It's Apple Picking Time!

 Fall time in New England equals Apple Picking!  This year we decided to change up where we went.  A quick internet search found a mommy blog with the 'Top 10 Apple Picking Farms' near Boston.  We took Izzy's BFF, Bonnie, with us to Connors Farm.  Cider donuts were on the list.  Boy were we in for a surprise!

One of the first things you encounter is the mechanical bull.  John was a good sport for the munchkins.  He wasn't the only adult who tried though.

To view this video, please go to the main blog - 3goofballs.blogspot.com

 A cow train... who knew.  We only found out after the fact that there were spooky sightings in the corn field - smoking house, skull, skeletons.

 This was one of my favorite.  John made the bell ring on his second attempt.  He made it look quite easy.  All the kids tried on the smaller one.  Izzy made it to Farm Hand, Victoria to Lil' Fella and Micah to Granny.

 What could be more fun than a giant pit of corn to play in!  The kids had races, made 'corn angles' and at one point tried to bury John.  Though SUPER fun, it came at a price.  We were digging out loose pieces of corn from our shoes the rest of the day and covered in dust.

Hayrack ride.  See the corn dust all over?

 These pedal go carts were equally as fun; racing through a path in the corn field.

 This was the main draw for Connors Farm... the corn maze.  Each year they create a new maze.  This year it was in honor of The Peanuts.  No maps but armed with clues, we set off.  Clues could be answered at various numbered markers.  In addition there were clues that you could text.  We were doing amazing until we made it to Linus' pumpkin.  We kept making a circle by the bridge in his pumpkin.  When we finally made our way out, we quickly found the end.  All in all it took us 37 minutes to complete.  Not too bad for our group in which we all walked the course (Micah opted for a shoulder ride from John near the end).

 Jumping Pillows - 1) never heard of them and 2) I want one!

 Picking out our pumpkins.  Similar to last year... Victoria picked out a large one and Micah a tiny one.

The title of this blog was Apple Picking.  Did anyone see us actually pick any apples?  By the time we were done with these activities, we had spent 5 hours at Connors Farm.  The kids were so tired we called it a day... a very fulfilling day!

Quebec Weekend

This past weekend for an early birthday celebration, John and I headed to Quebec City.  

For a treat we stayed at Le Château Frontenac, also called a castle hotel.  It is a 600 bedroom hotel built in the 19th century with recent renovations keeping it's charm and up to date with technology.  This is the same hotel Diane and I took our mother for her 60th birthday celebration.

 One cannot pass up a hotel tour while staying here.  Frederick was our guide.  We toured the Rose Room where ladies had tea and the ballroom set for a wedding celebration.

An evening out.  We enjoyed amazing food including crepes, flambé, chocolates, desserts and poutine.  Poutine was recommended by one of my colleagues from Canada.  It is a dish of potatoes and cheese curds topped with a light brown gravy.

Beautiful European street in lower Quebec City - Rue de Petit Champlain

Montmorency Falls - a short 15 minute drive north of Quebec City.  John was a bit nervous about driving in a foreign country.  Good thing we drive on the same side of the road.  We learned many French words for North, South, East, West, Interstate.... that were very helpful in navigating back.

John twisted my arm to zipline across the falls.  Who really believes that???  Getting ready to head out.  Not really nervous at this point. 

To be honest, I was nervous when we were getting hooked up to the line.  But once we started the viewpoint was amazing.  The zipline is 300m (~1000 feet) across and 83m (270 feet) up.  A new adventure I can add to my list.

1st Day of School

 Summer is officially over!.... school has started.  Last week was Izzy's 1st day of 2nd grade.  I can't believe it.  Next year these three will be in the same school.  This week was Micah & Victoria's 1st day of Pre-K.  Hermine created a drizzly day.  But that didn't stop us from the excitement.

It's Fair Time!

Summer time means Fair time.  Though no one in the Bures household is in 4-H anymore, we still get excited for fair entries in Open Class.  Between the 6 grandkids, there was more 'stuff' the haul to the Fair than when it was just Diane and I.

Over the 4th of July, the grandkids worked on string art projects.  Opa reclaimed wood from a local dilapidated barn.  He nailed the requested designs for each grandchild.  Their job was to string the string.

Izzy loves to bake.  We therefore decided to take our hand at entering some yummy lemon cookies.  Cooking was never the place for me in the fair.  My color was off or there was no consistency.  Much to everyone's surprise, Izzy won her category!  She was so excited to see the rosette stating this achievement.

Izzy thought I should bring one of the dressed I made for Easter.  This was not purple winning sewing by any means.  However, it must have impressed the judges as I too won my category.

The midway was equally as fun as seeing what ribbons entry were given.  The munchkins enjoyed one night just with them.  The cousins then came and another night was had by the older ones.

After Izzy rode a roller coaster (small one) at Disney, she was brave and wanted to ride this hang-glider with mommy.  One ride was enough for me.  She went again with Opa.

The funniest thing we saw at the fair was the 'Human Hamster'.  What a simple idea.... large balls filled with air and placed on a bed of water.  I don't know who laughed harder... the kids or Opa and I!

To view the video, please go to the main blog at 3goofballs.blogspot.com

The finale was funny cakes.  The girls shared a traditional powder sugar one.  Avery and I choose 'The Elvis'... peanut butter, chocolate syrup and bananas.

Farm Summer Fun

Every summer we take a trip back to the farm for some relaxing fun.  Of course, Oma & Opa may not think its always relaxing!  But never the less we always have a great time.  This year was no exception.

 Both Izzy and Micah have been saying they wanted to go fishing on the farm.  Opa and I couldn't keep up with them.  By the time I had cast a line for one of them, there was a bite.  That didn't leave time for Opa to bait another line.  That many fish sure made it fun for them.  Izzy was 'queen of the catfish'.  She was the only one to catch them.

 Victoria just cracked me up with the accessories she needed to have to go fishing.  There was even a white purse that some how we convinced her not to bring.  She was content with catching only one fish and observing the rest of the day.

 The mighty oak tree in the front yard is still entertaining generations of swingers.

 Another must do activity is visiting the Children's Zoo in Lincoln.  It is such a lovely zoo for this age.

 The girls road the horses with Micah choosing not to; Izzy on Scout and Victoria on Gus.  That was very surprising as we all expected Victoria to not go.  But she was paired with the perfect pony and went around twice, finishing with a smile on her face.

 Even though Micah did not want to ride the horses, he sure was happy to feed the goats.  While Izzy fed them handfuls of food, he was polite and gave one pellet to a goat at a time.

 We all remembered last year feeding the camels.  Little did we know then that you were to put the ice cream cone with pellets on the PVC pipe and feed the camels.  We were putting the pellets done the PVC pipes last year which worked equally as well.

 The finally is always riding the train at the end.  Memories from when I was a child with my grandparents.

 One of the days we were there was a larger rain storm.  We had to run in from swinging and stood in the garage watching the rain.  Victoria found Opa's work boots and modeled them for us.

 We stopped and visited grandma.  Great to have memories of extended family.

 Another must do activity when we visit the farm is to go swimming.  The neighboring town has the best pool for this.  Izzy has been so proud of herself by being able to jump into the deep end.  She jumped of the board and went down the slide several times.  Micah of course went down the twisty slide on my lap 20+ times.  I stopped counting after that.  Victoria was even more daring than last year.  She wadded to water should deep and let Oma try and teach her how to float.