Forest of Fun

It took a little coaxing but Grace gave in and headed out to hunt a while.  Oliver was all in too.  She was all talk and smiles and wispy hair before we got out of town. We hit the Oconto and it sprinkled a bit but not enough to dampen our spirits.  Grace was under Barney Fiff rules and kept her bullet in her pocket while walking but had plenty of time to shoot pop cans that we found along the trail. She shoots really well, but will have out grown her gone by next season for sure.  Oliver was insane as he splashed through all the mud he could find in the swamp and then tore up and down the trails like....well like a puppy loose in the woods.  He did a great job of retrieving the pop cans after Grace shot them, quickly bringing them back to me..only for us to set up again and plink.  We found plenty of time to work through the trail snacks before heading towards the corn maize to pick up Ella.  Not sure Oliver notice we got her as he was comatose in the back seat.

Soggy hunt

Merrick and I made a trip across the state against the forecast of nasty rain to try our hand at the deer hunt.  We spent the first night with Grandprize and the Bryan clan playing mad libs and laughing until late in the night.  Awaking to the down pours of torential rain we delayed our start be eventually made our way to the woods, stopping for new rubber boots along the way.  We did have a blind to set up and that helped keep us dry and made the late morning and early afternoon tolerable.  We snacked and ate lunch.  I think we even both dozed off for awhile. We eventually allowed the boredom to win and figured we should head back to the vehicles and see if anyone else was in the woods yet.  Ollie and Grandprize had done some nice tarp hanging in preperation for an overnight camp and Brad and Jake had been there for about a half hour but it was ultimately decided to shoot the .357 a bit and then just call it quites.  Grandprize headed off to find grandma but the rest of us headed south to a little tavern for some burgers and pool before making the drive back across the state.

Maize Maze!!

 
Ella has been putting in plenty of hours at the local corn maze at an organic farm.  Sophia is getting fewer hours due to her soccer schedule but Ella is becoming a full fledged productive member of society.  We headed out early Saturday to run the maze before heading home.  The whole maze is over four miles long if you take all the turns.  We didn't win any speed records although we didn't help ourselves either when we didn't recognize there were two mazes!  if only we knew someone with inside information. Either way we ended with a solid meal at a local restaurant and had plenty of laughs on a beautiful fall day.  Grace is still taking guitar lessons and Merrick is now working on drums at school and continuing with the piano lessons.  both of them read music very well and are impressive to watch and listen to them.