Hale Farm

We had the perfect Fall day for a school fieldtrip to Hale Farm and Village.  The first grade had the chance to spend the day with their sixth grade prayer partners. 

I was quite surprised at how much the first graders LOVE the sixth graders.  Dawson's prayer partner is Rowen.  She is sweet as can be and Dawson talks about her ALL the time!  In fact, she's the one who started us on the Rainbow Loom....that's another post yet to come!

A little after lunch free time!

 It was a day full of listening and learning.  I was VERY impressed on the knowledge of all the girls.  The questions they asked were outstanding along with their behavior and manners!

It made me realize what a good education my daughter is getting and how lucky she is to be at that school!

 The students all enjoyed going back and experiencing mid 19th century life.  The farm has many areas to visit where there is a person role playing daily life many years ago.`  Here is the broom making barn.  Dawson was picked to demonstrate but, of course she said no thank you!   

Look at the sky in this picture....wow!

  

 This was candle making.

 There were many farm animals such as oxen, sheep, pigs, chickens and horses.

 Of course, the most popular animal was the pig.  Can you say they were really stinky....yuck!

 I couldn't resist taking lots of pictures because the lighting, weather and scenery were all perfect today!

Fairies

I saw a few fairies flying through the yard last week!  They were the cutest fairies EVER!

Johnny Appleseed Festival

It was a beautiful weekend to get out and enjoy the weather.  A local apple farm holds a Johnny Appleseed festival every year.  This was a first time!

They had a restaurant, store, bakery and tons of kids stuff set up to do outside.

Our favorite thing to do was the jumping platform.  It's a huge jumpy mat that the girls couldn't stop doing.  As the other kids were jumping, they were bouncing the girls off the mat....they loved it!

I heard some great laughs!

The farm had many things to climb on.  These were huge tires that lead up to a fun slide.  All this climbing wiped out the kids by the end of the day!

Here's the slide the tires led up to.....FUN!

There were many farm animals to pet and look at.  The girls were talking to them in this picture.  I'm not quite sure what they were talking about?

A little shopping....

A cool tepee....

And the piggy ride.  All of us took a ride on the piggies being pulled by a tractor.  Probably our favorite part!

At the end, we hit a few corn mazes (which were easy because I don't really like them).  The girls had fun stopping and doing some hand shakes and claps they do at recess.  Thanks for inviting us to spend the day with you Julia!

Fall Hiking Spree

The Fall Hiking Spree has arrived.  The Metroparks kicks off a hiking spree each fall from Sept. to Nov.  The object of the spree is to complete 8 hikes out of a list of about 12.  They range in distance from 1 mile to a little over 3 miles.

 We started off today with a 1.2 mile hike to see an old quarry.  It was a little warm and humid but, a great day for a hike.

When we complete our 8 hikes, Dawson will be awarded a hiking stick.   My mom says I got my stick when I was 4.  I will get a medal to pound on mine this year.  I wonder where that stick is of mine?

 

 Notice how green everything is.....this is going to change quickly in the next few weeks!

And we ended our hike with some nice cold water!!!

A "Pixar" Night at the Orchestra

Last night we enjoyed some fabulous music from the Cleveland Orchestra.  We sat outside, had a picnic and enjoyed an amazing concert with friends.  This year's theme was a night of "Pixar."  The orchestra played music from Pixar's greatest movies such as Toy Story, The Incredibles and Up.

Holiday concerts are usually busy but, this year it was packed!  Our blankets were all touching and there was not a single space to move around in!  It's difficult to see the many video screens in this picture that were used to show stunning movie clips from the songs being played by the orchestra.  

 My music loving girl sat and watched the entire 2 hour show...she was mesmerized.  There was also a lot of dancing and movement going on throughout the concert.

 Even daddy and Teddy enjoyed the night!

 One of the highlights of the night were the glowsticks.  It was fun to see all of the lawn light up with glowsticks as the sky turned dark.

All three girls working hard on some glowstick creations!   We are already looking forward to next year's concert.  Each year is a different theme!