One blustery day, we decided to take Samantha to a pumpkin patch in RTP. The field trips were clearing out, so Sam and a couple of other toddlers had the whole place to themselves. There were goats, sheep, pumpkins, hay, cotton, hay ride, and slides (both normal and giant tube) to play with.

Despite the look on her face, she really enjoyed the animals.  By the end of the day, she literally had them eating out of her hand!

Sam also did a great job at navigating the corn maze. The terrain was a little unforgiving, so Daddy had to assist her.

There were pumpkins, a hay bale maze, and a giant tube for crawling. Mommy had to step in and help when Sam decided to stop halfway.

Since her birthday, we've been working with Sam on a number of things.  A fun one is drawing, well, scribbling!  She seems to really like it, especially since she has cool crayons.

   

Whoohoo!  Now who doesn't like the fair?  While the NC fair, in my mind, doesn't hold a candle to the NY fair, we had a great time together.  [But NC is WAY better than VT!!]  Living only a couple miles away (and really even closer to the free parking), we opted to walk.  Pooh would have been really annoyed as it was quite blustery.  There was a perfect fall chill with the looming threat of rain.  But we walked dangit!  :)

The highlight of the fair was, of course, the fried goodies.  When else do you let yourself eat like crap?  Rhetorical question!  In all seriousness, it was the petting zoo.  Samantha got to see some new animals: goats, sheep, camels (!!), a kangaroo, and some weird thing whose name began with a "B."  Her favorites were there too - cows and pigs.

     

Like every state fair that I've been too, there was a huge focus on the state's Agriculture.  There was a kid space where the kids literally pick vegetables and fruit, "sell" them back for a money, and then "buy" a prize.  Sam did really well at putting her foods in the basket, but I think she was just excited to be out of the stroller.

     

Before Sam took a nap, we visited the prize winning animals.  There were some really interesting looking ones - one cow was gray and very, very wrinkly!  But the favorite was the pig (thanks Grandpa & Grandma!).

Hopefully we'll get to go next year... I wonder if Charlotte is close to the SC or GA fairs?

I have nothing to report... Sam and I have been laying low since a lot of the gas stations aren't selling gas.  I have a tendency to drive around without really thinking about it, so we're removing that temptation altogether.  Sam is having a good developmental week - she is climbing up on to the couch and some boxes we have out.  I need to teach her to get down though, she thinks that it is alright to dive *gulp*.  She isn't sleeping through the night anymore, which really stinks.  We are getting up around 2:30a everynight for a water bottle and cuddle time.  I am generally able to get back to bed around 3:30-4a.  I think I'll try to phase out a nap though, so maybe we can be really tired and sleep all night. 

Her walking is amazing!  She rarely crawls anymore, just runs around like a crazy person.  Her balance is gaining too, which is nice.  Speaking of walking, she is chasing the dog around now, gotta go!

Sam had her 12-month well baby visit this afternoon.  She is (of course) healthy and hitting all her milestones early and on-time. *insert major smart baby bragging*  We might need to renamer her "Short Stuff" though - she is only in the 25th percentile for height (28.25 inches)!  Does that mean 75% or 25% of the girls her age are taller than her?  75% right?  I have no idea.  Weight and head circumference (who knew this was so important?) are in the 50th percentile, whoohoo.

She is a crazy nudist though.  Running around the doctors office in her diaper yapping.  I guess we should be thankful she hasn't figured out how to take them off yet. *knock, knock, knock*  Shoot, speaking of my crazy-yapping-nudist, I need to go find her...