Pumpkin Patch

Friends from church have a pumpkin far and thus a pumpkin patch! We had a great time looking at all the pumpkins. In all my time looking at pumpkins I have never seen ones with such character! I picked out the bumpiest one I could find!
After picking out the pumpkins, we of course had to go next door to the farm where they are grown. Peter and Emma had fun picking out ones that were left in the field. We offered their services for next year's harvest!
This counts for a field trip, right? We did do this on the first day of Fall.

Time with Cousins...

A picture is truly worth a thousand words....and these are just a few from our short but great time with my sister and her 3 kids. It had been since March that we were all together but it only takes minutes for the kids to pick up where they left off!
Charlotte is 6 1/2 yrs.
John is 4 1/2 yrs.
Peter 5 yrs.
Emma 3 yrs.



Here are our two train buddies! They look so much alike especially when they are playing Thomas!

Ryan 1 1/2 yrs.
Sam 2 1/2 yrs.
Here's everybody; almost smiling - that one is saved for the Christmas card!

Watching....

Well, tonight is Peter's first night being able to attend "Spring". Philip started a K-5 Wednesday night program last year. Believe me, we had lots of tears last year when we weren't able to stay after children's choir for Spring. So tonight was Peter's big night. I am actually watching out our front window ( a great view of the happenings of the church) as they play kickball. Peter looks like he's having a blast. Emma was of course sad when she wasn't able to go over with daddy and Peter but that quickly was relieved when I said, "How about you pick out a movie!" I am looking forward to Peter having this opportunity to be with the bigger kids and to be with his dad!
As for homeschooling...well, we've had two great weekends with grandparents. We are all struggling to get back into the routine of school. How can a school compete with the excitement of having grandparents around. I will admit- the kids aren't the only ones dragging their feet. Tomorrow is a new day and I anticipate a better one at that! We're off to Japan this week. Thanks to last weeks trip to US, Peter has the Pledge of Allegiance memorized! Emma's actually not to far off herself.

Riding Goats....

Our friends have a family farm so we piled in for a field trip this morning. We had a blast! I had no idea that you could ride a goat but Peter and Emma gave it a try. Although they weren't quite the cowboys their teachers were, they held on for a ride! After the goat riding, it was on to the chicken coop. Peter enjoyed "roaring" at the chickens, mostly. It wasn't long before Ryan took up his own roaring/ screaming. We terrorized the chickens for a bit and then moved to visiting the neighbors horses. This was a much quieter visit. After the chickens recovered from the little monsters that interrupted their morning, Peter and Emma were able to gather some eggs from the coop. Breakfast for tomorrow!
That was certainly enough excitement and experiential learning for one day!

Nothing says summer like watermelon