Walsh Farms Playgroup

On Friday, October 18th, Morgan and Pepper did not have school so we joined with friends from the MOMsclub at Walsh Farms for pumpkin picking and a hay ride. I tried to set this up as a church playgroup as well but lately I have not had a great response with people attending playgroup and no one from our ward came. Oh well, we still had lots of friends to play with and fun was had by all. My friend, Anna, who moved out of the ward last year, came with her 3 kids, so that was a lot of fun. It was a really nice morning after days of yucky weather. We really lucked out.

Morgan with Mary Manahan (Emily O'Brien's daughter)

The hay bale maze had seen better days after lots of rain but the kids didn't seem to mind climbing all over it.

Pepper with Tori Yates-Gable (Daughter of Kacey Yates-Gable) checking out the scenery.

Pepper and Hazel with their friend Natalie Pavkov checking out the baby animals.

Trying to feed the pony.

Visiting the donkeys.

All the little kids took so long to get through the gate that the donkeys decided to try and get out. It took some persuading to get them to move back so we could get out.

Playing in the big corn box.

Time for the hay ride. While we were all getting settled the farm dog came to visit us. He really, really liked Hazel and knocked her over giving her kisses. Hazel didn't mind at all, luckily this was not Pepper!

Yep, my kids are so cooperative with picture taking! Oh well, at least their still cute lazy eyed and all!

Exie decided to take a rest on her sister, Mary.

It was so good to see Anna Pavkov! Miss her and all my other friends that keep moving away. At least she didn't move too far!

This year they added a bouncy castle to the barn. My kids were pretty stoked about that.

Time to pick a pumpkin. 

Almost the same shot we took last year!

Perfectly small and round...and cheap. Love it!

Tractor posing time. Let's hope we don't make a career out of this!

We love Ohio in the fall and we love visiting this farm. I'm glad the older kids had the day off because it is always more fun to do things together!

Boys Campout with Griesmyers

Cody started working on this many, many weeks ago. He never finished but I'm posting it anyway and maybe he'll finish later. In October, he and Gary Griesmyer took the boys camping. They had a great time but Cody realized we need better camping gear. Hopefully, next summer they will have many more chances to do this again.

Cody guest narrating here. Last weekend, Morgan and I went out to the John Johnson farm to do some mowing/maintenance at the camp. I was able to con Gary Griesmyer and his boys into a last minute camp out with the idea that they'd help with the mowing in the AM. We left after work on Friday and made a mad dash for the camp. We rolled in, patrolled the area, scouted a camp site and then started setting up the tents feverishly. The boys ran in the woods. One of the first encounters we had with nature was Morgan's "woolly bear." Several months ago Morgan visited camp with me and found one of these catepillars and he was pretty sure this was the same one just coming back to say "hi." 

After we got the tents up the next item on the checklist was... glow sticks. Its easier to keep track of 5 boys if they are running around with a glowing tracking device (or light sabers). Gary and I took turns being General Grevious (i.e. the bad guy) from Star Wars.

Then Gary created fire. Note the glowing tracking device in the background. I think blue was Gabriel. The boys started making S'mores and then Gary and I finished making and eating the S'mores. After running several miles through the woods the boys were tired. We retired to our tents and after a long chapter in the Book of Mormon the boys were out cold. By the way, nylon sleeping bags and a slippery floor of a new tent combined with a very slight incline means that boys will slide about 2 feet an hour. Couple of times during the night I had to pull Morgan back up onto his pillow.