Life 'n Legos: Traditions: October Edition

Being back in North Carolina has enabled me to share many of my own childhood traditions with my boys. Fall is and always has been a busy and joyous time for us so as the leaves are beginning to change we are able to walk down memory lane and create new memories while we're at it.

Halloween is not the only major event in October for us, we also celebrate Michael's and my birthdays! Ever since I was very young we have gone to a Japanese Hibachi restaurant, Kanki, to celebrate. We also just so happened to be living in NC when Michael turned one, in keeping with tradition, we took him to Kanki for his big day and he loved it! Since we are now back in NC we absolutely had to go for both of our birthdays this year (we celebrated Parker's first birthday at Kanki as well). I always enjoy the copious amounts of food, but its so much sweeter watching Michael watch and interact with the chefs. He's curious and in awe of their tricks, he wants to talk to them and ask them all sorts of questions (because the child has never met a stranger), and he wants to show his Legos to him. This is the first year that he's been super into his birthday and it was really fun being wrapped up in his excitement, it makes everything so much more fun. The meal ends with the employees bringing some sherbet with a candle and singing "Happy Birthday" in Japanese. We always leave happy and with full bellies accompanied by high blood pressure.

Michael's 1st birthday

My 30th birthday

Michael's 5th birthday

Another one of my favorite October pastimes is visiting Hillridge Farms to pick out a pumpkin. The first time I visited was on a field trip with my kindergarten class when the farm was SO much smaller. It was basically a country store, hay ride, and pumpkin patch at the time. Now they have all sorts of attractions like a splash pad, giant slide, bounce houses and blobs, train rides, and hay jumps just to name a few. They even have legitimate attraction signs on the highway leading to it! This year was Michael's third time and Parker's second and I hope this becomes a tradition that we can continue to practice for many years! I wrote a post with lots of pictures about Michael's first trip to the farm here. All of their fun new attractions have allowed us to spend hours there as a family and bring home two worn out little boys. As an added bonus, Hillridge Farms offers a military discount! We hope to go back in December for their Festival of Lights.

Michael at 1

Michael at 4 and Parker at 6 months

Michael at 5 and Parker at 18 months (we are really good at getting everyone to look and smile...)

(can you tell my boys have always been a hot mess?)

Our third and final October tradition is going to the North Carolina State Fair. We didn't make it this year, but Michael has been twice before. You can read about his first trip to the fair here. We will have to go next year to see what awesome new fried food they have! I used to be really into the rides, but now I question their safety and the operators' abilities to run them. Its fun to go and people watch, eat, and watch the fireworks at the end of each night!