Making Fall Memories

We decided to go back to Walter's Pumpkin Place again this year. I think we have all decided that it has now become a family tradition. I know there is a ton of pictures here but believe me, there were many more that I could have added! It was so hard to choose pictures that really showed how much fun we had! This is called an air pillow. Pretty cool!

We made it out of the corn maze...eventually!

No, it's not the unibomber...It's me! It was freezing outside!

There are multiple rope swings and I think we tried out every one!

Daddy and daughter swinging together

This rope swing is one my kids look forward too since it has the added danger of water!

Here's Hannah taking her turn

We had fun on the peddle cars. Too bad I don't have a picture of Kevin trying to peddle both of us in the same car up a hill!

Fun in the hay

This would be a corn box instead of a sand box I guess...

Hannah climbing the rope ladder

This would be the pumpkin shooter. They shot them so far that the owners joked that they may have to buy the neighbors barn now.

The slide is also a big hit with my guys. You slide down through the hill on trash can lids.

Jacob is wearing Dad's coat since he forgot his and it was about 40 degrees with a stiff wind.

Zachary sliding

Yes, I took a turn too!

Oh look, another rope swing!

We had a great time! One thing I am starting to understand is how important making memories with your kids are. You know when they are little that they won't remember what you are doing so the memory is more for Mom and Dad.

When they get older though, you realize that these memories will be with them for a lifetime. The fact that Dad took an afternoon off work to play with them and that Mom slid down a slide and that we all ended drinking hot chocolate and cider, these things may seem simple and mundane but someday I'm sure, they will say "Hey, remember when....".

This is what life is all about.

This and That

Here's a little of this and a little of that in our day! I got my hair cut and highlighted so on request, I am posting a picture even though I hate pics of me! Now when we eat dinner, we get to discuss rainforests since that is what we are studying in science and there just happens to be one on the dining room table.

My dog was shaved by the groomer much to my shock and dismay and so we bought her a winter coat. Okay, I know what you're thinking but it was the best excuse we had! (We also bought her an angel costume for Halloween)

Speaking of Halloween, Jacob is always prepared! Since he was small, he has always worn costumes more as clothes than on an actual holiday. We really get our money's worth! I wish my camera's batteries had not been dead when we caught him sleeping with this whole getup on!

Well that's it for today's this and that! Stay tuned for more chaotic entries!

You gotta see this!

http://jeubfamily.com is an excellent blog entry that really put together some of the differences in the candidates. It was so well done to me that I thought ya all would like to check it out! They really show a lot of what the media has seemed to hide or ignore!

Happy Birthday, Ben!

My nephew, Ben just turned 3 yesterday so our family got together to celebrate. Everything was "Cars" the movie. This is my sister-in-law, Lan and my mom.

Kayla, Hannah and Papa are watching the movie "Cars".

Ben's gifts were from "Cars" too. This is a race track that my boys kind of took over even though they have one just like it at home!

This is my brother, Chris.



The cake was really cupcakes which made serving a lot easier for everyone!

He's not ornery or anything!!!

We all had a great time celebrating this sweet and amazing little boy!

Things that I Love

I love when the sun shines as the rain falls..... I love reading by the fire

It's the simple things in life that seem to bring me the most pleasure!

School projects

One of my school projects was to rearrange the school room to accomadate us better. Of course I probably would never have got around to doing it if it wasn't for my wonderful and amazing husband. Our room may be small but I am so thankful to have a room for our school stuff and I think this arrangement will work much better for us! Thank you Honey!!

We made leaf prints for school with leaves from our front yard. They were supposed to be maple leaves for our Canada study but since we didn't have any, we went with the Oak! We pressed the leaf impressions into clay and then painted the clay and used it to print on paper. It was fun!

Don't ask me why I only have pictures of Jacob doing our projects but I think the others don't stay around long enough for me to take their picture!

We did soap carving and since we didn't have Ivory soap, we used what we had. I sure do improvise a lot and not always with excellent outcomes! The soap was too hard and just crumbled. Oh well, they get the idea I think!

Music

Hey guys! I put music on my blog that will automatically start playing so if you need to turn it off, just scroll to the bottom of the blog and you can control the music from there.

You can change songs too, if you like. I will add more music as I have time so there are just a few to choose from for now!

I am so proud of myself for figuring it out!!!

Yeah!!

Tanganyika Wildlife Park

We went for a field trip with our homeschool group today at Tanganyika Wildlife Park. They specialize in rare and endangered animals so it was quite a different experience than a regular zoo. They also encourage supervised interaction with some of the animals so that makes the visit much more personal for everyone. These are the Reticulated Giraffes. This is a White Bengal Tiger. They seemed to be sleeping all day!

This is an Indian Rhino. They almost resemble a very large armadillo since it looks like they have armor on.

This is one of the moms in our group with a Lori on her head. They are Australian Parrots.

This Red Kangaroo is named Vickie. She was hand raised and so is pretty friendly with people (when she wants to be!)

Vickie wasn't sure she wanted to be friendly for awhile so we waited patiently while she ate and had an attitude adjustment!

They are creating a new penguin exhibit for the African Penguins but it isn't finished yet so we had to look in the windows of the building where they are housed for now.

I think one of the highlights of the trip was the Ring-Tailed Lemurs. They ate cranberries out of the kid's hands. They weren't aggressive at all and were very gentle.

It seemed strange to actually be in the pen with the animals but we were able to get first hand knowledge about each animal from the trainers which was an amazing learning experience for all of us.

They had a nursery for the babies that are fairly new still. This one is a Clouded Leopard.

We went back to the Lories and this one liked Hannah's ponytail!

Hannah thought it was not only fun but it felt nice getting a head massage!

They were pretty aggresive and actually drew blood on one of the girls in our group so you had to be careful. For some reason, this did not scare my children at all!

These zebras are Grevy Zebras. They are critically endangered right now.

The Red Ruffed Lemurs are from Madagascar.

This zoo has one of the rarest collections of endangered species in the United States. The tour guide told us that Jack Hanna regularly visits them and will take a couple of their baby Clouded Leopards to travel with him around the United States and then bring them back after about a year. They had just been returned after getting to meet Jay Leno!

This fieldtrip was so much fun and to think they have been near us for the last 27 years and we didn't even know it! In our defense, they had only been open to private tours until this May when they opened to the public. I'm glad we found them and I'm sure they will get some more visits from us soon!