Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Monday, November 17, 2014

A Hiking We Will Go

Before the foot of snow we've been blanketed with, my sister and I took our kids and niece hiking near a local water reservoir. It may be a new favorite location with easy to walk trails, beautiful scenery, and a beach perfect for skipping rocks.

Some say we look alike, but I just can't see the resemblance. ;)
The two littles would not keep their hands to themselves, as you can see. 


 "Ok. Stand on the log and when we count to three, jump off!"
 "1, 2"
 "3!"
 "Eh, close enough."







Friday, November 14, 2014

Family Weekend Getaway - Photo Heavy

I had thought to make this two posts but why drag it out. One post, many photos. Enjoy. Or don't.

There's a family tradition that has been going on for years but because we lived on the other side of the country, we were never able to participate. There's a handful of our family (and when I say handful, I mean 30-40 of our giant family) that heads out every fall to a secluded cabin in the middle of PA. It's quite a trek up a mountain, over a river, through the woods, to grandmother's house we go you get the point... it's out there.

The drive up was fairly uneventful. Thank God for my good little travelers.

He's clearly thrilled to be stuck in the car for 7 hours. Clearly.






Upon arrival, it was slightly reminiscent of the movies where everyone scatters in a million directions. Somehow all families managed to arrive within the same one hour time so chaos was abundant. The cabin, oh the cabin! Two stories, giant dining table, three living areas, three bathrooms, and fourteen bedrooms! Add in no cell service and NO internet and we had nothing but four days of family fun!



Indoor shuffleboard!


Alena was in heaven having other GIRLS to play with.


 There were many late nights (let's face it, every night was late) spent talking and playing games. And we managed to do two large puzzles.


Even managed a couple naps.











It was much more relaxing than I thought it would be and I enjoyed it immensely. Looking around at our group laughing and playing, I thought, "THIS is what it is about and why we moved home." We were sad to leave and be there without Gabe, but are already looking forward to next year.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Wordless Wednesday - Fall's Beauty

With snow in the forecast tomorrow, let's have another look at what we'll be missing. This is the sight coming to my sister's house and her yard. Beautiful but gosh, that's a LOT of leaves to rake.






Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Wordless Wednesday - Christmas on Her Mind

I caught Alena writing this by the glow of her night light. She says it's a poem and I say aside from it being one giant run on sentence, she did a darn good job.


Someone is excited for Christmas to come.

Pumpkin Patch

Halloween may be over but I'm not letting go of Fall just yet. We went to a local pumpkin patch a few weeks ago to pick out a few and have some fun. The kids enjoyed the huge sand pile to play in, the petting zoo, pig races, and hayride.









Christian got to help out with the pig races by cheering for a specific pig with his bandana color. His pig got second place (they are fast!) so Christian got a ribbon.



There were some absolutely beautiful views on the hayride through the fields. From these next few pictures, you could see 20 miles!





Hope you all are enjoying the last remaining days of Fall!