Apple Jack's Orchard 2010

There are certain things that a person must do in the fall in Minnesota, and one of those is to visit an apple orchard.  The last time we went was in September of 2008, when Miley was about 3 months old, so we were excited to go today, now that she is older and can enjoy the things that they have there more.  It was a perfect fall day...a little chilly outside, but sunny with temperatures in the 50's...I love our seasons around here! 

Warning:  TONS of pictures ahead...I couldn't narrow it down, because I loved them all!  :)

When we got there, Miley immediately ran to all of the little activities and things that they had set up for kids.  She jumped into this little fake truck and was driving away while we were waiting for out friends, the Ferrins, to meet up with us.

But the truck could hardly compare to her excitement when her best buddy Jack showed up.  We loaded the kids into a wagon, and went across the street to look at the orchards, and to let the kids ride the cow train.  While we were waiting our turn for the train, we actually got Jack and Miley to pose in one of those baords with the faces cut out...I am glad they cooperated.  It was just their size, and they were hamming it up.

Then it was their turn for the cow train, and to say they loved it may have just been the understatement of the month.  It is so nice that Miley is now at an age where she can do these things on her own, and actually enjoys them!

Getting started!!

Going around the first corner...Jack in is the fourth car, and Miley is in the eighth, looking back.

Next we went into the orchards to see what we could get our hands on.  Unfortunately, due to a frost when the trees were blossoming, there were slim pickin's this year...but that didn't stop Miley and Jack from picking apples and digging right in!

Then a couple family pictures with the pretty background...

After we saw how the kids were attacking their apples, we figured it would be a good time to take a break and eat some lunch.  The boys got the famous cider brats, Cecia got a sloppy joe (Sloppy Jack), and I got some chicken and wild rice soup.  The kids munched on cheese, crackers, and apple slices.

Then we moved on to some more photo ops....

But then it was time to just PLAY!

First on the hay bale slides...

...then onto a little maze...

...then onto see the goats and chickens.

And then of course, some more family pictures...although this time Miley wanted nothing to do with it and was trying to get to the slides instead...the Ferrins look cute though!  :)

By this time it was way past naptime for the little guys, and so we figured we better head home.  But not without one more ride on the cow train first...

It's a good thing we left when we did, because this happened shortly after driving away...

It was such a fun way to spend part of our Saturday...I feel like I could have spent the whole day there!  Thanks, Ferrins, for joining us and enjoying some of this nice weather we have left before the winter hits!

I Can't Imagine This Is Comfortable...

Do you need a better look?

Don't worry...we did move her to a better position after we were done laughing and taking pictures.  :)

Labor Day Campout

This year we were able to do our second Labor Day weekend campout with a bunch of other families. We go to a campsite that is only about 5 minutes away from where we live, which in my mind is perfect. :) The weather was a little chilly this year...in the 50's, and windy. Everyone was breaking out their winter hats, and layering on the clothes (and yes, that is a dirt mustache, if you will, in the picture below)!

There were about 16 or so families that came, I think, and everyone brought their own dinner to cook over the fire, and all the fixings to make s'mores. This is such a great tradition that our friends, the Wilsons, have started. It is a great way to spend a night on the long weekend, and Miley has a blast running around with all of her little buddies and getting as dirty as she wants to without her mom freaking out (too badly).

The next morning, everyone did a joint breakfast where we signed up to bring fruit, pastries, juice, milk, or other breakfast foods and we had a buffet of sorts set up.

Oh and the best part about this camping? Cameron stayed and camped with Miley while I came home around 9:30 that night and got to sleep in our own bed. Awesome. :) For those of you who know me, you know that I prefer hotels, soft beds, and bathrooms where I am not worried about a bug biting me who-knows-where on my body. I also bailed because I was honestly a little worried about how Miley would do camping out with us. This is a girl who will not, for the life of her, sleep in our bed with us, so I thought there was no way she would do it on a blow-up bed in a tent. According to Cameron though, she did great, and only woke up at around 3:00 in the morning when he shone a light on her to make sure she was tucked in and warm.

It must have gone well enough, because on Friday the 17th, Cameron is taking Miley camping again for a Daddy-Daughter campout that our church is doing (weather permitting). No complaints here...a free night to myself? Yes please. :)

16 Week Bump-date

I can't believe it has already been four weeks since I last posted a pregnancy pic...so here is week 16 in all it's glory (and my little helper, who wants to be in on all the action!)...

• I am still not wearing any maternity clothes but I feel like (and these pictures prove that I also LOOK like) I have definitely hit that "pudgy" stage of pregnancy.  You know, the one where people are starting to wonder if you have put on some pounds, but may not really know WHY yet.  Good times, good times.
• Still feeling good for the most part, although some symptoms that I experienced later on in my pregnancy with Miley are starting to pop up already.  For example, my lower back (maybe my sciatic?) hurts every night now.  And I am starting to get heartburn again.  Maybe this baby will be born with a lot of hair like Miley.  :)
• We have the ultrasound date officially set for September 20, and we are looking forward to finding out if this baby is a he or a she (if they cooperate, of course)!

And just because I think this is the cutest soon-to-be big sister ever...

Pictures!

We just recently got our pictures back that my friend, Darci, took in June, and we L-O-V-E them!

I can't even say how how talented Darci is, and we could never thank her enough for doing these pictures for us!  All of you with little kids know how hard it is to get a decent family picture, so the fact that we got one that I liked is a major accomplishment! 

This is the winner:

And I just can't stop staring at these pictures of Miley...now I just have to decide which ones to print out and what sizes...

And here are some of the others from the session (not so great of me!) that are so fun to have, and that I may have to get prints off as well!

SOOO excited to finally have some updated pictures!  Yay!

Thanks a MILLION, Darci!

A Brief Interruption...

...from the vacation posts. 

Really, I am just realizing as I go through pictures from our trip that I was not such a great photographer and only got a few good pictures from the Clark family reunion.  So what it really boils down to is that I am stalling so that I can hopefully receive the DVD that my FIL makes everyone of everybody's collective pictures...so that I can snag a few off of there to add to my post.  My pictures just don't do it justice.  :)

So in the meantime, I will show you what we have been doing in the meantime. 

Mostly, a whole lot of this...

That's right.  After our trip we decided to splurge and we bought ourselves some bikes and a trailer to pull Miley in.  To say that she loves it is an understatment.  And Cameron and I are enjoying it too.  It is the perfect way to kill some time in that dreaded downtime between dinner and bedtime (how many times can I say "time" in one sentence??), when we are usually wondering what to do with ourselves.  We have gone every night since we have gotten them, and have made a couple of day rides as well on the weekends, stopping to have picnics.

I figure it is a win-win-win.  We get to spend time together as a family, we are having fun, and we get some exercise, all rolled into one.  What is there not to love about it??

And yes, it is a little late in the summer to be making a purchase like this, but we have nice falls up here, so we figured, why not?

Anyway, we have been keeping busy and trying to enjoy the nice weather while we still can.  You know summer is over when my blogging starts to pick up again...  :)

Summer Road Trip Part 3 - Laramie, July 19 - July 24

The next part of our trip was a down week spent in Laramie between the Polson family reunion and the Clark family reunion.  Instead of making the trip back and forth from Maple Grove, Cameron was able to work from home during this week and not take vacation which was AWESOME!

My oldest sister, Lindsey, had gone back to Arizona after the Polson reunion with her family, and my other sister, Gelsey, was able to hang out for a couple of days, but then had to head back to Colorado to fulfill her maid of honor duties for a wedding that was on Friday.  It was sad that I wasn't able to spend that time with my sisters, but it was also really nice to have some one-on-one time with my parents for us and Miley.  Miley LOVED all of the extra attention that she got that week, even though she was missing her cousins!

On Monday and Tuesday, we just relaxed (really, the whole week was a whole lot of relaxing...it was great!) and hung out with Gelsey and Bode while they were still in Laramie.  Bode and Miley had so much fun playing together, and Miley will still say "Bo Bo" randomly, wondering where her cousin is!

Wednesday and Thursday, my mom and I spent a lot of time shopping and doing crafts.  I taught her how to make the wipes cases that I learned to make a couple years ago, and we spent a couple late nights making those to have around for baby gifts.  We also both made taggie blankets, something I have been wanting to try for a while.

We also just got to spend some good time with my parents catching up, and of course...relaxing.  We were able to eat out at some restaurants in Laramie that we don't have up here, play a few games, and just enjoy being together.  Cameron was also great this whole week...on top of working all day every day, he would come home and help take our dog for walks, wash my dad's collection of old cars, and mow the lawn.  My dad had just had back surgery, and some of these things were tough for him to do, so we were glad that we were able to help out!

On Friday, my mom and I left Miley at home with Cameron and my dad, and we went down to Fort Collins to shop and to go to the wedding that my sister and her husband were both in.  We were able to help them out by watching Bode at the wedding, and then bringing him back to Laramie with us for the night, before they joined us the next day.  We were running around like crazy trying to get all the shopping in that we wanted to, and then spent the afternoon resting and getting ready for the wedding that was that evening.  

After the wedding, we drove back to Laramie with Bode.  Unfortunately, due to a lack of coordiantion between us and my sister, we didn't have any diapers or anything with us, so we figured we would just change him when we got back.  Well, apparently he had had a bit too much to drink, and the diaper was just too full so he ended up being VERY wet all over when we finally got home.  Since we didn't have a change of clothes for him, we threw him into some of Miley's pink pajamas for the night.  :)  Sorry Kipp and Gelsey...I just had to post the pictures.  :)

Saturday, we spent the day packing up to leave on Sunday for Cameron's family reunion.  We also spent the day cooking and cleaning, because Don and Cindy and their family were coming into Laramie that evening on their way from Maple Grove to the reunion, so that we could caravan down together the next day.  We invited them over for a barbeque, and Miley was so excited to see her Minnesota cousins again!

Sunday morning, we said our goodbyes and hit the road for the Clark family reunion near Durango, Colorado.  We had so much fun spending time with my family, and felt lucky that we were able to get some time with our whole immediate family, our extended family, and then some quieter, more relaxing one-on-one time.  We miss everyone already and hope to see them again soon (up here??).  :)

Clark family reunion coming up next!