall parade - I figured some fresh air would be good and she was under strict instruction to not touch anyone and keep to herself, just in case.  They loved the parade, especially Fielder because it was pretty much a candy free-for-all.

 

Once we got home, I quickly realized Claire was not feeling good.  She crashed on the couch and started complaining of her throat hurting really bad.  I knew what that meant so off to Kid Med we went and sure enough, it was strep.  Unfortunately she missed the swim meet and was really disappointed.  All the way up until 6:00 she was asking if NOW she could go.  At that point she seemed back to normal, but of course she was contagious and home-bound.

The next day after 3 rounds of antibiotic and she was feeling good, we decided to hit the road and go on an adventure.  I wanted to try the Ashland Berry Farm this year for pumpkins.  It's $20 for all you can carry, although I will say that pumpkins weigh more than I thought and with only the kids to help load them into my arms, it was tricky so we were conservative with the number of pumpkins we took home.  It was a perfect, beautiful day and we all thought it was pretty fun.  *Note for next year, be sure to get there right when it opens as the line gets longer and longer!  And of course, hopefully Rob will be able to come too so we can carry more!!

 

Homemade donuts too!

After pumpkins, we had a little time to rest and take it easy before our neighborhood Fall Festival.  It was a packed weekend!  I still can't believe we were able to do so much even with Claire getting sick. She was a trooper.  The Fall Festival was cute and had some fun activities, but of course all Fielder cared about was candy and the Kona ice truck.
They had a rock climbing wall, bounce house, face painting, petting farm, carousel, balloon animals, and games.

This was our entry in the photo contest....my 2 "bad guys" - fingers crossed for a prize!!

And at last, Fielder got his wish with Kona ice.