Apple Time

It was the normal week of Volleyball, guitar, football and soccer, but we still sneaked in a bit of outdoors time.  It was off to the apple orchard to fill our bags with as many Cortland, and whatever the tree was next to a Cortland, that we could carry.  The kids all have their own bags and they are, of course a year older, so they can pick a lot of apples.  I have forgotten the total poundage but I know the bill was over sixty-dollars.  We put off pumpkins for another weekend and skipped the petting zoo all together...as a different kid had just been bit by a pig so the petting was a little suspect!  The apples found their ways into apple sauce and immediately into two pies.  After a great Sunday dinner around the table we laughed, and lingered as both of the those two pies...disappeared.

Ruminations and Fermentations on the Fall

Fall is here and it is getting harder to deny.  The root crops are fermenting and hunting seasons are opening, but the sun still has the heat of summer even if the air blows with the autumn briskness.  Friday night was a big sleepover party for Ella with the standard pizzas and big breakfasts but Saturday...Saturday had an entirely different air.  We got up early and started our first batch of saurkraut.  With a freshly made mashing stick and some thrift sale treasure crocs it was time to rot.  We shredded up about 45 pounds of cabbage and it quickly started doing its thing.  The basement smells like...well like kraut.  We are actually hoping for cooler temperatures so we can move three crocs worth of fermenting vegetables into the garage.  We found time to head back to High Cliff state park for a walk along the Lime Kiln Trail to hike past the old lime kiln and rocky outcropings of dolomite along the Winnebago shore line.  The old growth forest lacks much for underbrush and with the towering trees and frequent and moss covered sedimentary rock outcrops it makes for an visually appealing stroll.  Grace did want to know why we had to walk up hills if we were just going to walk back down hills...her mother agreed to the notion of this question.  It was partially for the views and partially to work off the waffle cones that had before the hike! We were sweating a little by the hikes end but the Turkey Vulture perched near the trail head was being a little overly hopeful....it wasn't that bad!  The weekend ended with a little foursome volleyball practice in the backyard until the setting sun was way too low in the sky to see the forceful overhand serves.

Coast to Coast

School was back in session for two whole days and then it was time to go coast to coast in just under four hours.  There is just no good way to make the slogging cross state drive at an average speed above 45 mph.  That didn't get us down and we had a blast once we pulled into the LaX abode and found a IA5 representative too!  The cousins had all aged a little but everyone including the adults fell into the natural conversational catch-up rhythm  of great families and great people.  The campfire kept the mosquitoes away and Muncle Arky started smoking a slab of meat for the morrow while B-rad started on a pot of beans.  Good meals required 24 hour prep times and the meal didn't disappoint.  In between backyard games and shooting at squirrels we headed out in the late morning to take in the tristate view from atop of Granddad's bluff.  The park is newly renovated, minus one of the access roads, and even at those heights one still feels safe behind the large steel tubed fencing.  Then we headed to the lower elevations for ice cream and burgers around Pearl Street and even a short stroll along the Mighty river.  We headed out in time to spend the Holiday of the holiday weekend at home and the kids awoke in the back yard.  They had added sleeping under the stars to their summer to do list and it still seemed like we all had a summer attitude so Sunday night was an under the stars night.  Ella slept long after the others were back in the house and ready for the day...but at least she was up before I had to mow around her!

That's a Wrap....almost!

 

After a back to school day and meet your teacher time we sneaked out on the first school night of the new school year for some ice cream before practices started.  But we did manage it spend the last weekend before the new school at High Cliff state park for a rainy but very enjoyable camping trip.  We headed down Friday afternoon and set with plenty of time for brats and playground time.  Grace even worked on her guitar skills a little bit and there was plenty of ax practice as well.  By the end of the weekend the younger two were able to cut the kindling for the fire.  The park has a rich history as a lime area from all the dolomite rocks that make up the high point and this geology creates great trails for hiking around.  We managed to find and eat sumac, choke cherries, apples, grapes and plenty of shag bark hickory nuts.  The nuts made it back to camp and got cracked open with the available stones around camp.  They are a tasty treat reward for the effort.  The rain didn't hamper the weekend too much.  We kept a nice fire going and snacked and lounged our way through Saturday.  Sunday we packed up and headed to the mall for a full day of school clothes shopping and food court lunches.

Little Work, Lotta Play

It is getting harder to deny the approach of another school year but we are doing our best. We headed down to TR to help Amy set up her room and the kids did help quite a bit but also found some time to ripstik through the hallways. Amy had to keep working but the rest of us embraced what was left of the summer and headed out for some fishing on the Fox.  It was plenty windy but with gobs of nightcrawlers and plenty of weight to keep them on the bottom we fished our little hearts content.  We did catch a couple of round gobies, an invasive species for our area, while we awaited river pigs to suck down our hooks.  Plenty of laughs even though we didn't get any of the sluggish carp that roam the waters.  A brief lunch break and then it was time to catch some of the Packers training camp, it was great to see Nelson and Rodgers playing catch again and with both of them a mere 60 feet away we could hear them joking with each other and the crowd.  Training camp never disappoints. We did hit the mall on the way home and the older girls ran around the mall like teenagers at a mall.  By the end of the day we headed a little south to take in a water ski show.  It was a great show with over 65 skiers and even a four-tiered pyramid and a somersaulting jumper during the hour long show.  We pack a lot of summer into a vacation but it doesn't appear that the school year is going to slow our adventures down too much either!