Shelbyville

Fall Traditions and How We are Still Keeping Them

ashley glass blog

How do you feel about Fall? Because by far, this is my absolute favorite season. It’s not TOO cold, it’s not too hot, and there’s no SNOW. The colors are beautiful (especially this year) and this is when we do ALL the festivities with our local family. We joke that we see each more than ever before in the Fall but come January, we’re all hunkered down in our homes ready to be recluses.

I think more than ever, keeping traditions alive is SO crucial to and for us. Especially with our KIDS. I mean sincerely, how sad a season has been the season of Covid?! They can’t go to school, they haven’t seen their classmates in over 250 days, and their life has been radically rocked—whether they can fully grasp it or not. Enter: all of this. Doing LIFE with some of our favorite people. Running and jumping and playing and being silly. Oh and indulging in ALL the apple cider donuts…And just to be safe, yes, all our kids (and us) wore masks, especially when around other people) and during all the activities. And there was plenty of hand washing afterwards ;)

This is the month we watched Hocus Pocus on a projector in our backyard, we all went to Boo at the Zoo together, we walked St. James Court in honor of the Art Fair that DIDN’T get to happen this year, and then obviously Gallrein’s Farm. It’s FALL, Y’all, and we are HERE for it. You know Asa is Buddy the Elf (except for all holidays, not just Christmas) so planning moments like this is his jam. Have you been to a pumpkin patch this season? What’s your favorite part? For me it’s the hay ride and just walking around the field admiring all the cute gourds. We go, we walk around, we snap some orchard photos, and then we buy all the donuts and enjoy every single bite. (I keep mentioning donuts but sadly I didn’t take a single picture of one this year?! Darn. It’s okay though, you know they’re freakishly delicious even if not photographed, right?)

“I am SO glad I live in a world where there are Octobers-” I mean, WHO cannot relate to Anne of Green Gables with this?!? SO much has been cancelled in our world. I am incredibly grateful the pumpkin patch DID NOT, and we were still able to enjoy these memories. We believe traditions are important. And we also believe being outdoors is a HUGE part of that. Kids need to breathe fresh air, they need to explore, and they need time with family. So what about you?? What things have YOU done this fall? Is there anything we need to add to our list of fun? Jot a comment and let us know! :) Oh and if you like looking back on memories like I do, you can see one of our previous Gallrein visits here! The kids have all grown SO much!!

Gallrein Farm and Family Time

DSC_1646.jpg

This is the second year that we've visited Gallrein Farms in Shelbyville and we loved it! My sister in law Jana and I had photographed a wedding the day prior and it was in the eighties and SO warm. It was crazy to see the temps drop so quickly Sunday while we were at the farm, and luckily for us, the rain held off until the very end. Our friends Tim and Clayton joined, and other than missing Uncle Noah [poor guy was sick at home!], we had the same crew as last year! 

Gallrein has an awesome petting zoo and we all loved seeing the different animals. You know me, my favorite animal(s) there were the horses. I'm always so jealous of these farms and wish I could just kidnap a horse or two. Or just have the owner give one to me--haha!

The kids had their faces painted, jumped in bounce houses, ate some snacks, rode the train, and last but not least, we of course went out to the pumpkin patch! 

Baby Kennedy was SUCH a trooper by the way. She's a month old now [how did this happen??] and she never fussed one bit about the wind and at one time, spitting rain droplets. In case you missed it, Tim and Clayton are in the process of adopting her and have been her guardians since the day she was born--they even stayed her last night in the hospital with her! They are two amazing dads and we are very blessed to call them friends. [Friends? Or family? Ha!] 

It started to REALLY rain as we were leaving, and Jana took her girls and Asa went with Reese to the corn maze. I took Pierson and his cousin Keats and we camped out in the car until they were finished, haha. We blared some music and had a hilarious car dance. We of course indulged in a LOT of fresh donuts before the trip ended, I swear I could have eaten a dozen by myself. 

If you haven't checked out Gallrein Farms, you're definitely missing out. Just a short thirty minute drive from Louisville, it's a quick and easy trip. Not to mention gorgeous--I passed SO many beautiful farms. I'm still just praying that one of them someday finds my blog and just offers me to take over the property. I mean, why not dream right?

Happy Fall, Y'all! This is my favorite season of all and I am SO excited that we've had these great festitivites to remember!