Fall 2015

We kept busy this fall!  We all met at Nat and Jeremy's house and enjoyed some family time (and throwing water balloons at Jeremy!).  The next weekend we went to the lake and invited some friends to join us for a day of fun in the water.  Then, Adam turned 6! We also had the driveway paved this fall.  So happy with our concrete!  And it was done just in time for the bounce house birthday party (no pics of that this year!).  The concrete also made a nice clean spot to watch the combine harvest the beans in front of the house.  The farmer even gave the boys a ride (and daddy too!).  The boys are into Star Wars, so they dresses as such for Halloween.  Erin still wanted to be Princess Sofia.  We went to some friends who live in a subdivision for our trick-or-treating.  Before we knew it, Erin turned 4!  And believe me, she tells everyone she is four now.  Life is so much bigger and better when you're four --- or so she thinks!     

Erin loves having tea in a real teacup!

boys in the combine

Salin picnic at the Zoo

This weekend we went to Indy for Salin Bank's employee picnic.  They paid for everyone to go to the zoo, catered a lunch and gave us tickets for rides!  The kids were very excited and it was a beautiful day.  We got there on the early side so some of the animals were more active.  The tigers were out pacing when we saw them.  Must have been feeding time.  :)  We also got there early enough for tickets to the dolphin show.  It was the first time the kids had seen it and they loved it.  They also couldn't wait for the train ride.  Which we did twice.  And Erin wanted to go on the Carousel, so we fit that in as well.  Then we headed to the sharks -- which you can pet!  Alex could have stayed there for an hour.  But we kept moving and we ended our day with a visit to the butterfly gardens.

Oh, and Erin recently discovered pigtails.  So she wears them occasionally now!

First Day of School!

Adam had his first day of kindergarten this week ---- and did great!  I was worried when he started to cry and ran back to me when the bus came.  But Alex held his hand and led Adam on the bus, and he was fine after that!  Adam was grinning ear-to-ear when he got off the bus the first day, so I knew he'd had fun.  Alex was looking forward to school and getting to see friends again.  Erin was excited for the first day too.  But that's because her first gymnastic class happened to start that day. She's never had any sort of lessons of this sort, so I wasn't sure how she would do.  However, Erin doesn't lack self-confidence.  She quietly listened to her teachers instructions and then pipped up," Oh!  I know how to do that!"  Needless to say, I'm taking my video camera for next week's lesson!  I hope it's as entertaining as the first one!

First Day of School

Erin in her leotard

getting home from school - 2nd day

getting on the bus

Camping at McCormick's Creek

The weekend before school started, we packed up and headed down near Bloomington to camp with Andy's cousin.  We always look forward to a camping trip with the Cripes!  Our kids are all about the same ages and Neil has a knack for picking good campsites.  We spent 3 nights at McCormick Creek State Park.  We did lots of hiking, kids rode bikes around the campground, and spend part of a day at the olympic-sized pool.  Needless to say, we loved it there!  Although if you ask Adam, his favorite part is sleeping in the tent. :)
McCormick Creek has lots of limestone rocks, creeks, rivers, waterfall and even a cave!  But the kids found a hiking trail that led to a bend in a creek that had lots and lots of rocks on the shore.  So we spent alot of time there throwing rocks into the water and moving bigger rocks to make a path for people to cross the bubbling creek.  We had beautiful weather too!  We can't wait to go back, even for a day trip.

Cailin - Alex- Adam - Cameron - Erin

The girls -

Kids at the old stone quarry

throwing rocks

building a path across the creek

exit of the cave

enjoying the campsite

waterfall

throwing rocks again

finished path!

pool! kiddie pool too!