Cool and rainy turns into a beautiful fall day ....

Recently, after a cool, early morning soccer game (with a win!), and being locked out of my car by my own doing (Thanks again, Angela for rescuing us!), we went to my parents' house for brunch and pumpkin picking.  My mom called me and invited us out ... while I was locked out of my car.  Ahem.  Anyway, she said she felt bad about missing the kids' soccer game, but it was just too chilly.  I didn't blame her at all.  But, she fed us yummy pancakes, and the kids ran around and played ... I could not complain. :)  You may recognize some of these photos from my current blog header.  I liked them just a little bit. :)

My mom (and dad) are now raising chickens.  They started early in the spring.  My mom also started raising honey bees then, but that's something to share about another time.  The chickens are used to people being around.  They followed us around pretty much all day.  It was kind of neat, and they are actually kind of cute to watch and listen to.  I had a LOT of fun taking pictures of the chickens, the one rooster (George), and the kids.  My kids made a big leaf pile and of course I had to document that.  We also got our pumpkins and gourds from my parents' garden, and Blake helped my mom cut down corn stalks for a nice ... whatever those are called.  I have a smallish bundle by my front steps with all the pumpkins and gourds around it.

The statue in the upper right is by my parents' dog Katie's grave.  *cry*  My daughter got all weepy after they visited her, and I did too.  Thankfully, the kids had already run off to play and didn't see me.

The kids also got to ride on the 4-wheelers on my parents' property.  Blake's has a governor in it so that it can't go very fast, and a safety strap.  They LOVE going for rides on  the 4-wheelers.  It really was a gorgeous day after the initial chilliness and even a little bit of rain.  We stayed there most of the day!  I know Tyler enjoyed the me-time, too.

Thank you to the CoffeeShop Blog (see the blogs I follow on the right-hand side for a link-up) for the photo template that I used in my post today, and to Linda for letting me know about them!  I can see easily that I will share more photos in my posts going forward!

It's getting close to bed time, so I am going to close.  Thanks for visiting!

In the orchard ...

I was very frustrated with our visit to the orchards this year. We had to rush a little bit because we went after work instead of on the weekend, and the kids went straight from the car to the apple cider inside, and then straight back into the car. No pictures by the apple trees, and no pictures by the pumpkins. BUT, honestly I shouldn't complain. We are fortunate to have apple orchards that are not very far away from home.

Thankfully, I have been able to get some great orchard pictures in the past. The I Heart Faces site is having a photo challenge this week regarding orchard pictures. The trick ... I can only pick ONE picture ... so here is my photo for Week 42's challenge:

 This is my oldest son exploring the applie apple orchard (I always type applie by mistake, ugh) when he was 3 years old.  We had just eaten some apple pie ... can you see the spoon in his hand? :)  The lighting was perfect and the colors were vibrant.  There are two others that go with this one that have never been trumped for a favorite orchard picture (of my own) yet. But, I keep trying every year!  Unfortunately, the orchard where I took this photo went under new ownership a few  years ago, and we can't walk among the trees like this anymore.  But, last year I did sneak over and snap a few pictures by one when they left the gate open ... you can see those pictures HERE.

I can't wait to see everyone's orchard pictures!  This is my first entry for the I Heart Faces challenge ... I hope that my little man had enough of his face showing for this to count! :)

Thanks for visiting!