A Fireplace?? At Side Cut

While at Side Cut the boys found what looked like old fireplaces. I'm not really sure what exactly they are. They had fun shoving leaves down the chimney again and again!

The Last Nice Day of the Year

The last nice day of the year :(  There may have been one more decent day, but then BAM! Winter. We spent the last nice day at Side Cut (along with everyone who couldn't find a parking spot at Wildwood I'm guessing). The boys had fun running around the locks and finding sticks. They both had to bring their tea. They are very into tea these days. Caffeine free, of course.

The Annual Attempt [Fail] at Fall Family Pictures

Ah, the annual fail at a good family picture. Oh well, I got some funny ones out of it, which are more true to life anyways. 

St. Rose Truck or Treat

St Rose had a Truck or Treat this year so we all got dressed up and headed over! The boys have not been to at TnT before, so they didn't quite get it a first. Then they buzzed through the parking lot and I barely got any pictures or got to look at the trunk decorations. Ben met up with his buddies and together they assessed their loot. 

Yay For The Fall Soccer Session

And with that, fall soccer session was over! (not super sad, as it was getting cold at those games!) Ben had a lot of fun during the season and made some good plays!

An Apple Cider Field Trip

Ben's class took a field trip the 577 Foundation in October to learn about making apple cider. I was a little disappointed at first that they weren't going to go to the pumpkin farm or apple orchard, but after this field trip, I know I was wrong. This was a great field trip! The kids started off learning about apples and how bees pollinate the apple blossom and then it turns into an apple. The woman putting on the field trip was great! She had an apple blossom puppet and a bee. The apple blossom was even anatomically correct, which I found very interesting for kindergartners, but hey, nature is nature and the kids learned the truth. The bee picks up the pollen from the boy part of the flower and takes it to the sticky girl part of the flower and boom, in a few months, you have an apple.  

Then the kids split into two groups - one group went to make apple cider and the other went hunting for things in the gardens. We did the cider press first. This is a 100 year old press, original to the house. Each kid got to pick three apples, place them in the press and then (with help) grind them up. Watching some of the smaller kids in the class try to turn the crank was hilarous! And I have to say, watching Ben's teacher and the lady from 577 was also highly entertaining.

After we finished pressing out our cider, we got to sample it! The kids had a few powdered doughnuts with their cider. It was yummy!

Then we switched with the other group and went in search of color matches to a fabric swatch, measured the lengths of things with yarn and looked through Bee scopes to see how bees see the world. It was a very fun field trip!