Clark's Farm

There's a great little farm hidden away only 20 minutes from our house that we like to visit during their harvest festival. Again this year we went with the Shay family, but this time it was just the women and children while the men were at work. The most wonderful thing about this place is that it is so open and clustered together making everything visible from anywhere in the farm. It has just enough to keep young kids busy but not too much to overwhelm them or wear out the adults. Here are some of the highlights: Their favorite has always been the pumpkin bowling with real bowling pins. My kids could have stayed here all day!
The little pumpkin patch is just the right size for choosing the perfect pumpkin and then....

...painting them.

They also had animals, a maze, a bouncy house, corn boxes, and a hay tunnel.

4 Little Pumpkins Sitting On A Hill.

Graves Apple Picking

Our trip to Graves Mountain during their harvest festival was successful but disappointing. We drove to the mountains to get away from the crowds and ran smack dab into "an ant farm." That's how the festival felt....too many people pushing their way through little paths and trails. Not to mention that it was overpriced to play on the inflatables. So, we skipped the festival, walked across the road and found room to breathe in the pick-your-own apple orchard. Most of the apples that were left were out of the kids' reach, but with a boost from Daddy they managed to fill a few bags. I wish I could blame the sun for both of their sullen faces, but the reality is that's just Mikie's attitude shining through. But thankfully, that changed once we got to the orchard.

Feeling happier!

He was so scared that Michael was going to drop him!

One for each hand!

Not a bushel, but it's enough for us.
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Mott's Run Reservoir

It felt as if autumn took a long time to show it's colors this year. We did see a few trees changing when we went on a hike at Mott's Run. I still can't believe that I lived here for so long and didn't know about this amazing Oasis in this sprawling city! It has hiking trails, a nature center where you can watch a snake eat a mouse, and water for the boys to throw small hard objects into! I wish I would have known about this place 3 years ago!

We're waiting for FALL to feel like FALL!

Dinosaur Land (Field Trip #1)

The very first Magic Tree House book was all about Dinosaurs. I didn't come up with the whole "field trip" idea until book #2. So as we kept going forward and found a field trip for every book, I always felt that we had a loose end to tie up and wanted to take our boys to Dinosaur Land in Winchester, VA. This fall, we finally went on our field trip #1:

This entire post is filled with pictures of the dinosaur statues we encountered on the wooded path. Mikie knows all their names and if he was awake I'd caption each one, but alas...he's asleep and I want to get this post published so here are the dinos without names:

Video:

I really thought this one would set off a flood of emotions since his favorite dinosaur is being eaten...but it didn't!

Video: Reading about his favorite one:

His second favorite:

There was a beautiful sign of fall at the edge of the park:

Loose end.....tied up! Field trip #1 completed!

Zachary's first sleepover & more

Mikie had his first sleep over at the Wyman's while I went to the hospital to have Zachary 3 years ago. So, when the Shay's volunteered to keep our kids overnight I had Kathy snap a few pictures of his first sleepover. This one cracks me up! Lily loves Zachary and is always trying to hug him a bit too long and a bit too hard. The look on Zach's face pretty much says it all "What is she going to do to me now?"
Kathy said he went to bed with only a tiny teary moment and slept all night long.
Ready for bed.

With Mikie now in Kindergarten, Zachary and I spent the first few weeks of our "one on one time" playing in parks and feeding the ducks.

The boys always felt sorry for this one goose and nicknamed him "hurtwing." We hadn't seen this particular goose for a while and Mikie was getting worried about him. As soon as we picked Mikie up from school, Zachary told him that we did indeed see Hurtwing again!

One day, Zachary pulled out my Discovery Toys Word Flip game and began adding the two dice together. I didn't know he knew how to add!

It appears that I have another mathematician in my midst.

Of course, big brother has a lot of influence on what Zachary is learning. It is a little strange to hear a three year old singing the alphabet of nations:


And this video is a bit sad, but too cute! Zach tells us that the stage was too "Slip-a-ly"

Virginia Farm Tour

The farm tours in WA were always one of my favorite annual activities while we lived there, so when I heard of one that was happening in VA, I decided we should go. While it was fun, it doesn't come close to the ones on Whidbey Island and Skagit Valley. And the weather....UGH! It was HOT! Way too hot to be on a dusty, dirty farm...but we went anyway.

Farm tours are always more fun if you have friends to go with you, so we asked the Shays to come along. Of all the kids, I can say for certain that Lily had the most fun at the farms with animals. I think she wanted to take one of the alpacas home with her. A cute moment:
The horse farm proved to be one of the kids' favorites.

They had a chance to practice jumping like a horse:

Video of them jumping:

And saw some sheep at the last farm:

At the last farm, they had pony rides, bouncy houses, and a corn box. I'll let you think about that last one after looking at this picture:
Everyone had a turn holding a baby chick.

yes...that is sweat...it was that hot! Now picture him in a sandbox filled with corn....

AN ICKY STICKY MESS!!!

I'll take the rain and mud over the heat and humidy anyday!