First Grade Field Trip

The first part of October I went on a field trip with Shanna and Haley to "Back Home on the Farm", a local pumpkin patch/play/learning area for kids and families. 

First stop, a wagon ride to the pumpkin patch.










Then we went to different "educational" stations.  Love the variety of pumpkins!




They were lucky to milk a plywood cow and water came out.  Bet you've never done that before.




Not sure what station we're at.  By the look on Haley's face, maybe it was the one where they butchered a live pig. Just kidding.  They didn't do that there. I love it when they dress alike.


The carousel was a highlight.  Made me nauseous just looking at it move. 




Fun on an underground tunnel slide.




I thought this was hilarious.  Pig races!  Too bad it was so short.








I LOVE Shanna's face in this picture.  She beat the boys every time with this little game.  You use an old fashioned pump to pump water to propel the rubber duck forward.


Shanna coaching Haley on the finer points of pumping water to win.


It was a fun field trip.  The girls ate their lunch for a little while and then we all took off from the field trip and picked up Elden.  Thanks Emmy and Risa for watching him!  We did a few errands too since we were in Harrisonburg which was nice.  Happy Fall everyone!

I love mail

I got this in the mail the other day from my sweet niece. 

Here is my take on the note:

 

Dear Ruth I miss you but

I love you. You [are the] best aunt

ever. I love you so much. Everyday,

I think of you. You are so good to me

I wish I could see [you] more

I love you

Wow, who wouldn't love getting this in the mail?!  I love you Rachel!

Pennsylvania

We spent the past weekend up in Pennsylvania.  There was no particular reason to go up--just the ever great reason to spend time with family--my oldest brother Darrell and his family.  We drove up after work, arriving about midnight.  There were some toll roads we could have avoided, but oh well.  Next time we'll try to bypass some.  Saturday was Darrell's stake day of service.  Their congregation, or as we say it "ward" went to Valley Forge to help cleanup/spruce up the grounds.  How cool is that?!  We helped a teeny tiny bit.  The kids picked up sticks.


Darrell got the cool leaf blower.


After our little contribution we had a yummy picnic lunch.  Thanks Darrell and Stacie!




Clark wanted the old car in the picture with him.


After lunch we went to the vistors' center for a little bit.  The faces the kids made were funny. 




Cal wanted the guy to have four arms.










We then did a short driving tour of Valley Forge.  We got to see the original house that George Washington used as his headquarters during the Revolutionary War.


Next stop, a park in Philadelphia.  We passed this at one point in our journey.  Lee thought it was creepy.


So this park was pretty cool.  It had so many different types of playground equipment--pieces I had never seen before! Seriously, it should be a park that one could find in Portland.  My kids loved it.


There was a pretty cool slide that I enjoyed too.






















Haley loved going around with her cute cousin.  Our kids and Darrell's kids seem to get along great. Though they aren't all the exact same age, they are close enough that they still have a great time.


So, adjacent to the park was this big house.  It's a big play house.  No joke.  Someone supposedly donated the house and kids can go in almost anywhere, and just play!  You can even rent it out for birthday parties.  What a great place to play on a rainy day.


The basement area.


Crazy, huh?!






Later that afternoon while Darrell's family was shopping for birthday presents, Lee treated us all to Krispy Kreme donuts with his birthday money.  Last time we went to Krispy Kreme we drove through the drive thru, looked at how much the donuts were and left.  This time we stayed though, ha ha. It was a fun treat. Thanks Lee!


I enjoyed going to the Relief Society broadcast that night with Stacie.  There was a yummy "Mexican" themed dinner beforehand.  The broadcast was wonderful.  The Relief Society General Presidency spoke on keeping covenants and the prophet, Thomas S Monson spoke on the never-ending, un-wavering love that God has for each one of us. You can watch the broadcast here: lds.org. 

So a little side story.  On our way to Valley Forge we went through a toll gate to get on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  I am not sure why, but Lee and I were confused at which section to go through--seems like I might have been messing with my phone and not really paying close attention, but I wasn't the driver so didn't think a whole lot about it.  We've been through toll gates before, but for some reason were a little thrown off by this one. Anyway, we ended up leaving the toll area without a ticket.  Bad idea. A few miles later we came to the other toll booth to exit off the turnpike.  Since we didn't have a ticket when we got on we had to pay the max amount for the Pennsylvania Turnpike....$29.25.  Blah. Thankfully we had that much in cash. Anyway, lesson learned to NEVER leave a toll area without a ticket--if that is what is required of course. I didn't feel so bad after I heard my brother tell me that his van was towed because of parking it in the wrong place.  Apparently getting the van back was more than $29.

Lastly, I saw this advertisement at Darrell's church in the foyer.  So funny.  I especially loved that it was on an easel, AND all decorated.  I mean, someone went through the effort to burn the board, print off the "ad", add color through dirt and spray paint, and even attached duct tape as a nice touch to pull it all together.  Love it. Great idea by the way.