Pumpkin Patch

We visited a pumpkin patch with some friends yesterday. We took a nice long tractor ride, got lost in a corn maze (yes, it took a while to get out), played in a corn box, had cider and donuts, picked pumpkins, and just in general had a good time. I managed to not get a picture of all the kids together because they were too busy hanging out with their friends.

Please forgive the entirely unimaginative photo bomb and just enjoy the pictures.

Fire Safety at Home Depot

October is fire safety month so it's fairly easy to find free stuff at the fire stations.  This is also the month when the Home Depot kids' workshop turns into a fire safety workshop. This month there was a fire truck for the kids to explore, several police cars for the kids to climb in (Liam pointed out that the criminals ride in the back behind the screen and found the weapons hanging up behind the front seat), free LEGO kits, hats, pencils, stickers, snacks, a raffle, and a fire plane to build.

The sirens on the police car kept going off in the store, the sirens on the fire truck kept going off outside the store.  It was kiddie heaven. While holding a nail for Gabe at one point he tells me as serious as can be "I'll try not to hurt you, Mom."  Good thinking, kid.  Of course, I forgot my camera but thank you to the Gates police and fire departments for coming out and letting the kids play. They had a blast.

Stokoe Farms 2013

                                                                                                                     Last weekend was the military appreciation weekend at Stokoe Farms so we got free admission for the entire family.  Translation: the only way we could afford to attend.  Combine that with the discounts Bryan gets for working there this year and we had a fun time.  Bryan was able to provide free admission for his Grandparents and a significant discount on lunch for everyone.

Lions and Tigers and Bears

Ok, not really because we went to our local zoo so they don't really have so many animals.  Lion, yes. Tigers, no. And the bears were no where to be seen today.  But when Alan got to work yesterday he discovered that he actually had that day and the next day off. He just sort of forgot. So he stayed at work on Thursday and then took today off.  Alan had all sorts of plans for the day that mostly involved farm related work but I suggested that we take the kids to the zoo instead.  So we loaded them up, got most of the way there, and blew a tire.  On the van. After about an hour and having a child stand on the  tire iron to see if the bolts would loosen (nope, but Alan did get hit in the leg) and some help from a few local folks, we finally got the tire changed.  About 5 minutes after I'd called the roadside assistance folks to come do it.  Now if I'd been alone, that would have been the first call I made because even though I know how to change a tire and can do so, changing the tires on the van involve a bit more work than normal and that's kind of what we pay for the roadside assistance for in the first place. So now instead of just needing 2 new tires on the van, we likely will end up having to replace all 4 because, of course, it wasn't one of the older ones that got hit with a nail.

So we finally made it to the zoo and everyone had a great time. There are lots of baby animals who have just been born. Very cute little things.

This was our first zoo trip without a stroller. Very odd for me.  Ellie absolutely enjoyed herself and the older kids were wonderful with her. I think the only complaint the kids had was that I refused to buy food at the zoo. Because I'm just so mean.

  I love that our local zoo is small enough to get through in 2 hours and yet keeps growing enough to have new things to enjoy. Of course, I would be rather annoyed if we actually paid a daily admission rate when we wee visiting the area because it is rather small (comparing it the zoo in Tampa). But I guess the benefit of the membership is you can go for a few hours and then come back another day and not worry. And for a family of 11 the membership is cheaper than one days admission anyway.

A Farm Tour

I don't think my kids were too terribly excited because they've been spending so much time there already, but our Frontier Girls troop took a field trip to our local family friendly family run farm type place.

It had been threatening to rain on and off all day so I wasn't sure if the trip was going to happen or not but in the end the rain held off on our end of town until right at the end of the meeting. So we got to see the hoop house and the fields and plant some veggies.

Everyone got a view of what small scale family run farming looks like and I think several of the moms left a wee bit inspired.  I know my trips out there last year usually left me feeling like we were just totally lazy and not doing enough with our own little plot of land because truthfully 5 acres really is enough for us to be fairly self sufficient if we planned and used the land properly.  I keep saying that next year we will do more and each next year rolls around and we aren't quite doing more. Yes, we suck.  Heck, we can't even figure out what is carrying off our chickens. WE started with 27 and seem to be down to 19. No bodies have been found but we think when the kids keep locking each other in the barn and the locked in kid crawls out through the chicken wire and "forgets" to fix it, something else gets in and steals a chicken or two.  Yes, it's annoying since we truly do need 24 birds if we want enough birds to sell the extra eggs to cover the cost of the feed. But the kids don't seem to understand that concept. Or understand that you don't climb fruit trees if you actually want fruit out of them. Or trample the asparagus patch or tromp in the garden killing the newly planted veggies. Or mess with the sheep pen so that the sheep can escape. Yup, it's been fun.

Maple Syrup Festival

The past two weekends have found Bryan volunteering at GCVM for the Maple Syrup Festival.  Yesterday we took the rest of the crew out to see it as well. It's one of those events that you can either spend tons of time taking in or be in and out very quickly.  One of those things I like to try to do with the kids every year when possible or at least with a few of the kids every year.  That way I get to see how the kids are remembering and learning. The questions they were asking this year pretty clearly showed they were ready to hear more than just the basic information.  And knowing that we can always come back again next year means I don't feel guilty leaving when the younger kids are clearly worn out.

Bryan's costume

Drilling a hole for the tap.

He had to taste the sap coming out of the tree.

Working in the sugar shack.

We also learned about traditional ways of using chocolate.

And watched a lady making candles.

Building at Home Depot

The first Saturday of the month often finds me heading to Home Depot with somewhere between 2 and 6 kids to build a project.  For free.  For fun. To pass some time and to give Liam in particular a chance to work with real tools.

This month was the annual race car project and they even had a racetrack set up for the kids to race their cars on when they were done building.

I'm also glad that they had several extra kits from previous months for the kids who were into more girly projects and not really race car fans.  Katie decided to make a picture frame and Abby made a heart shaped basket.  The three boys, of course, all made race cars. Then they came home and built their own racetrack out of cardboard boxes and have been playing with it all week. A definite winner this month.