Fall Break

The kids had a fall break this past week. It was really a great few days. We stayed busy and enjoyed our time together. Leading up to the days off I had the kids clean up their rooms and help clean up around the house so that when the break came we could all enjoy it. By the first day we were ready for our adventure.

We met a bunch of friends for a hike our first day out. The kids were all such troopers. The weather was beautiful and the perfect day to be hiking outside.

Once we made it to the top of the mountain the kids took a break. They all played so well together. On the way down the mountain, I think my two were the only ones to take a spill running down. They both came home with scratched up knees but it didn’t slow them down any.

During the climb up the mountain, I told Reese and Sam that if they would not complain about being tired, etc that I would let them take a bubble bath in my tub. They think that is the best reward ever and it worked. No complaints at all.

The next day we decided to go have lunch with Lance. Reese also wrote her first letter to our Compassion child. I am the one who usually writes to her (and I wrote my own note this time too) but Reese wrote her very own letter. It was so sweet to see her get to do that. The child that we sponsor is only a week older than Reese. We chose her for this reason and hope that one day she and Reese can correspond with out the help of me.

Over the weekend we went to a local family owned farm that just started having fall activities. They have barrel slides, zip lines, a 23 minute hay ride and all kinds of fun kid activities.

They will also have a corn maze next year but due to all the rain this summer it flooded their crop. While on the hay ride the guide told us that at one point during the summer there was eight feet of water where their crop was planted and that they hadn’t had that kind of rain in 99 years. I think it was a fun little place to go and know that as the years go by they will continue to grow. It was great because it wasn’t too crowded while we were there because it is so new. The only problem we had was how hot it was…definitely not fall weather.

After leaving the farm we decided to head to Harry’s Farmers Market. All summer Lance has been trying to boil peanuts but every time we go to Harry’s they don’t have any green peanuts! We tried again to find some and a lady working there said that the batch that came in was so bad they couldn’t sell them. Apparently all the rain is hurting the peanut crops too. We did buy some pumpkins there for a great price!! The kids want to carve them now but we said we would wait for a little while so they didn’t go bad!

On the next day of fall break Reese had planned a craft day at home for us. So first thing in the morning we headed to Target to buy craft items. And they spent almost all day doing crafts!

The next day we had plans to go to the zoo. We had been planning this zoo day for a week and we were all so excited to go. We woke up that morning and Sam was being so whiny. I kept pushing us along though and getting everyone ready. At one point I stopped him and asked why he was so whiny and he said he didn’t know. Finally we were about to walk out of the door, I sent the kids upstairs to get socks on, and Reese comes back saying Sam is crying that his tummy hurts and he is going potty. He went potty and then was acting like a new kids. Not whining or anything. So we got in the car to head to the zoo. About three miles down the road he starts crying and bending over saying his stomach hurt so bad. It started making me nervous and I told the kids we couldn’t go to the zoo. I saw the disappointment in Reese’s eyes in the rearview mirror and I quickly called a friend we were supposed to meet. I knew she wasn’t too far away and I asked her if Reese could go with them to the zoo. She said absolutely and we made plans to meet her in the parking lot of a nearby restaurant. When I parked I opened Sam’s door to go talk to him and check him out because he was still crying so hard. Luckily he had unbuckled because the second I got to him I saw that look on his face. I yanked him out of the car and he threw up. I got Reese set up with my sweet friend and off they went. They had a wonderful day at the zoo with all of our friends (I think there were six mommies and twice as many kids). I feel so blessed to have friends who took care of Reese that day and let her tag along with them. I pray Reese is as blessed with sweet girlfriends all her life! Another friend brought Reese back home and Reese was on cloud nine. She was so pleasant that afternoon and I think her love tank was overflowing. About 11:00 Sam was totally fine and asking if we could go to the zoo. I promised him we would go another day. I don’t know what was making him feel that way but we were both bummed to miss the zoo.

When it was finally time to go back to school, we all had a hard time getting up that morning. Now I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break when we have a whole week together! I think a make-up zoo day will be in the plans.