Halloween

We carved 3 pumpkins this year, all of which are called "Jack" by the boys. :) The first one we did earlier and it went bad pretty quick. These two turned out better since it's a cooler now. Alex dressed up as a firefighter and Adam was a construction worker. We went to a friend's house and trick-or-treated in their neighborhood. The boys had a lot of fun and really enjoyed playing with Gunnar (the crow) and Anna (Ripunzel).

We shipped the boys to the Rummel's this weekend (they came back in time for trick-or-treating). They were suppose to ride and watch the combine, but they've had way too much rain to be in the fields. So Pop just took them on a tractor ride in the lane (which is all Adam wanted to do anyway!) and let Alex drive the skid loader--thus the donuts in the driveway! But not being outside didn't phase the boys one bit. They were bouncing off the walls all week ready to go to Mimi's house and the excitement didn't wear off once they got there. So they had a great weekend.

I'd like to say Andy and I got to relax and rest a bit while they were gone, but we didn't. As soon as the boys left on Friday morning, I headed to town for some shopping. I did a little Christmas and birthday shopping, but mostly went to look at minivans. We recently figured out that Mom and Dad's Yukon (which they were going to give us) didnt' fit in our garage. So I went shopping all Friday afternoon and evening. And then when Andy got off work, he met me and test drove a couple that I had picked out. Saturday morning we got up and headed to the car lot again with a better idea of what we wanted, but not sure which van to choose so did more test driving. At lunch we decided on a van and after a couple hours we said goodbye to the Explorer and drove home with our new purchase! Technically it's used, however it only has 3700 miles on it, so it wasn't used very much! It's a green 2011 Toyota Sienna and we love it. Everytime we ride in it, Alex tells us he really likes this van and that we should keep it. :) We drove it up on Sunday afternoon to pick up the boys. On the ride home they got to test out the DVD player in it. It was the quietest car ride EVER! Although now they think everytime we get in the van they get to watch something! So I had to explain they only get to watch dvds on long trips. But anyway, we plan to have this one for a long time, so it's good that we all like it. :)

Road and Leaves

A few weeks ago they closed our road to tear it up and move it so it can intersect with the new highway. Our house was on the last section of road not tore up, so we saw alot of construction vehicles park or work close by. They happened to unload the asphalt paver right in front of us one day. And since the road was closed, I'd take the boys down by the mailbox and we'd watch them dig up the old road, dump rocks or dirt into and out of dump trucks, and eventually pave the asphalt.

The stick in the bottom right of the picture is about where our property line is...so that would be our front corner of the woods.

They just opened the road this weekend. Here's a couple picks of our country road intersecting the highway. The highway is paved in concrete.

The boys like helping rake leaves. And of course playing in them!

CAT Family Day

Two weeks ago we drove to Peoria, IL and visited Pete and Kelli. The proving grounds that Pete works at had their family day and so we, along with Andy's parents, made the trip out. We got to tour the buildings, walk around the yards, and get pretty close to some big equipment. The boys were in awe. CAT had all sorts of machines out for viewing and even had a demo show for guests to watch. Adam really liked the show--he was full of "oh's" "ah's" and "ooo's" that had most of the crowd around us chuckling. Since we have all the construction around us, the boys know their equipment, so they had a blast getting to get in and around some of the equipment they watch on a daily basis. Interestingly, the thing that kept grabbing Alex's attention was a video they showed in one of the sheds. CAT was testing a wheel loader by pushing it over down a slope to make it tumble over and over. The cab is meant to protect the driver for a roll or two, but not to the extent this test went. The dummy driver didn't make it. But Alex was completely captivated by it tumbling over and over and eventually mangled at the bottom of the hill. We had to pull him away! We had a great time and the boys really enjoyed being at Pete and Kelli's house too. We look forward to next year and another CAT family day!

You got a prize if you could hit a golf ball into the back of a dump truck. I didn't put Andy's picture on here....his form is horrible!

Alex and Pete are "bowling" in a mini excavator.