Fall

This is our favorite time of the year, for several reasons. #1 We love the way our street becomnes busy on Satruday afternoon with all the fans walking to the ISU game. We oftentimes walk to the game and visit friends who are tailgating. WHile we never usually go to a game, it's always fun to be apart of the pre-game partying! Although, we did run in to an old friend of Thomas' this last game and he gave all of us free tickets. We weren't planning on it, but made the most of it! The kids did pretty well and we made it through about 3/4 of the game before Samuel was a bit crabby and unable to make it any longer. #2 We llove going to the Apple Orchard. Last year we didn't make it too much but this year we decided to get season passes. THey have added so many fun kid-friendly attractions. It's possibly the best thing to do in the fall in Iowa. Among our favorite activites are the animals, the giant slide, the corn pool, the giant jumping pool, apple cider doughnuts (we never leave without a few) and of course, the apples. We've already been about 5 times this year and plan to go several more.

The corn pool!

The Three Billy Goats bridge

# 3 Jumping in the leaves! For some reason the kids have been talking about this more than ever. Thomas and I always feel a bit overwhlemed this time of year from the amount of leaves that need to be raked, bagged and then stored until a free leaf disposal day rolls around. It's a lot of work but the kids seem to love the tradition. The thought of the very first pile puts a huge smile on their face and hopefully motivates them enough to help out with the whole process. We'll have to wait and see. We love the fall and are thinking about throwing a party this year. Thomas's Birthday lieks on a Saturday and it would be fun to have a Birthday/pumpkin carving party this October. So, we'll see if we can pull it off but I think the kids would have a blast! The kids haven't decided on costumes yet for Halloween and I'm just hoping one of them will be ok with wearing any of the myriad of costumes we already own, but again, we'll have to wait and see.

Grandma and Grandpa took us to see Thomas the Tank Engine in Boone with the cousins! Happy Fall!