Fall Break

Lorelei had off Thursday and Friday from school. It technically was not called fall break since I'm pretty sure that is just Thanksgiving now, but that's what I'm going to call it! :) Thursday was our last day at Vala's. I thought Friday needed to be something fun and fallish for our extra time together! It just so happened that Drue's mom told me about a great fall trail they got their pictures taken at earlier that week, so we had a new place to check out and it ended up being an absolutely wonderful morning exploring! 

We didn't get very far on the trail before happening upon this see-saw. My kids have a thing for see-saws, but rarely enjoy them much because of the size difference. Because of this design, they were actually able to see saw together! The added fun was that the bottom landed on a tire in the ground, so you could hit very hard and bounce each other up...so much fun and reminded me of my elementary school recesses! :) The smile on Makin's face was priceless.

Balance Achieved!!!

We finally headed on the rest of our walk. One of their favorite things was looking at the tree stumps and trying to figure out how old the tree had been. Makin usually thought they were 100 years old.

And amazingly, we ran into a full fledged park! It was so quiet and calm and felt like we were in the woods by a lake (we kinda were, but not sure if they really could classify as woods!) and the kids thought this was the best slide ever.

You know I like a scavenger hunt! We brought our buckets and our fall scavenger hunt check lists and they loved finding all kinds of extra treasures too.

And in case that wasn't a great enough day, we had a gorgeous evening, perfect for a hot dog and marshmallow roast in the backyard.

Saturday was a work day (giddy excited about more and more room in our storage area!), but Sunday was yet another perfect weather day to enjoy. I just cannot believe we have had such amazing summer and fall weather. Trying to soak it all in before winter hits! Sunday afternoon the kids enjoyed raking and jumping in the leaves. Still a lot more leaves to go from our big tree so I'm sure this was just a warm up.

And it was even warm enough to have some water/sand play! They did this all themselves. :) I was just in charge of "more water!" :)

Love these special weekends!!!

Vala's Pumpkin Patch

I love fall. I love pumpkins. I love pumpkin patches. At Vala's its pretty much impossible to do all there is to do in one day with kids whose little legs get tired. We bought a pass this year and made four trips there. We made sure to make one of the trips on a Saturday so Brad could enjoy it as well. The kids and I were sad to leave on our last visit and still didn't even fit in everything they would have liked to have done that day. If we lived in Omaha we would have gone at least once a week! :) And yes, all of this is included in our pass. They have extra charge stuff like ponies, a train etc, but we stuck to what was included. Here are the highlights from our "pumpkin patching" (Makin quote) adventures over the last month.

The Great Pumpkin Jump
Lorelei remembered this from our visit last year and it was at the top of her list. Last year Makin did not care for them much, but had a blast on them this time. They especially loved the freedom to bounce off into the sand.

Corn Box

I couldn't get enough air shots of Makin! Obviously, his favorite part of the corn box was jumping in. :) It is so amazing how much kids love playing in corn.

Trikes

Fun path, with bridges to boot!

The Petting Zoo

One of Lorelei's other favorite stops. They really loved this llama.

The Ducky Derby

One of Makin's top favorites. You put little ducks into your lane and then pumped water to race them to the other side. Then sent them back from that side. So. Fun.

Hayride and Pumpkin Pickin'

I loved that they could go out to a real field so they knew where pumpkins come from! Also loved that you could see the flowers so they could see how the pumpkins started out!

Giant Lincoln Logs

I knew this activity had to be done on Brad's day with us. They started from scratch and built themselves a little house. They loved helping find the right size pieces needed and then played in it after all the hard work was done. They then made it into a workshop and filled it with extra pieces inside. All the other kids wanted to come to their house. :) Fun memory.

Wiggle Cars

(Yes I had to look up the name.)

So fun. Makin loved running off into the hay. I don't know what it is about these but they are a hit.

Spider Web

Tractors

Barnyard Sports

This was a new addition and a lot of fun. They had pretty much every sport you could want to play. Makin's favorite was baseball. I think Lorelei's favorite was the "Test- your-strength bell".

The Corn Maze

I was surprised how much they loved exploring the corn maze. I think its the idea that they are in charge of finding a way out on their own that makes them feel excited and independent! Lorelei had just had a person from 4H come in and teach them about corn so she loved looking at a piece on the ground.

The Big Slide

What a great ride! :) Sorry for the sad pictures, I always had Makin on my lap so I couldn't catch his reaction. Both kids would scream and laugh at the end and then he would jump up and say, "Lets do it again!!!" (Lots of laughter from parents watching. :) )

The Big Sand Scoops and Kids Country Jamboree

Who doesn't want to scoop sand and play musical instruments...country style? :)

Graveyard Golf

(Mini golf with a black light in a barn)

For the men in our family, mini golf was definitely a priority. It sure isn't great for picture taking though! I have to brag that Makin got TWO holes-in-one during one round. And further brag that he takes after his MOTHER who got two one of our previous trips as well.

Shows

Makin was intrigued by the dragon show so we made sure to watch it this time. There is just something about a "robot" dragon smashing a pumpkin and then dropping it that is fascinating...

The Pumpkin Eating Dragon

 .

The dog show was actually quite fun to watch. Naturally, this was Lorelei's request. She loooooved watching it. The dogs were all rescued dogs who had been trained to catch frisbees in all kinds of fun ways. Even after some amazing jumps. They were so talented and fun to watch. The trainer even let the kids who wanted to try tossing a frisbee for the dog to catch after the show was over.

Dog Show

We also took in the Pigtucky Derby races, but those pictures were not that great. :)

How Tall This Fall?

Pumpkin Cuties

Bits Of Fun

We often have these little moments that I don't always feel are blog worthy, but then I change my mind...here are a few from the last several weeks...

One of my favorite pictures of the kids. As I posted on fb, "Just a knight rescuing a princess and taking her to the castle!"

I have been loving having a little more balance with some "me time" and adult time lately...its so important and I really neglect it trying to make time for everything that needs to get done!

A few of those moments have been...going to Target/Starbucks and Hobby Lobby in Norfolk with Sarah (we each only had one kid...so much less crazy!), attending Women Of Faith in Lincoln with some amazing ladies and listening to incredible speakers, getting a hair cut for the first time since last December, having the Walls (Sarah's family) over for supper where the kids played and grown ups got to chat over a glass of wine, MOPS meeting, and a movie night with ladies from church to watch the movie Mom's Night Out. It has been such a weird feeling having this time to myself, I know its good for me!

Since I'm trying to make Fridays a little special, I asked Makin what he wanted to do for our date. It was very cold, so the bike ride I have been wanting to do wasn't an option that day. Makin said, "Get yogurt raisins." The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. :) We got our treats and enjoyed them at the little restaurant in Hyvee.

One of my favorite times on T/Th is the 45 minutes between dropping L off and Y Move Jr. Its so fun to just set that time aside to play with Makin. It usually involves balls or cars. This particular morning was catch. And no, I did not ask him to pose like that, that was all on his own.

We had about 3 days with a little warm stretch in the 70s. A friend from storytime told me how to get to the river (I always drove over it and wondered how people got there) so we made a last-minute decision when at the park to head down the path and check it out. The kids reactions were priceless. Running around with huge smiles saying "Thank you for bringing me to the beach!" Yes, I did explain it was not the actual beach, but they did not care. The sand and water combo just made them elated to be there. Drue stayed relatively dry but my kids ended up soaked from running through the shallow water. They are so excited to go back when its warmer. A little side note...we don't watch the news or read the paper, but I was later informed that there was a mountain lion seen at a lake very close to here...and as I thought back to it I saw some tracks in the sand but just assumed they were someone's dog out for a walk...as much as I was tempted to take them back the next day, I decided we better wait out the mountain lion!

Daddy/Daughter Snuggles

Lorelei looked at the top pic and said, "Wow I look really big there!" Exactly! Just love how this girl can be so content coloring...I don't always love that she colors in the middle of where everyone needs to walk while we are getting ready (pretty sure this was a Sunday morning) but there was just something about how she was crossing her feet and contently coloring that made me have to take quick pic. :) She ignored me for the first several pics and then said, "I feel like someone is watching me."

First Field Trip

I am a field trip kinda lady. I loved planning and taking field trips as a teacher (Yes, even as a long term sub I got to take some!) and have been excited for my kids to have those adventures as well. Maybe I watched too much Mr. Rogers as a child...doesn't he make you feel like you are on a field trip to the crayola factory!? ;)

Lorelei's teacher had planned a trip to a science expo and I was the only parent who offered to drive! Thankfully with a class of 7 two vehicles were enough. I did miss out on her second field trip (which was the following day...Mrs. W had to book the science expo last spring and it happened to coincide with the high school musical) because there were enough parents of preschoolers who drove.

Brad had a "bring your son to work day" in our basement and it went well according to Brad's report. The basement looked like a tornado hit so the evidence supported that.

It was a 30 minute drive and I drove Lorelei with the two girls she said are her closer friends. They belted out the songs from the Frozen soundtrack the entire drive. Between there and back we listened to "Let It Go" five times. They were thrilled. :)

At the expo they enjoyed a "Snazzy Snakes" talk (sorry Melissa!) and then checked out various things such as Dino Dig, Bubbleology, Critter Corner (where she pet a tarantula...I didn't get a picture but wanted to mention that!), Annebell the milking cow (not a real one) and Panning for Gold. Then they watched a presentation with the "mad scientist."

Lorelei's favorite part of the field trip was seeing the snakes. Crazy girl. :)

First Field trip in the books!