My sisters' family have a horse named Buddy. They rent some space on a farm not too far from their house, so we were able to visit Buddy quite a few times during our Thanksgiving break. We all piled into Todd's truck and headed there this day. I think we counted twelve of us! Addie was first to jump out with a carrot to feed him. She very possibly could be teasing him right here. I think she liked the fact that he was behind a gate here because...
Uncle Todd brought him out of the stable to get some good green grass. The kids were up taking a picture on the back of the truck and Buddy thought he was needed in the picture. Addie wasn't so sure about him being so close!
So she moved... and then we got a smile out of her! Buddy is such a great horse. It's amazing to me how interactive he is! I'm not around many horses, but when he hears Todd's truck he meets him at one end of the fence, then Todd will race him to the other end of the fence. He's like a big dog!
Remember when my mom was shocked at Ashton's fearless attitude on the lawnmower? Well, she was the same way with Buddy.
She walked right over to him to pet him. Of course the closer she got the more she realized just how big he was. I think he's head is as big as her whole body! Amy stayed close to make sure she was alright. After I took this picture Buddy raised his head up right at Ashton's face and she was so shocked, but she never screamed or anything.
However she did want some help to pet him after that!
Austin also loved Buddy. He wanted Buddy to eat grass from his hand. It's just surprising to me how fearless they are because we are never around horses, and I'm not like that! I'm very cautious around horses!
Austin thought it was cool that Uncle Todd laid the oats on the back of the truck and Buddy just ate them right off the truck.
Avery is a little more like me, she looks a little more cautious... but there is more to her story! Stay tuned...
Buddy shared a stable with an old, old horse named Bridget. Poor Bridget, she is on her last leg. But it's good that Buddy has a friend with him.
Like I said, Addie likes the horses behind the fence. So she started taking carrots over to Bridget.
Ashton also feed Bridget a carrot. 
The kids disappeared for a while, and I guess they were playing down in the creek.
They had moss all over their legs... gross! But that's what you get in the country and they were having tons of fun! It looks like Addie is playing follow the leader with Kimball here.
Avery walked in the creek too, but luckily she was wearing shorts! It was a fun day! We went straight home and took baths afterward!
Once again, we were so excited to spend our Thanksgiving with our Tennessee family! My sister, Amy, and her husband, Todd are always so gracious to open their door to our whole family. We have had such a busy year and still plan on one more vacation to Disney World at Christmas, so Randy didn't think he could take off for Thanksgiving. With my mom in tow, and my brother Jordan and his wife Jen in their car... we headed off for our long road trip. 
Luckily the weather was super nice, and we spent Monday playing in the leaves! Uncle Todd got out his riding lawnmower and trailer. The kids would fill the trailer...
and then jump in! They were on a mission to create a super big pile of leaves!
Uncle Todd would drive them over to their pile and they would dump the leaves. After about 4 trips, they had a pile that satisfied them.
And they took the plunge!
This was all that was left of Austin after he jumped in! They enjoyed throwing the leaves in the air and jumping in over and over.
They were such good sports to pose for one quick pic with the sun in their eyes! And then they decided they were ready for more rides! But this time they wanted to add one more person!
Nana got talked into riding with the 
Well, now we know why it was getting too bumpy! Todd is letting us all know what happened to his 
The poor tire gave out!! 
So the kids took off for the hammock while Uncle Todd put the trailer away. But he wasn't done with them yet... it was time to put them to work!
Actually it was just another fun ride! Everyone got a turn at driving the lawnmower.
And in between their turns, I grabbed some more pics! What can I say, my camera is almost always by my side when I go to the Jensen's house. Too many great opportunities and memories I don't want to forget!
Austin's turn seemed like a long time. When they came back around, Todd said that they ran out of gas on the other side of the house, so he had Austin push him. HaHaHa! 
Austin is such a good sport! He loves going to Tennessee. Of course he was missing his cousin, Kyson, who is on a mission in Sophia, Bulgaria. Austin and Kyson are buds- especially because they are both the only boys in their families. But he did great playing with all his girl cousins and sisters!
Addie looks like she is really concentrating! It reminded me of when we were go-carting. She really loved this because it made her feel so big!
I was super excited for Thursday to come. Two of our good friends from high school, Rick and Kylee Colaw, live in the DC area. Rick is an attorney in the Air Force and they moved up there last summer. As soon as I knew I was going with Randy, I knew we had to see them! Luckily for us, our hotel wasn't too far out of their way and Kylee was planning on taking Kaeden to Mount Vernon which I REALLY wanted to go to!
So Kylee came and got me and I was able to spend the day with her and sweet Kaeden! Again, I was blessed with an absolutely beautiful fall day! 
You couldn't take any pictures inside of the Mansion House Farm, but it was really neat. I was surprised by how original pieces were still in the house, how many fireplaces were in the house, and also by how many bedrooms were in there! It was also cool to see the exterior of the house, which is wood, but made up to look like cement blocks. Washington had carved the wood and used sand in the paint.
The back porch is amazing with an absolutely beautiful view of the Potomac River. I can see why he never wanted to leave his farm!
This is the view from the back porch. The land across the river has also been preserved so that the view we see is the same view he would have seen so many years ago.
Another neat feature was that the kitchen wasn't in the house, it was just off the house connected by an arch walkway. And then after the kitchen, there were lots of little "houses".
This was one of the little "houses" known as the wash house. There was also a smoke house, salt house, store house, and others. 
This was the coach house where the stables and his vehicles were stored.
This is a replica of one of his horse-drawn vehicles.
Next we headed down the beautiful pathway to the river. I just had to grab this picture so I could remember just how beautiful it all is!
It was a nice walk down to the river, lots of stairs to go down. However, going back up was quite the exercise! I didn't realize just how far we had gone down until we were ready to go back up! I believe this dock was created when Queen Elizabeth came to view Mount Vernon, but don't quote me on that!
Next we headed to the burial site. This day was Veteran's Day, so all the veterans were given a red carnation to lay at the foot of the graves. 
This is of course George and Martha Washington, but behind those doors are I think 20-some other family members.
Here is another picture of the Presidents casket.
Mount Vernon is still a working farm, and Kaeden couldn't wait to see the pigs. She had been talking about seeing the pigs before we even arrived. The first animals we saw were sheep.
Next we saw the big cows/bulls, which she really wanted to ride.
We were still looking for the pigs when I saw this beautiful garden. I hope to grow a garden someday, but I'm sure it will never look like this!