Every October, the men in my family go on a boys' retreat where they spend the weekend fishing, golfing, cooking out, playing cards, and probably other things I'd rather not know about. And they leave all the kids home with us girls. For the last couple of years, the kids and I have stayed with my Mom at her house and had a girls (plus Thomas) weekend. This year our weekend without the Dads was full of fun!

Friday night we ate outside at a pizza restaurant. While Mom stayed at our table and waited for our food, I took the [antsy] kids on a walk to a nearby boardwalk on the river.

It was a fun adventure and the kids were great eaters at the pizza place. The next morning, after Mom made us all pancakes, we hit the road headed to the pumpkin patch. We went to the same one we visited two years ago and loved it again. We played tether ball, fed animals at the petting zoo, slid down an enormous slide, road a train, picked out pumpkins, and so much more!

We brought a picnic lunch with us which was definitely the way to go.

After lunch, we took a hayride to the pumpkin field where the kids got to pick out two pumpkins each.

Here they are with the pumpkin ruler from this year and two years ago. My, how they've grown!

Later that afternoon, after some much needed naps at home, we conquered the world! In puzzle form.

Since Mom and I were too zapped to do anything for dinner, we dined in at a fancy little restaurant called Wendy's. The kids loved it, and we all enjoyed playing with the prize from their kids' meals!

This picture of Thomas makes me laugh every time. And that's "homework" he did on his hand, in case you were wondering.

We made it to church the next morning and afterwards, I got possibly my favorite picture of the two kids together ever.

We had a really good girls plus Thomas weekend, but we were still pretty excited when the boys arrived back home! Now, when do all the Mamas get to go away for the weekend? :)