Mother Nature Farms

It's a tradition I just can't pass up... Mother Nature Farms! This is the 3rd year in a row that I have gone with my girls (the first year Noelle came in tummy) and I just love this little tradition. It makes fall feel like fall... even if it is over 100 degrees outside. This particular trip was extra fun because we met some friends at the farm. Jennifer, Aidan, Trae and Chloe were able to make it to our side of town and join us for this fun adventure.
When we got there, we let the kiddos bounce off a little of their extra energy. They really enjoyed the bounce house (though I suspect that Noelle's favorite part was going in and out of the door).

Then we checked out the farm animals. Mother Nature Farms lets you feed their goats, sheep, and (every one's favorite) cow. The kids had a lot of fun feeding these animals. Noelle was little hesitant at first and I had to show her how it was done...

But in no time, she was completely fearless and feeding those animals like a pro. This was an interesting twist because she is usually a little more fearful of animals. Perhaps it was the fence that made her more comfortable. This is a good shot of all 5 of the kids feeding the animals (well... good being that they are all in it. There is no chance I was going to get them to all turn and smile at me.)Noelle liked showing Chloe the ropes. At some point, Melanie decided it was all too much for her, and she needed to lay down. (I think she is going throw a growth spurt or something because she has been laying around like this quite a bit lately.) Thanks, Ms. Jen, for bringing a wagon to let her lay in. :)

Here is a fun shot of the 4 "big kids" in the wagon. If I thought it through, I'd get Noelle in that picture too, but alas... I did not. But she was still cute "rockin'" her own ride.

All five animals, I mean children. Next, we decorated pumpkins. Noelle and Chloe enjoyed picking out pumpkins. They would pick them out, put them on the table, and run back to do it again... and again... and again... It made me laugh.

I finally caught them and convinced them to decorate the pumpkins the had first picked out.
It was a good team building exercise. :)
The pumpkins turned out great! Melanie's was definitely a princess pumpkin with that crown on top.
Trae was probably the most excited about his upon completion (and can you blame him?) Nice pumpkin, Aidan!

Noelle liked showing hers off too.
Then it was time for a maze. The boys ran ahead... leaving Noelle to be the girls fearless leader.
But... eventually Noelle lead us into a bit of a pickle (It's okay Noelle... you aren't quite tall enough to see all the options.) Finally, we found our way out!

Then it was lunch and off to the pumpkin patch for some fall pictures. (We didn't pick out any pumpkins because we have another tradition to pick out the pumpkins as a family. We will do this once it is a little closer to Halloween). I love pictures with pumpkins in them though. It gives off the illusion that it is nice and cool outside (when the reality is... it was really 100 degrees that day and I was a mean mom for putting everyone in pants. I was thinking "protect the legs from itchy straw" and not "it's too out, lets not over heat our kids". Next time, perhaps I'll pick shorts and bring towels to sit on? or maybe just pick a cooler day?) And my favorite... the pictures against the measuring pumpkin. I can't believe how big both my girls have grown in the last year. Can it slow down? Happy Fall!

Christopher Columbus Day

It's Columbus Day, and also the first day of "Fall Break". When I was a kid, there was no such thing as "Fall Break", and we celebrated Columbus Day at school with a lot of fun activities (mostly in General Music). So, I decided we needed to have a fun "exploring" day to celebrate at home. To start, we had to make telescopes. (All explores have to have telescopes). I let the girls pick the color, and apparently they both have the same favorite color... RED!

Noelle got anxious and tried her telescope out early.

After they dried, we decorated them with stickers (not standard operation for explorers, but

definitely added to the fun factor).

Then it was time to go exploring. Since we have already determined that the world was round (thanks to Christopher Columbus)... and the Americas were already discovered (thanks to Christopher Columbus)... we decided to explore the back yard and look for treasure. (This took a little prep work)

Did you know that it is important for explores to where hats and boots? I didn't until today. Thank goodness I have smart girls to set me straight. Here they are, all ready to explore.

Marching around the Samurai...

Over the bridge and down the slide...

Through the tire...

And the tunnels...

And over in the "bear cave"... they found the treasure!

Time to see what's inside...

Snacks! Which are fun to enjoy outside in the beautiful weather.

Especially with an exploring buddy.

As a family, after dinner, we had some more Christopher Columbus fun. Since he traveled here by sea, I decided to make some ice boats and have boat races. It turned into "bumper boats", but was just as fun.

Then we had another treasure hunt, this time with Daddy (who, in my opinion, resembles Gilligan in his very important, necessary, exploration hat). They had their telescopes ready, hats on, boots on... and treasure map in hand. Time to find something good!

Do you see anything, Brandon?

The map took them all over the house, and into almost every room.

Even over mom and dad's bed!

Eventually it took them into Noelle's room... and it was so close.

oh Look!!! Treasure!!!

And what a yummy treasure it was!

In between all these adventures, I told Melanie a little about Christopher Columbus's adventure. She loved hearing the story and had me repeat it several times. I hope the day was memorable for both my girls.

Happy Christopher Columbus Day!