Rain + farm = mud

We had a long weekend jam packed with fun. Saturday was Yom Kippur, so we headed to our synagogue for services. Dad stayed there for the day, and the rest of us headed home so we could go to a birthday party for Benjamin, who lives across the street.

While we were eating birthday cupcakes, water started falling from the sky! Everyone was so happy and surprised, we all started laughing. This is the first time it's rained since we moved into our new house, so we ran home so we could see what it sounded like and where there are puddles. Hazel and Mom and I danced in it!

Mom had planned on taking us over to the park behind our house Saturday afternoon but we couldn’t go because of the rain. We tried to make the best of it by making pumpkin bread, playing in our toy rooms and reading books, but we all get kind of crazy when we’re inside too long. We did pretty well until 6:00. That’s usually pretty close to our bedtime but we had to wait it out so we could pick Dad up.

Anyway, at 6:00, Hazel fell and banged her forehead. About two minutes later, we were wrestling with each other over a toy and she got popped in the eye with it. Her eye started bleeding everywhere. She was fine within a minute, but it really scared Mom and now Hazel looks like she was in a brawl.

Saturday night we headed back to our synagogue to pick up Dad and eat dinner. He hadn't eaten all day so he was really hungry. He was surprised to see Hazel's scabby eye. Hazel and I had a great time running around with our friend Clark. All the old ladies befriended Turner.

Mom and Dad are in charge of teaching us about the world. Sometimes I wonder why. Sunday it was still rainy and we were in the car. I kept asking Mom and Dad what the black things on the windows were. They were trying to figure out what I was asking about. They kept asking if I meant the mirror. Duh. I started getting upset because they were being so dumb and finally I screamed, "The rain scoopers!!!" That was when they figured out I wanted to know what the windshield wipers were. Yeah, it's been that long since it's rained here. Anyway, Mom and Dad almost fell out of their seats laughing.

We couldn't hang out in our backyard or the park because of the rain, so we called my friend Vishnu and his parents -- he's from my class at school and he and his mom came over to our house one afternoon last week too -- and met them at the Austin Children's Museum. We played on the dinosaurs, watched the trains for a while (Vishnu and Hazel are REALLY into trains), played with some construction gear, and played with a light/peg board. It was great hanging out with my buddy.

When we woke up this morning, Mom said it was time to hit the road. Dad had to go to work but I had off school and we didn't want to be cooped up in the house all day. So Mom, Hazel, Turner and I headed to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls.

You may remember Mom and I visited this place in 2008. Hazel came too, but she was in Mom's tummy so she doesn't remember much about it.

There were many different kinds of gourds and pumpkins at the entrance. There were about a million moms with cameras taking pictures of their kids everywhere.

After Mom gave up trying to get Hazel and me to look at her camera with nice looks on our faces at the same time, we had a picnic lunch and danced and ran around in a big field. We sat on hay bales on the back of a tractor, then looked at goats, horses, donkeys, a cat and some chickens. Next we took a hay ride around the farm. There were 72 scarecrows along the hayride path! We got our feet all muddy while cutting some zinnias to bring home, then tried a strawberry popsicle and some homemade pumpkin ice cream. When we got in the car to go home, it took me 30 seconds to fall asleep. Hazel lasted about two minutes. Turner slept the whole way home too. It was a great day!

For many pictures of our rainy, muddy adventures, check back tomorrow.