October 12, 2010
Fire Safety at the Fire Station

Every year the Ravenna Fire Department puts on a fire safety night. Sam has been into Fire Trucks a lot lately, so going to this event was pretty much a given. Nicholas was unable to go so I headed over with Sam and the girls. They got fire hats, cookies, juice and got to explore the trucks and equipment.

Sam was the only one who was brave enough to try out the fire hose, and thought he was pretty hot stuff.

What I didn't expect, was that Sam was petrified by the noise. He liked exploring the ambulance, etc - but from the minute we got there he decided that he wanted nothing to do with the fire trucks. The kids are allowed to honk the fire truck's horn and Sam didn't like it one bit. He cried and cried, harder than he usually cries about anything. He actually asked to go home because he didn't like it. I was barely able to get a shot of him on the fire truck before someone else honked the horn and he broke into tears and clung to me. We actually had to leave.

October 8 - 10, 2010
Wabasis Lake and Farmer Joel's Farm

A weekend of fun has become a tradition the past few years. We spend the weekend at Wabasis Lake camping and having fun, and then head over to Farmer Joel's Farm on Saturday afternoon for pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes and just plain exploring the farm.

Uncle Shawn brought the boat out on Saturday afternoon for a fun boat ride around the lake enjoying the fall colors.

After our boat ride, we headed over to the farm.
The tractors weren't running this year so there was no hayride, but the kids had fun feeding the longhorn cattle across the street.

They still got to climb on some of the farm equipment.

Then there was our traditional Halloween Costume photo, which is getting more challenging every year. You would think photo ops would be easier the older the kids get, but it seems to be getting harder.

Grandma wanted a picture with all her grandkids.

I also took some pictures of the kids in the corn.

We camped right by the playground this year and the kids had a lot of fun just plain playing with Joshua and Matthew. It was really very nice because we could sit by the trailer while the kids ran around and had fun.

I can't believe how few times I got the camera out this trip, oh well - we had tons of fun and it was perfect weather for a fall camping trip.

October 6, 2010
A Fun Day Off from School

The kids had the day off from school, for some type of teacher in-service/technology training day. It was a beautiful fall day, so the plan was to get a few things done around the house and then do something fun in the afternoon. As the morning progressed, the plan was modified and we ended up meeting Grandma at Schwallier's Country Basket on Alpine for an afternoon of fun.

Feeding the goats

Cider and Donuts

Playing on the haystacks

Milking the fake cow

The slide was great fun

Picture in the pumpkin patch

After the orchard, we went out for lunch with Grandma.
It was such a gorgeous fall day, that I stopped at a township park on Alpine and let the kids play for about a half hour or so.
It was a wonderful day.

October 3, 2010
A Fall Sunday Afternoon

The drive home from church this morning so was so beautiful and we decided to go out this afternoon to get some fresh apples, cider and donuts somewhere. Just to get outside and enjoy the beautiful fall weather while it lasted.

However, after lunch - before we were able to head out for our trip, I heard the tears start from upstairs. Apparently, our kamikaze Sam took a leap off from a bed and came down on top of a doll bed, taking a chunk of skin off from his chin. Not quite deep enough for stitches, it did require steri-strips to keep the nice flap of skin he created in place. What a great start to the afternoon.

Once we got Sam's wound repaired, we drove up to Grant to visit Nelson's Farm Market. Our main thing was get our cider, donuts and fresh picked apples - but we were able to get some pictures on the giant pumpkins, see a few animals, and climb on an old tractor.

We drove down the road a little ways, and found a small little roadside park where we could enjoy our Cider and Donuts.

On the way back out of town, we saw a sign for a waterfront park, so we decided to check it out. There was a small playground for the kids to enjoy and then we took a short walk on a path that went along the river. We enjoyed the fall colors and took a few pictures.

September 24-26, 2010
Back to Channel Park

Now that the kids are in school, it is nice to camp closer to home so we can actually get to the campground with some time to enjoy the evening. This weekend, we chose to go back to Channel Park. We were able to get a campsite in the "better" of the two loops so it felt like a different place than we had been a few weeks ago. Paul and Sam finished packing the trailer in the morning and headed to the campground just the 2 of them. They had everything set up and ready to go by the time I got there with the kids after work and school. I must admit it was really nice to be able to sit and relax upon arrival.

I find it very interesting, that as much as we camp, the kids always seems to find something different to do. The most popular activity of this particular weekend was riding and pulling each other in Sam's dump truck. A few times they even put their bike helmets on "for safety" (this was of their own doing).

It was another very windy weekend. As a matter of fact, it was even windier than it was when we were here over Labor Day. I believe the wind gusts were near or above 45 mph and the trailer was definitely shaking a lot during the night. We didn't put the awning out the first night, but we did put it out the following day. Sam helped Paul stake the awning down with tie downs.

The kids always love to run around THE BLOCK HOUSE, so we drove up there during the afternoon.

Sam made a burning building out of pop-cans and raced his fire truck to the rescue.

More dump truck fun, this time it was Dad who was doing the pulling.

It was an absolutely beautiful fall morning on Sunday. As I've said before, it always seems to get nice when we have to go home. We spent some time sitting (and playing) in the sand along the Muskegon Lake Beach. There were sailboats to watch, birds to see, and sunshine to enjoy.

The kids were pretending to go fishing with their jump ropes.

I don't think a camping trip would be complete without some time on the swings.

Gabrielle and Allison built their own campfire.