First Ever Pumpkin Harvest

This spring I bought a packet of seeds from Floret Flowers and gave them to Grandad to plant since he has plenty of room. I promptly forgot about them until last week when he told me that I had a lot of pumpkins growing. Then this week Grandad and Mom told me it was time to pick them. 

Yesterday the children and I headed down to pick pumpkins. I had no idea how fun it would be to discover pumpkins hidden among vines.

 I had enthusiastic helpers!

 Josiah and I found this one. The biggest one in the field.

 Mom had to keep going back to the shop to find more wheelbarrows!

 And then we realized how heavy the wheelbarrows were!

 This was not my wheelbarrow (lol) but one did tip over. It was really hard to balance the weight.

 Grandad declared he had a lot more experience balancing wheelbarrows than me and so he pushed that wheelbarrow out of the field. He is mighty! He did admit that his heart was pumping pretty hard at the end.

 I love all the colors. I'm sure some could have kept on growing, but this time we decided to just pick them all. It hasn't rained in a few days so all the pumpkins were dry and not rotting. 48 pumpkins!

 We wiped off the bugs and loose dirt and I brought them home. Now they are on the porch waiting to be given away.

One More Summer Adventure

Every once in a while I get to go to my Aunt and Uncle's house and experience what my children do with their aunts and uncles. I feel really lucky to have an aunt and uncle who open their home and hearts to me, Jeremy and our children.

It was a hot, beautiful weekend for swimming in the stream...

...and jumping off rocks. Isaiah probably had the most fun jumping off the rock over and over. He also figured out how to swim this weekend.

And tubing. The root system of the tree that Aliza is floating past below was removed from the stream by Dan and Jeremy because it was disrupting the tubing course. It involved hand saws, a pulley system, chain, a 4 wheeler and quite a bit of determination.

Our reason for visiting this weekend was to attend Little League World Series. What a fun international experience! Below is the field for the American teams' tournament.

We sat at the top of a very steep hill and, as you can barely see in the picture, families bring pieces of cardboard and then children slide down the hill--over and over.

It was really hot that day. Isaiah used the cardboard for shade when we made him take a break from sliding and walking back up the hill.

Later, we started watching an international game between Canada and Italy. At the end of the first inning a storm rolled in and the game was delayed for weather. We went home and watched the rest of the game on TV.

Both ways our travel time was extended by traffic and accidents. Thankfully the children are pretty great travelers and Jeremy and I are pretty good at tuning out crazy amounts of noise and silliness. On the way home we got to meet my cousin and her family for supper. Eventually the children fell asleep and we drove home the rest of the way in peace. =)

Ohio Trip--3

This is currently my favorite picture of Janell and I. Our first stop in Sauder Village was the coffee shop. The children were super excited and Janell and I were feeling the effects of a bigger-than-planned-on-day yesterday. 

 Sauder Village is almost a magical place for us. It's peaceful and slow paced and almost feels like we are in a difference place altogether.

 We started in the Indian settlement and immediately learned that there is a significant difference between a wigwam and a teepee. This is a wigwam. I'm sure you are dying of curiosity now so I'll tell you the difference! A wigwam was used by the Woodland Indians. It was a smaller temporary shelter. It takes more tree trunks to make a wigwam than a teepee. A wigwam would be abandoned when the Indians moved on since the long poles could not be drug through the forest. A teepee was used by the Plains Indians. Fewer, thicker poles were cut down in the foothills before entering the Plains. Teepees were dismantled when the Indians moved and were lashed together and used to carry their supplies.

 At the covered wagon camp Josiah carried the water buckets.

 This must be the cutest teacher ever in an early pioneer schoolhouse.

 Every year we get a picture of Anna in front of "Anna's Spinning Shop"

 The afternoon requires ice cream or popcorn from the ice cream shop!

 I highly recommend the Buckeye ice cream.

 One of the highlights was watching the potter form canisters. We watched him knead the clay (there were 6 lumps under that towel), put a formless lump on the wheel and in a matter of minutes he had the shape of the canister.

 We took Subway to Grandma's house for supper and our evening activity was driving the Barn Quilt Trail.

 I had the children in my car--minus the oldest and the youngest! Renee had the map and read the descriptions of each quilt and Josiah was the photographer. There were 10 stops and it took about an hour. My car had fun until number 7 and skipped number 10!

 We had the windows rolled down to enjoy the fresh air and country smells!

 Before we headed toward home the next morning, we spend some more time with Grandma. There was Dutch Blitz happening and Janell and I told Grandma about our flower gardens and showed her pictures.

 And, of course, the good bye pictures!

I failed in the hotel planning for that night. I had the right hotel in my mind (we've stayed there before), but the wrong town. That added 30 minutes to our drive that night when we were more than ready to be done driving! And then the hotel person refused to give us adjoining rooms so we didn't get to have the big slumber party we were hoping for. AND when we finally got the children to the pool there was thunder and lightening. So we swam in the morning before we left. I dare say we were all happy to see our house and Daddy (Jeremy) and sleep in our own beds!

Ohio Trip--2

The original plan for this day didn't work out so Janell and I had to come up with a plan on the fly. We probably should have chosen one of these activities and rested for the rest of the day, but we did them both and were exhausted at the end of the day!

Who would have guessed that Spangler candy factory that makes Dum Dum lollipops and candy canes is in middle of nowhere Ohio.

 There was a trolley tour of the packaging and shipping departments that we went on. (I'm leaving out a very dramatic and emotional story of Anna and Isaiah thinking the world had ended over having to wear hair nets on the trolley.) It was interesting to see how Dum-Dums are made. We also learned that this factory is the only one in the US that makes candy canes. They have their own brand and also make candy candies for Jelly Belly and Smarties.

 Janell and I noticed a lot of pallets of Oreo candy canes so decided to start our holiday candy collection.

 

 I'm pretty sure the gift shop was the highlight of this adventure for the children. They all had plenty of Dum-Dums to take home. I also added the holiday edition of Dum-Dums to my collection.

 It was a beautiful day and we took full advantage of it at Lake Harrison State Park. We ended up driving around a good portion of the lake trying to find a spot to swim. Janell and I weren't doing too good on navigation skills at this point!

 The children swam. Janell and I laid on the grass and read. Well, I think Janell read a little bit. I tried, but Isaiah still requires my eyes.

 Finally, we had pizza at the park with Grandma and Mom. This park is one that the children looked forward to playing at again.

Grandma made chocolate chip cookies. These cookies are a big deal because she says she isn't baking cookies any more. So when they appear they taste extra delicious!

Ohio Trip--1

Last year on our trip to Ohio, Janell and I picked up brochures about an island in Lake Erie called Put-In-Bay. It wasn't that far off the turnpike and so we decided that it would be our travel day adventure this year. It turned out to be quite the adventure! 

A 20 minute ferry ride took us from Port Clinton to Put-In-Bay.

 Janell and I made a game plan on the ferry. I thought I was pretty calm considering we did not have a solid plan, just some ideas. My children, on the other hand, thought I needed to chill (as they told me).

 The decision point was that we needed some mode of transportation. We decided to rent golf carts. It really was a great decision.

 We rode to the downtown boardwalk area on the north end of the island where we ate lunch. Put-In-Bay has very expensive food! I only bought 3 chicken meals for us to share and slushie drinks for the children and it was our most expensive meal the whole trip. But this day was all about the experience.

 After lunch we rode our golf carts to the south end of the island where there was a state park with a swimming area.

 It was a beautiful day!

 Not much can beat a pebble beach for me.

The children had so much fun swimming. Isaiah had his goggles on looking for the biggest stones. He picked them up and made a pile.

On the ferry ride back to Port Clinton we had the front seats on the upper deck of the boat. Mom and I had our feet up on the rail and soaked up the sun and relaxed for a few minutes.

Then it was back on the road for our last 90 miles to Grandma's house. We were all so happy to see Grandma! That evening we had dinner with my aunts and uncles and a cousin. I enjoyed seeing everyone. I ended up on the "men end" of the table after the meal and listened to my uncles talk farming. I took note of the moment and then soon moved to the "ladies end." This is an instance where the difference in Janell and my personality makes us a good team. She was happy to take the children to the park to play when they could not sit still a minute longer. I was happy to stay and keep talking without the children acting like hoodlums in the background. It was only 3 children acting like hoodlums. Aliza stayed with me. =)