Schilter Farm

The leaves are changing and the rain is pouring so it is time for farm fall festival fun! The older kids are aging out of this kind of activity so I had to bully Ben into coming this year and we brought a friend for Isaac. 

I say "bully" BUT I did compensate Ben with several apple cider donuts.

New this year: zip lines! They were a bit tame for Ben but the littles had a great time on them.

 

Another favorite: the jumping pillow!

But the most captivating activity of the day: holding the kitties. Isaac was not confident enough to hold one of these sweet creatures himself, but Ben and M were all in. This did not cure Ben of his desire to have a cat and I was tempted to pat M down before we left to make sure she didn't try to sneak one of these to take home.

Our last activity was taking the hay ride over to the corn maze. We were a little disappointed that the hay "mountain" this year but the kids still did some jumping while we waited for our ride.

Ben took the lead at the corn maze and efficiently lead us through the maze on a twisty route that had Isaac and M convinced that we were lost most of the time although Ben was rather offended by this. 

With one more visit to the kittens we wrapped up our visit and headed home. This was probably Ben's last time, even with the promise of apple cider doughnuts, but I am glad that he came. Isaac had a blast and I think we have a few more years of fall festivals left for him. 

Cross-Country - A Season

He came. He saw. He ran. And then sometimes he felt sick. But then he ran again. The insanity started in August (which is kind of a blur) and ended in October, but Michael successfully finished his first season of cross country. We are so incredibly proud of him for pushing through the rough start of the season (he was recovering from covid-19 and didn't get to do much training beforehand) and for keeping a positive attitude through nausea and shin splints. He made a lot of progress and enthusiastically cheered his teammates on at every meet. In August he emphatically told us he would not do this ever again, but come October we heard a lot about "next year in cross country" and "Ben, you should do cross country with me next year!" I guess than means one season down, who knows how many to go.

Getaway Backpacking

It's still sunny and and warm in October. What else could do but go backpacking? It was a last minute, one-night gig so we picked a trip we knew would be great - Dosewallips!  

Not going to lie, I was hoping for more fall foliage, but this is still a lovely hike along the river so I am not complaining.

Our campsite from last time was available so we enjoyed our little beach with river access.

Our little campsite. 

We started Sunday morning with a little loop hike we hadn't done before.

And then packed up and headed back to real life.

We have Clarity

It took us a while, but after a brief mourning period we replaced the Ford Fusion. Jason has been completely converted to plug-in hybrids and so now we are the proud owners of a Honda Clarity. Hopefully we'll get to keep this one longer than 8 months!

September on FB

For Labor Day, I offered to the kids that I would retell and reenact all of my labor and delivery stories for them. No takers so far.

We ordered take out for dinner tonight to celebrate the end of summer vacation, but I think the kids may have viewed it more as a "last meal" sort of thing.

We survived the first days of school this year!

Found this book in the children's section of our public library. Please note that one of our kids DID lick this book and it was NOT the youngest. I guess this isn't shelved in the YA section because the temptation to do the OPPOSITE of what they are told is too strong for some teenagers.

I hate school fundraisers. Just let me give you money (and let you keep all of it, not just a percentage) and skip the crap toys and crap psychology on my kid.

That is all.

My new patron saint

Our first attempt at making lanterns for the equinox

Before and After pics from Jason's skydiving adventure this morning - HE SURVIVED! Isaac kept telling us he didn't want to watch because he didn't want to see his dad die, but luckily his worries were unfounded.

Well, hello there, fall!

Skydiving

This was a Sunday to remember! A few months ago I mentioned skydiving to Jason as a option for his 50th birthday...I was mostly joking because I didn't think he would do it. We were all surprised when he agreed. Well, actually, the kids were shocked. And I was just excited about all the awesome pictures I knew would now come into existence on this amazing day.

We took a before pic (with some photo bombers) and then the rest of these images are from Jason's jump photographer. Worth every penny by the way. 

He's ready to go!

Woot! Woot! Soft landing for the win!

He came back to Earth exhilarated and nauseous. And he said he's willing to do it again in 25 years.

The Big 5-0!

Cue the old person jokes.

Just kidding, the boys have been teasing Jason for a while about being old. I think that's just what kids do really. 

It was the middle of a busy week so we had a small celebration in the backyard with cake and ice cream, friends and family.

The hottest topic of the evening was Jason's plans for the first weekend of his 50's: skydiving!