Harvest time

Finally Adam's favorite time of year is here!  He's been waiting all year to see the combines come out.  We headed up north for the boys' fall break.  First stop was to the Jackson's, although Andy was out of town for work.  The boys first got a taste of driving a tractor on Papa's lawn tractor.   Then we moved on to ones a bit bigger. :)  Creighton Brothers was harvesting corn and we went to watch.  They have a lot of acres to work, so they use some pretty big equipment.  The boys really enjoyed seeing two combines work a field at the same time.  They kept 2 or 3 wagons busy loading and unloading corn as well as multiple grain trucks.  The boys even got to go for a couple rides in the combine.  Adam could have rode for hours-----in fact, he did once we got to Pop's house! 
Once Andy made it north, we drove to Mimi and Pop's house.  The boys and Andy became farmers for the weekend.  And boy, were they busy!  On Saturday, they spent hours chisel plowing a couple fields to get it ready so Pop could plant with the seed drill.  The boys thought the plow was pretty dirty, so they spent time on Sunday afternoon cleaning it off. :)  However, Pop informed them they'd have to plow a little more because he still had seed left.  Alex exclaimed, "But we just cleaned it!" So Monday morning they plowed some more.  Erin even got to go for a ride and drive!  Then after lunch they headed back out to the tractor and hitched up the chopper.  They headed to the hay field and chopped hay so Pop could finish filling a silo and a bag of silage.   By the grace of God, nothing broke all weekend and they finished planting and chopping hay before it rained!  Pop still has to harvest his beans and corn, but that can wait for a different day.  The boys got to spend hours in a tractor and they loved every minute of it!  Erin enjoyed playing inside with whatever she wanted!  Nobody was there to take it away! :)
Oh and in the middle of all that work, the kids dressed up and went Truck-or-Treating at a church in town.  It was a beautiful day and it was a nice break. 

Princess Sophia - Robin - Batman

Fall is here!

We are enjoying the trees changing colors and raking the leaves into piles to jump in!  It's been a wet fall so far, but things are drying out a bit.  We spent a weekend camping at Turkey Run State Park with the Rummel cousins.  It was a bit cold and muddy, but the trees were beautiful and the kids had a blast hiking!  It helped to have other cousins around to play with too.  :)   We might have to make a day trip there again to enjoy some more hiking. 

Erin's favorite color is.......Pink, of course!

Rummel cousins

Suspension bridge that crosses Sugar Creek to access trails at Turkey Run.

September - birthdays and soccer

Seemed like Adam started preschool and had his 5th birthday within a week of each other!  He is loving preschool.  He's made some new friends and is learning lots.  Erin does a good job of helping Mommy clean house or go grocery shopping while Adam is at school.  She can't wait until it's her turn. :) 

Alex plays soccer at Faith this fall.  It's a huge league and he's really enjoying it.  He's not very aggressive (no surprise there!) but he's starting to get the hang of the game.  It also helps that friends of ours coach his team and their oldest daughter is on his team too.

Erin and Sara watching soccer together

Since Alex never gets to have a birthday party and Erin's is a bit difficult too, we decided to have one big birthday bash!  We rented a bounce house, made cupcakes, and invited all our family and friends.  We had family come Saturday and friends Sunday.  It was a busy weekend.  I dont think Adam left the bounce house except to eat, drink or use the bathroom!   I made minion cupcakes for Adam, Hello Kitty for Erin, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ones for Alex.  That was about as far as I went for food and theme.  The party was mostly just to have friends over to play with. :)   The kids had a blast, but were exhausted!  We will have to do it again next year! 

Tennessee

We normally dont do much for our anniversary.  But since this was our 10th, we thought we'd splerge and go on a trip to get away.  We'd always wanted to go to the Gatlinburg area, so we rented a cabin for 3 nights and sent the kids to Mimi's.   We drove down in about 6 1/2 hours and spend the first evening shopping at the outlet mall in Pigeon Forge.  The nest morning we went to the Smoky Mountain National Park for some hiking.  We had heard of a nice waterfall in the park, but that it was a 8 mile hike round trip (Ramsey Cascade).  So we set out early, found the road to the trailhead, and started off!  The trail takes you up 2000ft to the waterfall, so it's not an easy stroll through the woods.  :)  But it was a beautiful trek -- rhodadendrons blooming all around and the constant sound of the river nearby.  There were a couple "bridges"  I wasn't overly thrilled about crossing ----just a log with the top shaved off to make a more level walking surface.   But after about 2 1/2 hours we made it to the waterfall.  We were the first ones that day, so we ate our lunch in solitude on the large rock right in front of the waterfall. I have to admit I was slightly disappointed, only because the waterfalls I've ever hiked to were in Yosemite.  Those waterfalls (and mountains) are much bigger than those in the Smokies.  But it was still a beautiful waterfall and I mostly enjoyed the hike in the woods with no one around.  :)   The hike down was much easier and only took 2 hours.  I hadn't planned anything else for that day (in case it really took 7 hours to hike the trail!) so we went miniture golfing after dinner.   
The next day we decided to stretch our tight muscles and hike to another waterfall.  This one was not so far or so hard of a trail, but the trail continued behind/under the waterfall and went to the sumit of the mountain.  We both thought this waterfall was pretty cool.    That afternoon, we went ziplining.  We could see the Smoky Mountains the whole 3 hours we were up in the trees.  It was quite awesome!  We dont have any pictures of it, since we didn't really know what we were getting into, but next time we will for sure.  :)

The kids didn't seem to miss us at all.  They were at Mimi's and they got to go to her county fair all but one of the days!  And Alex lost his first tooth.  It came loose at lunch and fell out at snack time---a matter of hours!  He is so proud of himself.  I mean, he's lost a tooth and he's going to first grade.  He knows everything, right?  Well he sure thinks so!

sunset from our cabin

bridge on the trail

the rivers/streams are very rocky and green with moss

Ramsey Cascade - our view while eating lunch!

Ramsey Cascade

the dirt is orange --- Tennessee orange!

Grotto Falls

Andy and Emily under Grotto Falls

upstairs of our cabin

upstairs - looking out to 2nd story deck

living room