Fall is not over yet!

 

Although we've had several very cold days, today is in the mid 60s so we are attempting to enjoy the wonderful fall weather as long as possible. With that in mind, I realized I had not posted about several of the fun things we have been doing this fall.  We decided to make it a yearly tradition to go apple picking and headed to our favorite farm in the beginning of October.  We picked Melrose and Suncrisp, which were both apples we had never had before.  The Suncrisp were really good, almost like a cross between a green pear and golden delicious apple. 

 It's about a 45 minute drive to the farm, so I planned on this being an entire morning outing with the boys.  Ten minutes later the boys had filled both of our bags with apples and began to run up and down the apple orchard.  Luckily, the farm had a "Fall Fun" area and we headed over to see what fun could be had.

 The fun area had a western theme and the boys were able to dig in a dirt pile for gold (rocks painted gold) and ride the tractor pull carts.  We were the only people there for awhile so the boys got the tractor ride all to themselves.  Grant loved it, but Tate kind of just stared mystified the entire time.  I think he was wondering why some lady on a tractor was driving him away from his mom.

 Also like last year, we visited Leeds Farm which is another farm with more fun activities.  Last year we went on a cold and windy day so we had to place mostly to ourselves.  This year we ended up going on one of the warmest days of October so it was very crowded.  The warm weather also made it feel less fall-like so we are not sure if we're going to officially make this a tradition.  We did have fun though!

 Grant and I enjoyed riding the bike-go-cart thing.  Ryan and I thought if we ever have land in the future we may get some of these for exploring purposes.  It's good exercise and these bikes are surprisingly fast.

 Ah, yes, the corn box.  Although almost every foot was occupied by a kid, the boys once again loved the corn box and scooping and dumping corn.  This is another idea Ryan and I may put to use in the future.

Unlike last year, Ryan and I did wait in line to try the zip line.  Some of our friends were at the farm too so we switched off watching kids so the adults could ride.  Was it worth the wait?  Probably not.  Was is pretty dang fun anyway?  Why yes, yes it was.

Happy Halloween!!

 Yes, trick-or-treating was last night (because Ohio is cool like that) and though it was pretty cold outside, we had a lot of fun.  I layered up the boys under their costumes because I refuse to be the mom that makes their kids wear a coat over their costume (still traumatized ;).  

Batman and Robin joined a pair of Peter Pan's for a fun night of running around past bedtime and collecting candy.  I enjoyed the after party where I had to "check" the candy and remove all that may contain peanuts (Grant is allergic).  I figured to be extra safe I had better finish off at least half of the peanut-containing treats, just for safety of course.

 Lots of pictures for Grandparents and otherwise bored people's enjoyment.

 Batman and his trusty sidekick in full costume.  Robin was opposed to hiding his true identity for every moment except this one.

 The R.S. put on a fun Halloween activity at the church.  It was a fun reason for the kids to wear their costumes again and have treats.

 We had bought Halloween cookie cutters that Grant was begging me to use (plus the giant container of Halloween sprinkles my mom had sent to us).  Since we have been surrounded by baked goods and candy I didn't feel like undertaking the messy and time consuming task of making and decorating sugar cookies.  Instead we made a pan of rice krispie treats and used our cookie cutters of cut out shapes.  Grant was in charge of sprinkles and Tate was in charge of adding the candy corn and pumpkins.  I think Tate thought his duties were to touch a candy corn to the rice krispies and then deposit it in his mouth. 

Ah yes, I believe I was right in my assumption.

Spooky Crafts

This craft is obviously not spooky, we just happened to have finally finished this during the month of October.  I am somewhat embarrassed to say this project was started before Tate was born, back when Grant was still really into cars and trucks.  Ryan cut the wood, we painted, and used bought stencils for the smaller paintings.  I think what took so long was that we had to hand design and cut out the stencils for the motorcycle, tractor and firetruck.  I'm not very artistic, so this part was frustrating and slow (hence I procrastinated finishing it).  Finally it is done!  We added Tate's name since Grant does not care too much about cars and trucks now and one day they will be sharing a room.  Grant did say he liked it, so I don't feel too bad about taking a over a year to complete it. 

 Now on to the spooky things.  My mom kindly sent the boys a Halloween package in the mail (which they were very excited to get).  Among the goodies inside was their new favorite skeleton PJ's.  The bones glow in the dark so the first night the boys put these on they invented a new game they call "dark".  Basically, they turn out all the lights in Grant's room and chase each other in a circle growling and making spooky noises.  It has somehow made it's way into the bed time ritual because now we generally can't get from teeth-brushing to book-reading without a few rounds of "dark".

 In that same Halloween package I received the Taste of Home Halloween magazine with tons of ideas of yummy Halloween treats, crafts, costumes, party ideas and the like.  Grant and I made these cute little lanterns using old jars, tissue paper and lots of Mod Podge.  It was fun and they turned out really cute.  I'm really into Halloween this year (partially because Grant is so excited about it and partially because it's just fun).  I am planning on making several of the Halloween food ideas so I'm sure I will post some of those (I know you can't wait :).

Here's what they look like at night on the porch.

The Fruits of Fall

 I have been meaning to post something about our garden since we started it this past May.  That obviously has not happened so I guess better late than never.  We followed the Square Inch Garden book in putting together our 2'X4' garden and have been able to enjoy lots of great produce with not much work (when you use the soil combination they suggest you never have to weed...we really have not weeded the garden once).  Our tomatoes were the main producers and the plants still have tons of tomatoes on them (I hope they turn red before it gets too cold).  We also had a green pepper, basil, a few potatoes, carrots and zucchini.  I have always heard how zucchini produce by the bushel full but it didn't quite work that way for us this year.  The plant made one huge zucchini and then I think it developed some kind of fungus because the end of each zucchini would start to rot before it was finished growing.  Our dying zucchini is the one you can see hanging out of the side of the box.  And no, my children don't usually run around in their underwear and diapers.  Only when we declare it white trash day.

 I have only canned twice this year but I was able to use my garden for one of them.  I found a delicious salsa canning recipe online and used up some of our many tomatoes.  We've been downing this stuff, I think we only have 2 jars left.  I was also able to can berry jam (black and red raspberry mixed) and we love it.  There's just something about homemade jam, it can't be beat.

 I have very limited pictures of our garden, but this is a gem that happened just last weekend.  Every Friday night we switch off babysitting with one of our good friends for a date night.  It works out great because our boys are about the same age and love playing together, and we actually get to go on a date twice a month.  This past Friday the boys got into costume right away and spent half of the night running around fighting the bag guys.  The stealthy Blue Batman is none other than our young Grant and Tate is actually the Spiderman "helping" in the garden.

 Since I'm catching up I have to mention about another quick but fun trip we took about a month ago.  Ryan's sister, Cheryl and bro-in-law, Bart recently moved from West Va to Spokane.  We had to visit them one more time before they moved cross country.  It was great to spend time with them and we will miss being relatively close.

 Bart was awesome to show Grant a thing or two on the ol' guitar. 

 As part of the trip we drove over to Charlottesville, VA to visit Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's famous house and land).  I've been a couple of times and had wanted to take Ryan.  It was a beautiful day to enjoy a beautiful house and a beautiful countryside.

Grant doesn't nap anymore.  So one day I grew suspicious the more quiet he got during his quiet time.  What can you say, it's exhausting being a fireman!

First Family Campout

Within our first year of marriage, Ryan and I bought a tent with plans to put it to frequent use. Six years later, it had been used one time. Very sad, I know. This past summer, being the summer of fun, I made a vow that we would go camping, no matter what. Before I knew it, it was a Thursday at the end of August, and we were getting some unusually cool weather. I was about to accept that maybe we just weren't meant to go camping when my friend suggested we put together a last minute camping trip for the weekend. We were in. After spending an afternoon getting things organized, we got a big group of friends to head down to Hocking Hills for some outdoor fun. It was a blast!

We were nervous how the boys would do, but they had a great time, slept well, and didn't get lost in the woods (which is a major concern for our escape-loving boys). They loved having so many of their friends with us and ran and played for the majority of their waking hours.
It was also really fun for the adults to hang out after the kids went to bed. We played Werewolves (one of our favorites) and chatted with everyone till probably 2am. We must have been having a good time to stay up that late since we all knew the kids would be up at dawn (which they were).











The next day we went hiking around Hocking Hills. Before I moved to Ohio I never would have expected to find some of the geography we have seen here. Here we are hiking on the Rock House trail, through one of the caves. It was really cool.



The boys had to wear proper head gear at night. Once they saw we had head lamps they snatched those babies up and claimed them as their own. I was able to confiscate them after the boys went to sleep, though.
In the end, we didn't even use our tent. Come to find out it's only a three man tent so our friend let us borrow their eight man tent, which is a huge difference. We will definitely have to upgrade for any camping next year, and hopefully we'll put that tent to frequent use.

More Summer Fun

I was looking at my pictures on the computer and realized I never posted anything about a few other fun summer outings. Back in the beginning of summer (I think in May) we went down to Dayton to visit the National US Airforce Museum. It was pretty awesome. I believe they have on display almost, if not all, airplanes that have been built. And of course it had displays about every major event in flying history. Here, Grant enjoyed playing while an atomic bomb detonated in the background (wasn't there a commercial like that at one point?).
The boys really loved seeing all the planes, especially the biggest boy of the bunch. Ryan loves his military history so I had to move him along quicker than he probably would have liked in order to keep up the wee ones.
Grant liked the plane that looked like a shark the best. I liked learning about heroic pilots and the personal stories of what some of them went through during war time. There was one exhibit about the "candy man" who would fly over Berlin when it was blockaded and drop little parachutes attached to candy bars for the children who were in the city. I later found out he was from Utah (and LDS). It's a cool story.































This summer we also made good use of our zoo membership and would head up there almost once a week. It's a really great zoo and the boys and I love making a trip of it. All of these pictures are from the new polar bear exhibit, which is one of my favorite. I can't get over how massive and beautiful these animals are. I also can't get over how much I would not like to meet one in a back alley. Well, I would really not like to meet one anywhere without at least 4 inches of glass separating us.

To dunk or not to dunk

Ryan is a dunker. Any type of delicacy that could possibly taste good in milk, Ryan is dunking it. His favorites include graham crackers and cookies, but he also dunks muffins, cake, and even toast (in hot chocolate). Did I mention he dunks grilled cheese sandwiches in his soup. I, on the other hand, love to enjoy the texture of my food and then wash it down with a delicious glass of milk, chunk free.

This need to dunk apparently runs in the blood because the boys have taken right after Ryan's food-sogging ways. The other day I gave Grant a muffin to eat and he said he needed a glass of milk and a fork (Ryan uses a fork to dunk the muffin--more manageable that way). Since Tate is still required to have a lid on his cup, he has not had much experience with true milk dunking. But he gets in on the action whenever we eat something with a dipping sauce involved (ketchup, ranch, etc). Actually, he really just uses his food as a makeshift utensil with which to shovel the dipping sauce into his mouth.


Please note the careful technique of using the tip of the pinky finger as a finger-rest to prevent over-dunking the cookie. The finger-rest ensures that the maximum amount of cookie gets dunked without the dunker getting their fingers wet. It's as much an art as a science, really.