October 22-24, 2010
Gun Lake

It was a great weekend away, what we didn't know was that it would be the last FAMILY camping trip of 2010. Good thing we had such a great time.

Fall camping, is one of the best times for spending some time playing games in the trailer.

Camping right along the channel is a great opportunity to do some fishing too.

The only fish of the weekend - and it swallowed the hook.

Allison loved spending time on her tree trunk. Which reminds me, Allison figured out she could read over this camping trip. She saw a sign that said "NO PETS" and had sounded it out and came running over to me to tell me what it said. This was just the beginning of her new adventure in reading.

Paul and Sam went for a walk and found an abandoned boat buoy. The remainder of the weekend it became known as "Sam Buoy". There were many times, where Paul would repeatedly throw "Sam Buoy" into the water and Sam would pull it back into shore.

A campground with a swingset always includes underdogs from Dad.

Some brotherly bonding with "Sam Buoy"

We had some visitors...

Saturday night, Nicholas walked over the edge of the lake.
He ended up sitting there, just quietly looking out over the water for 15-20 minutes.
What a wonderful thing to see: your son appreciating nature and solitude.

A wonderful way to conclude the camping season.
A beautiful view of the moon.....

...and a nice warm campfire.

October 15-17, 2010
A Weekend Away...
... with no kids

This year, in November, Paul and I celebrate 10 wonderful years of marriage.
We discussed many different options to get a way for a weekend, and kept coming back to the idea of going camping without the kids. We love to camp, we love to camp with our kids, but the thought of a peaceful weekend away with just the two of us with time to relax was sounding more and more inviting the more we discussed it. Our anniversary, however, is in November. Although, we do camp in November - the weather can be very unpredictable and we didn't want to get stuck without a decent weekend to go. Therefore, we decided to go a month earlier over Paul's birthday weekend. Excellent choice - the weather was beautiful and we had a wonderful couple of days together. The kids got split up between Grandma and Grandpa's house and Uncle Cory and Aunt Catherine's house the first night, and then they switched houses for the second night and they had all had a blast.

We picked a campsite set back in the woods a bit. Directly behind the trailer was a walking trail.

At the end of the walking trail, was this.....

The view of the lakes and the colors were beautiful.

It was a wonderful weekend away. We relaxed when we wanted to, took lots of walks, and did a lot of mountain biking. It was so enjoyable - I wonder if we should make it a yearly occurrence?

October 15, 2010
Allison's Field Trip to
Post Family Farms

It was a beautiful fall day for Allison's field trip. A little chilly, but sunny and dry and that is the key with field trips. By afternoon, however, many of the kids were shedding their coats while enjoying their day.

Allison "hanging" around on the playground
before the organized activities began.

Playing in the hay area.

A ride on the pumpkin train with her friend Syndie.

We took a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch.
She found the pumpkin she wanted.

No field trip to Post Family Farms is complete
without cider and donuts.

One more chance to play on the playground before going home.
Allison loved the zip line.

October 14, 2010
Sam's First Field Trip

Sam got to go on his first ever field trip for preschool. Which also means it was his first bus ride which was pretty exciting.

We went to the VanderMill Cider Mill in Spring Lake. The kids got to read a story, see the inside of an apple, see how they make cider, and also watch them make the donuts.

Then they got to play on the playground followed by the traditional field trip snack of cider and a donut.

After their snack time they got to go on a tractor pulled ride through the woods in these barrel cars.

The best we could do trying to get a
group picture of a class full of 3 year olds.

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.