And Autumn Came and Went and it Was Lovely...

We had so much fun. We walked almost every day and we went often to the community garden down the street. The kids loved picking plums and eating plums. We have been plugging away at school and it has been good so far. Teaching my boy how to knit has been easier than I expected and we have been loving playing the flute.

We were super buys but trying to be free. We have been working on making new friends and keeping the old. It reminds me of a verse we know and sing sometimes during morning circle, Make new friends and keep the old, for one is like silver the other gold.

We were so lucky to have Grandma and Papa come for Halloween and we had a great time. The weather held out and we found a neat section of town to go Trick-or Treating. The kids still kind of want to say "Chuck or Treat" and I let them as its still cute. We got invited to go to this big indoor Halloween festival instead of going out door to door. We went and walked inside. All I saw was a bunch of lines and felt this huge sense of dread. Oh NO I said and we turned around and went out into the night to find a neighborhood that was kid friendly. It makes me so sad that everyone is so scared to go out door to door anymore. We should not let fear rule our lives and for heavens sake, if you think your kids are going to get dangerous things in their bags from mean strangers be a PARENT and check their candy out before you let them have it. Oh, or you could try going out with them also, you know be present.

Anyway enough of a rant. In the fall we also celebrate a few other festivals that are so much fun. We celebrate Martinmas and its only a week and a half past Halloween. We decorate lanterns, try to do service, go out into the dark night for a lantern walk, and eat star shaped sugar cookies. We have done this for years as a family but this year we were lucky enough to get to meet up with friends to go on our lantern walk with. It was so much fun and I am so happy for our new budding community of like minded home school families.

Lastly we decided to have a Hobbit Thanksgiving. We didn't dress up or anything but wanted our table to look as wonderfully warm and yummy as Bilbo Baggins' table in the Hobbit when the dwarves come and eat all his food. It was so much fun to put together and made me realize that I really need to get a bigger table! Happy Fall!

Cabin Camping

We went camping in a cabin that we rented for a night. It almost didn't happen as I was sick and Hubby didn't want to go with me being sick. I decided I would rather have a good time and not feel well then feel like I missed out because I didn't feel well so I took a bunch of painkiller and packed the cooler an we took off.

It was a nice drive and it felt so good to get out and explore the country. It took about an hour from our house to get there. The directions online were not very clear and we were nervous that it would be hard to find or we would miss it as we were driving down the road. But then there it was and it was easy to see and super nice inside.

The kids loved it. We played by the river and explored the woods. The kids found a baby rattlesnake and we ate a ton of good food. We played board games all night and enjoyed hot water and a flushing toilet and a nice heater. I kept thinking while we were playing games that it was nice and shouldn't be just an activity we do when we are not at home.

No one slept well though as it was pitch black in there and the wind howled and the rain fell on the roof. Out in the woods like that the refrigerator and the clock on the wall were so loud all night long. Our youngest woke up in the night about 5 times and once it was because her big sister had disappeared and she couldn't find her in the bed they were sharing and it was so dark in their room. Turns out big sister had just fell out of the bed and was sleeping on the hardwood floor.

The weather was just perfect, cool and crisp but warm enough to want to take off a sweater when hiking. The forest was wet and dense with ferns and fungus and smelled of cedar. We loved this adventure and have plans to find the other cabins for rent in the area and check them out next summer.

The County Fair

For the first time ever we went to the county fair. It was a few weeks ago in the dry hot heat of August. Sure it is a new county for us, but it was still quite a big fair. We saw kangaroos and a circus show. We tried to see a European puppet show but the lady who did it put her last show on a half hour early and we missed it. I was a little bummed about that. I spent so much money on food and got only about 3 bites. We had hot dogs, and pulled pork, and elephant ears, and lemonades, and ice cream, and giant corn dogs. Yeah, that's right all that food and I got about 3 bites. These kids are vultures when it comes to fair food. We touched a lot of animals and walked around in the heat a lot. When we were in the cow and pig barn my youngest complained the whole time while lifting her shirt to cover her nose and mouth because it was a little smelly. She really "showed her belly out" as my middle child would say. The kids had a lot more stamina than I expected and we were all glad we went. At the end of the day while we were waiting for the puppet show we went and got on the train that goes around the whole fair. Well it turns out that the train was headed over to be in the daily parade. So instead of watching the parade we were in it! The kids thought it was great and the girls waved like princesses. They also got the best view and the most high fives from the stilt walkers out of anyone else there that day.