Fall Has Arrived

Happy Sunday!  So, the last several days here have been gorgeous.  Cool in the mornings and evenings and up in the 70's to low 80's in the afternoons.  Perfect.  Since the weather has been so cooperative, we've been spending some time at the pumpkin patch.  Ben and I have already been twice.  Once during the week and once on the weekend.  The weekday was awesome. Almost no one was there, so we pretty much had the run of the place.  The weekend, well, the weekend was busy, but that was expected.  Greg really wanted to come with us, but we switched from cable to Direct TV and he had to be home so the service man could install the new system.  The jury is still out on whether I like it or not.  It seems we lost a lot of good channels and gained a lot of infomercial channels.  Greg loves it because the sports package is superior and the picture is clearer.  It was a money-saver for sure, so that's always a plus.

Anyway, here are some pics of Ben at the pumpkin patch:

With a dancing Shrek and Fiona....

Jumping on the bouncy pillows....

                                                    In the "Corn Bus"....

                                
                                                         Climbing the hay bales....    

Coming down the long tunnel slide.....

                                          
We had such a blast.  I'm convinced that the pumpkin patch is one the best places EVER to take Ben.  He runs/bounces the ENTIRE time.  We stayed between 2 and 3 hours each time we went, so he really got a chance to run wild and get all that energy out.  Which made for a pleasant nap time :-)

Switching gears a bit.  My marathon training officially started this week.  So far, so good.  My first "long run" was a 10 miler that I completed earlier today.  I decided to run it on my favorite rural trail because A) It is mostly pancake flat and B) It is very beautiful.  Especially this time of year.  I decided to take my phone with me, so I could snap a few pics.  

The scenery on the trail alternates between trees and open prairie.  Here is a nice prairie pic:

And one of a more treed portion of the trail:

There are also several cute wooden bridges like this one:

 And some winding creeks:

There are also a few homes here and there.  Most are off in the distance.  This one was fairly close to the trail though.  I thought it was quite picturesque.  

It's so much easier to run 10 miles when you have nice scenery to look at :-)  Have a great rest of the day !

Brooke