Two weeks

Last week: the weather was pretty, the leaves really started turning, Jon got older so we baked him his favorite (pumpkin cheesecake) and there was a party thrown by his boss, then Calvin and I headed up north for a few days to take in the colors.

This week: up north we experienced a veritable monsoon, we discovered that Calvin outgrew all his winter pants sometime over the last three weeks, we bird watched; back home we ran an experiment in measuring friction, we beat the Yankees, my brother surprised us by coming home for the weekend, and we beat Michigan State.

That's the short of it, and really the long as well.

Apple Daze, small town fall fun

The fall color is here, and with it arrived the crisp fall temperatures and our annual Apple Daze festival in town. Sadly there were no local apples to be had this year, but that didn't stop the festival from happening. Also somewhat sadly, the festival always falls on the same day as the book sale at the library. I made it to into town for brats, cider, and donuts with the boys at lunch time, and we walked through the old cars, but the rest of the day I spent inside hawking tomes to fellow bibliophiles.

Jon and Calvin, though, got the full Apple Daze experience. They took the hay ride to the cider mill and had their goodies by the river, they played the carnival style games and won tokens and prizes, they played putt putt, Calvin bounced in the bounce house, and, because we happen to know the right someone, he even got to sit in a pretty sweet old Rolls-Royce.

Field trip

Homeschool group fried trip! The space we rent as a group was not available this week, so one of our moms organized a field trip to Wiard's Orchard, a local apple orchard and pumpkin patch, family owned for the past 125 years. I remember visiting when I was in high school, and many times in college. Sadly, as with so many other locations in Michigan, their entire apple crop was destroyed by the early March heat and subsequent frost. Their solution was to bring apples in from their family orchards on the west side of the state, which mean that we still got to take home Michigan apples, we just didn't get to pick them.

While there we also went on the hay ride, played mini golf, tried out a variety of play structures, and consumed the obligatory cider and doughnuts. Fall splendor.

A last taste of summer

Football Saturday

This year may feel more blue than maize, but oh well. We're still having fun.