Fall Festival

Yes, my favorite time of year!  I love all things fall and this weekend we spent a whole afternoon at a fall festival!  The place may have been a little ghetto in my book but that didn't stop us from enjoying it to the max.  The kids were in heaven.

Pumpkin Painting

Unlimited hayrides involving a ride through the woods with some giant spiders and graveyards.

 A giant slide.  The kids loved riding with "cousin Alyson"!

 Even Uncle Pat and Aunt Priscilla got in on the fun!

 Yes, us too.  I had hay stuck in every inch of my body.

Asher "surfed" down.

 

The day ended with s'mores in our fire pit, "camping" in our tent with some neighbor friends (we all ended up sleeping in our own beds), and spider hunting in the nearby park (and yes, this is for real!).

LOVE FALL!

Jesse's time to shine

Jesse had a busy week!  He FINALLY started preschool.  We have been talking about his school since we moved here.  I believe he was starting to think we made the whole thing up.  I could barely contain him on the 1st day.  We were 15 minutes early because he was just sitting in the van waiting to go! He loves his school and teacher and remembers new names of friends every day.

Imagine your best "Finding Nemo" voice..."1st day of school!  1st day of school!"

He also started playing soccer for the 1st time.  He is one of the smallest ones out there but he has the best attitude and has lots of fun! His team is the Screaming Eagles. As we are walking down the field he is waving to all these kids and I say "Are they on your team" and he says "No, I know them from school".  I guess we have another social butterfly on our hands!

 Watching Jesse's game...It was a little chilly at first.

The girls keeping warm.

Our Triathletes

Anna and Asher had recently told us they wanted to start doing "running races".  Yes, that made this mama proud!  But of course, I run a tight ship so I was encouraging them to get out and run or bike every day.  3 times around our block equals a mile so I would sit out and cheer them on, or Joel and I would trade off running with them.  We really did see them get better!  At first they would sprint and then walk, but then they learned to pace themselves, and pump their arms, and breath right and they were running the entire time and getting faster!  We caught wind of a kids triathlon and Asher was all over it....so we trained and they got more excited.  Well, Anna got more nervous and sick over it but if Asher was going to do it, by golly she was determined! The race was this past Saturday and consisted of a 50 meter swim, 1 mile bike, and 1 mile run.

 Asher just finished his swim! He had this smile on his smile the entire time!

 Finishing up his 1 mile bike...yes smiling!

 Sprinting at the finish!  Asher way surpassed my expectations for him. He came in 1st in his heat at 17 min 22 seconds and  finished 3rd overall!  He won a $10 gift card to Dicks sporting goods and bought himself some "sporty" slip on sandals to wear on the swim deck at swim practice.

 Anna running into the transition area after her swim.  Her face was much more serious than Asher but she competed her little heart out!

 Ending the bike portion...she said this was her least favorite part.  Believe it or not, it took her longer to bike the 1 mile than it did to run it!

 She too sprinted at the end and finished in 22 min 57 seconds.  She was very sad she didn't place at the top and it took a lot of explaining for her to realize she was competing with 7 and 8 year olds. She eventually dealt with her sadness and was able to be happy with Asher and pleased with her accomplishment.

My triathletes!  Asher is hooked and says he wants to do more and more.  He had such a good time.  Anna maybe not as hooked but again, if Asher is on board, she wants to follow.  We are just super proud of how they challenged themselves and their attitudes.  Hopefully there will be some more races in our future!

A picking we will go

We went apple picking even though it isn't really fall yet. This was really hard for me since my idea of apple picking is jeans and long sleeves, hayrides, and apple cider...but 90 degree weather doesn't feel right for all those additions.  I guess due to the weather this summer, all produce is running 3 weeks ahead of schedule and because of my husband's obsession with Honey Crisp apples (which we have to get before the dissapear!), off we went.  It was a absolutely lovely time and now we have enough apples to last a lifetime!

 Hayride anyone?

 My pickers

 Um, my eater?

 Jesse was the master picker of the group.  I guess he just had the right perspective to see the apples and disappeared in the mass of leaves to go after his target.  He loved the challenge of finding the perfect ones.

 Asher loved the challenge of taste testing to pick his favorite (turns out to be Empires).

Storming the castle!