Field Trip Fun!

Nothing says fall in school like a field trip to the apple orchard!  I was lucky enough to get to be a chaperone with both Brandon & Melanie's classes when they got to go on their fun fall field trip!

First up was Melanie's trip with her preschool class & we had a BEAUTIFUL & warm fall day for it!

Melanie was excited to ride the big yellow bus!

Farmer Tom is great at giving the kids a good lesson on how apples grow, how to pick them, shine them & then take the essential bite test that should result in a nice, crisp CRUNCH...

Melanie found her apple she wanted to pick... the variety of the day was a Golden Delicious called a Smoothie.

Queen of the hill!

After the wagon ride through the orchard, the kids got to play for a bit on the big haystack, check out the animals in the petting area, peddle little tractors & RUN!

A few weeks later... I got to go back with Brandon's 1st grade class.  It was a cool fall day but thankfully the drizzle they predicted held off for us!  Back we went across the river to Ferguson's Morningside Orchard (same one as Melanie's class). 



My little group consisted of Brandon, Marcus & Christian... they were fun boys to have!



We took a different route through the orchard this time as we had to head to different trees.  The apple harvest was a few weeks ahead of schedule this year due to our early spring, so Farmer Tom had to try & keep a few trees still with apples on them for their remaining field trip groups.  This time we headed to a cluster of Haralson trees.

The boys all picked some nice apples... Brandon waited to eat his until he got home so I could cut it up since his loose tooth was making it difficult to bite it!

King of the Hill... not hard with no competition!

We had a great time & it was a great bunch of kids!!

While I was out...

A couple of weekends ago, I was across the river in WI for a scrap- booking weekend with the girls. It was a beautiful fall weekend...

We even got out for a walk!



Our scrapping retreat

 ... and when I got back, I saw what they kept busy with on the farm...Playground Resurrection!!!!!  I was quite surprised & pleased!!!

The tractor works a lot better than the Durango in "raising the tower"!

 

Grandpa even mowed the grassy area around the playset!

All done... let the fun begin!!!!

The playset has a great spot on the edge of the front yard.  The kids were very excited to have their playground back!

Family Fun!

We've been busy & as a result, the blog has been neglected & there are lots of updates on a variety of things to post... so hopefully this week I'll attempt to get somewhat caught up.

At the end of September, my mom & Bill (& their dog Sage) went on a road trip with their 5th wheel & came to visit... and the Uncles, Evan & Mic (& the kitties), drove in from Pittsburgh at the same time too.  They set up camp at Prairie Island campground along the Mississippi & only 10 minutes from us.

They had quite a nice spot with a great view out their back window & since it was well after Labor Day, the campground was not too busy!

 

It was a treat having them visit... gave us lots of time to read, play games, cook together & much more!



New Mexican cooking in the 5th wheel



We even had our own excitement!  After going back to see the cows, we noticed 2 calved had gotten out & were in the neighbor's pasture.  Evan, Mic & I set out to get them back.  Mic kept guard at the place where we cut the fence to keep the rest of the cows where they belong while Evan & I chased the 2 runaways back to their moms & then repaired the fence.

Of course, this all happened just as the rain was starting & the thunder & lightning began.  We were lucky that it was only lightly raining & only got us moderately wet... shortly after, the deluge began & didn't end for about 24 hours!



And 6 inches of rain later, the area down by the garage looked like a small pond!  A few days later, they even had to pack up & move to a different campground as the other one had the potential for flooding due to the rising Mississippi from all the rain!

Cooking with the Uncles

The kids got a few preChristmas gifts from the Uncles & were obviously thrilled!

Another afternoon, we went for a walk/bike-ride down by the lakes...it was a gorgeous fall day!

 

And afterwards, Mom, Melanie & I ventured up the hill to check out Garvin Heights Vineyard. 

Garvin Heights Vineyard



Dinner at the Monarch Public House in Fountain City

 



We had a wonderful time with family but as always, it goes so fast!





Porch Progress!

September has been a busy month & we have lots of updates from visits with family to fall fun to stuff with the house... so for this post, we'll start with a house update.  While the inside issues (insulation) were being addressed, outside work continued on.  They got the majority of the house sided except for the front because they needed the porch to be completed so next on the agenda was working on the covered & screen porch.

The floor decking went on quick & with the addition of the front door, it started to look like a porch!

The kids liked it too... but were curious how they were going to get on & off the porch!  They didn't realize that there would eventually be stairs!

Running around the porch is fun but equally fun is playing with the remaining mud puddles around the house... oh to be a kid!

BEFORE....

... and then the staining could begin! Thankfully we had a good stretch of weather to take advantage of to try & get it done this fall...

AFTER...

 it took about 4 days of staining but finally it was done!

We couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out... we love our porch!