Pumpkin Patch

In early October we took a field trip with a homeschooling group to the pumpkin patch.  Here are some pictures from our day there.

 

 

I took this first picture in a hurry because most of the children had picked their pumpkins and it was time to get back on the hay ride.  Some friends were near us, but M was in a longstanding Highly Suspicious of New People phase, hence the baleful stare.

 

 

 

Tall kids.

 

 

 

It took a few tries, but we were able to get M to go put her face through one of the openings like big brother and sister.

 

 

 

The kids always love climbing on this tractor.

 

 

 

Another fun farm play structure.

 

 

 

Putting pieces of bark in the truck, one by one.  Or maybe she was taking them out.

 

 

 

Figuring out the tire swing.

 

 

 

 

 

Not pictured, but there was also an educational pumpkin talk (a homeschooling family runs this farm), a petting zoo visit, and lunch with fresh pumpkin donuts and apple cider.  Yum!

 

It was a lovely day in the country.  We've enjoyed going to this pumpkin patch every year for several years now.

 

 

Sacajawea Days

In the early fall we attended Sacajawea Days with a homeschooling group.  This was an event where people can see what life was like for the Lewis and Clark expedition, as well as other early settlers of the West.  K has been learning about Lewis and Clark in her My First Report research study, and this was a good opportunity to bring some of this learning to life. 

It was school groups day when we went, so we had to keep with our group and just visit our assigned stations.  This was ok because we really enjoyed the stations we visited, and our guide let us explore some of the other stations during the breaks.  There was a lot to see and learn about.

 

The first station we visited was about daily life for pioneer families.  The children learned about the long process of churning butter and got to hoist a real butter churn to see how heavy they really were.  No lightweight plastic for these people.

 

 

The kids also learned about kneading bread and doing laundry in old times.  Then before we moved to the next station, the kids were reminded how there were no bathrooms or indoor plumbing in those days.  Chamber pots were described and the children were divided into two teams to have a relay race to pretend to dispose of their family's chamber pot.  I was told the pots were realistically filled with Snickers bars and yellow colored water.  Needless to say, the children ran very fast.

 

 

 

At the next station we listened to singers and drummers from a nearby Indian tribe.  They also showed us some traditional dances.

 

 

Then everyone participated in a "friendship dance".

 

 

Next, we learned about birds of prey native to the area.

 

 

Last was a station that showed what the Lewis and Clark expedition campsites may have looked like.

 

 

 

This man shot his rifle for our group. 

 

 

It was fascinating to hear about the tools they used and all the steps they had to take to set up camp.  We think our lives contain a lot common tasks to get through the day, but this is nothing compared to what they had to do from scratch each. day.

 

 

There were a few additional stations we visited on our own, but I didn't get pictures of those.  After all was said and done, I let the kids play by the river before we went back home.  It was a good day, and M did admirably in her stroller as well.

 

Over the next days, the kids wanted to play in our canoe.  I think they pretended they were going on a long expedition of their own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely Mother's Day

This year we packed a picnic and had lunch at the park.  It was a beautiful day, and we didn't even much miss the fruit I'd washed but left sitting on the counter at home.  After the kids had a chance to play on the play equipment, we wandered over to the Master Gardeners' Demonstration Garden.  So many pretty spots.  There was a huge variety of plants and it was fun to see what was in bloom.  

 Taking a break in the shade.

These iris smelled delicious. 

This Jupiter's Beard and Sage growing together made me wonder if this is what Christmas in the spring would look like. 

Pixie among the flowers. 

The kids were fascinated by a turtle slowly swimming underwater and watched him for a long time.

Just a lovely Mother's Day.  I am so grateful for my K and T.  Didn't B do a nice job with the composition of this picture?

Scary Airplanes

Someone gave us passes to the local air show/boat races not long ago, so we attended one of the days.  We were able to find a place to sit in the shade to watch the air show.  I was glad of that.  I'd never been to an airshow before--being stuck in the unrelenting sun to watch shiny metal always seemed unappealing to me.  It was fun to watch the planes do their stunts and really exciting when the helicopters flew so close to us.

The kids waved to the pilots, who waved back.  (Since then, T still waves to every airplane that flies by.)  The action of the airshow slowed down, the kids were getting restless and hungry, time to get some lunch.  While the kids and I ate (B was still getting his food), I half listened to the garbled announcement over the loudspeakers saying something about time to get your ear protection on.  I thought that meant the boat races were about to start and since we had no ear protection, there was little I could do.

Suddenly, an F15 Air Force fighter jet blasted right over us.  It came so fast.  All you had time to do was take in the powerful sight, and it was gone.  Then the sound hit.  A deafening, roaring scream that made your ribs vibrate.  Poor T, the jet came from behind him and the sound knocked him over.  Literally, I looked down at him and he was lying face down, crying, hot dog and bun strewn across the blanket.  He was terrified and cried and cried.  He spent the rest of the time curled in my lap, trying to burrow away from the sound.  Afterward, all he could talk about was the scary black airplane that "scratched the sky and hurt my back".

I tried to take a couple pictures while holding him and covering his ears, but the plane flew so fast, it was difficult not to get picture like this:

I managed to one-handedly get a couple pictures of the jet, but as it moved so fast I couldn't zoom in, and it ended up looking rather small and blurry.  And the times it flew really close, there was no way for my slow shutter release camera to catch it.

But I think the following is my favorite picture.  I took a picture but realized I hadn't even come close to getting the plane in the shot.  So I started to put the camera down and this is how the picture came out:

I like how you can tell that an F 15 is a riveting sight.  During all the other airplane acts, people kept milling around even as the planes flew close by.  I also didn't realize how many people had their hands over their ears.

After the air show as over and T had recovered a bit (K didn't seem bothered much.  Sitting in Daddy's lap kept her feeling safe.), I took the kids to the bounce houses that had been set up in the children's section.  There the kids had a good time jumping non-stop for a good half hour.  When we went back to B, we found him happy as a clam, watching the boat races.

T still talks about the scary airplane.  But I think he's getting over it and he has spent a lot of time with a jet alphabet book we have.  It has an F14 and an F16 in it; since they are so similar to the F15, he can talk about the plane that scratched the sky--on questioning him, I think he's referring to the sound-- and go on to look at lots of other planes.  It may even be that he'll develop an ongoing fascination with planes, the way he loves vacuum cleaners now, though he used to be terrified of them as a baby.

We Visit the Lavender Farm

On a Sunday in early July we packed up lunches and drove out to the lavender fields after church.  First we had a picnic under one of K's "favorite kind of trees--the ones with branches that hang down".  She doesn't seem to differentiate between weeping willow and birch, but gets excited about both.  You can just barely see one of the lavender fields behind the kids.

Photo op:

Swimming in a sea of lavender:

Scenic shots:

Then me and the kids,

and the kids with Daddy and the silly lavender scarecrows.

After lots of exploring we were ready to go home.  While K and I sat down and waited for T and Daddy to use the restroom, one of the farm owners who was sitting nearby, got up and brought out two kittens for K to hold.

Then, when T joined us, he was thrilled to hold one, too.  They were such mellow cats and didn't mind being handled.

It was a memorable end to a lovely day.



A Nature Walk

The last week of lessons was devoted to review and other activities.  I had planned on doing a summer nature study that last week, but when we got to the trail, we found it was going to be much more of a late spring study.  We had such a long cool spring with lots of rain; it seems summer has only just recently arrived.  Anyway, there were lots of wild roses in bloom. 

I tried to get a picture of the kids in front of some of them, but the mosquitoes were dive bombing poor T.

They loved exploring the lush undergrowth.

I couldn't believe how tall the Queen Anne's Lace was.  The plants were like trees.

There was a variety plant growth along the trail.  The sagebrush in that section was huge--taller than me.

The kids had a great time.  You can see in the above picture that they were walking in the grass in the middle of the trail.  They both insisted on that even though it was harder and slowed them down.  Poor T sneezed and sneezed and sneezed when we got home.  We tramped for half an hour and they were happily worn out and calm when we finished. 

A trip to the pumpkin patch

Our trip to the pumpkin patch was a lot of fun.

We had a picnic lunch in the warm sun on a cool day and saw some of the sights. Then we looked for pumpkins to take home. K couldn't decide on the perfect pumpkin and searched the whole patch before picking the biggest one she could carry..

while T was content with the tiny one he found right away.

Give a cheesy smile for the camera! This pumpkin patch we visited was on a family farm out in the country. Huge fields of grapevines surrounded the pumpkin patch and activity area.



We enjoyed wandering around to see the animals, displays and games. We tasted apples and fresh cider. But K and T's favorite part was swinging on the tire swing hung from an enormous tree.

Simple pleasures are best on a fall day.