Fall Fun

Fall is my favorite season, leaves are changing color, it still gets warm during the day but cools off at night, and it's cross country season. We love being outside in the fall, one of our favorite things to do is go for bike rides. It just so happens that the bike path goes right to Van Dee's, the local ice cream shop! The boys enjoying their twist cones!

 YUM!

 B got a new sleeping bag for her birthday...we haven't used it outside yet, but she has fully tested it out in her room!

 The boys think its pretty good too!

 Fall also bring a chance to fly kites!

 We went to Center Groove a little too early this year and we couldn't pick a pumpkin yet...so we headed to Pumpkin World to pick out some fall goodies!

 B loves a good pumpkin!

 And of course, fall brings leaves and leaf piles!

 Piles that are great for jumping in!

 And laughing

 and rolling

 We love leaf piles!

 Blythe loves dressing up as a princess...but she also can hold her own with a Captain America shield and foam sword!

 We also did some yard clean up this fall, our side tree is dying and the boys and I trimmed a bunch of dead branches off of it, I think the rest of the tree will need to come down this spring...

 Testing out Mom's stocking hat!

 ...and more leaf piles!

 Action shot!

 Blythe also discovered hair bows this fall...and posing for pictures!

 The Polk County Conservation Board has a ton of great events, the boys and I met up with the Kopps to check out their Owl Prowl at Jester Park!

 We learned all about owls, what they eat and their calls! Then we hiked in the woods to listen for owls, it was a great night!

 We did some more exploring at Jester Park...fuzzy caterpillars were on the move!

 We had a bunch of rain this fall...and our trail got flooded

 That didn't stop us, we found a different trail and did some more exploring...even found an owl in the trees!

Happy Fall!

Trigg's Birthday

Our big Trigg turned 7 this year and this was the year of the "Bike!" He invited 3 of his good buddies from school over and we had a "bike" party. 

 A little drizzle wouldn't slow these dudes down! Eli, Max, Trigg and Chase are ready to ride!

 We set up a bike obstacle course in the front yard that included log rumble bumps, a balance beam, a teeter-totter ramp, a A-frame ramp and a tunnel to finish! Here is Trigg explaining the course.

 Log bumps then through the cones

 The teeter-totter ramp!

 The A-frame ramp!

 And the finish tunnel!

 We had streamers on the finish tunnel but the rain made those a little sticky!

 The office course marshals!

 Happy Birthday Dude! You are a fine young man

 Opening up presents and homemade cards!

 No party is complete without a little Nerf battle...boys against Dad (not to worry, I think I held my own!)

Happy Birthday Trigg, we love you pal!

Center Grove Orchard

It has turned into an annual tradition for our family to head to Center Grove Orchard to find apples and pumpkins. The place is awesome, if you haven't been there, we would highly recommend it!

Here's their website: https://centergroveorchard.com/

Our annual picture at the front entrance

 Who's excited?!?!?

 Our first stop is the corn pool. This year they added a slide! The boys loved it!

 And so did the girls!

 Kind of!

 G jumping in

 Trigg showing off his moves

 The dudes

 Not to be outdone, B jumps in...she is a little nervous at first

 But warms up when Mom jumps in too!

 Off to the pedal tractors

 All-American Farmer

 Trigg is getting a little big for this little tractors

 Pit stop at the animals

 We found Alice in Wonderland!

 And the adult pedal tractors, these are super fun!

 They have two big jump pillows that the boys loved jumping on!

 The giant slide is super fun, you slide down on old potato sacks and just fly down the hill!

 Center Grove Rocks!

 The old tractor

 Waiting for the hay rack to take us out to the field

 We thought we were pretty smart going to the orchard at the end of September, our plan was to beat the crowds. We did, it wasn't very crowded, but we also found out we can't pick pumpkins until October...so no pumpkins for us on this trip. On the bright side, the apple trees were full of apples!

 We taste tested to make sure they were delicious...they were!

 One more stop back at the corn pool before we left

 This time around, B was ready to jump in!

 And she did...over and over and over and over and over again!

Thanks Center Grove for a great fall day! See you again next year!
Pro tips if you are headed to Center Grove:
1. Take a day off of work and go during the week to avoid the crowds
2. Buy your tickets online in advance and save $2
3. Try the apple cider donuts, they are amazing
4. Pumpkins aren't ready to pick until October