We Love Fall

Fall means a lot of things.......Iowa football, colorful leaves, cool weather, Amy's veggie beef soup, and our annual trip to the Kroul farm to pick out pumpkins and enjoy the many activities around the farm. Not only is this a great place to spend time with the kids, it is the home to a Hawkeye football player. How can it get any better!

Catching Up

It obviously has been a while since posting so I thought I would try to catch you up on all that is going on around here. You can start by seeing the previous post of our trip with the Iverson's to East Lansing, which was a ton of fun aside from the game results.



In the past few weeks we have been plenty busy by taking place in the following:

• West Branch Homecoming parade, in which Taylor participated by riding on a float.
• Iowa Homecoming parade, where we enjoyed watching and collecting candy with several of our friends and co-workers.
• Visit to the Wilson Apple Orchard. The kids loved the tractor ride out to the trees where we gather two buckets full of apples, enjoyed fabulous turnovers, and had a wonderful afternoon. Amy made some great homemade applesauce and we continue to enjoy apples with caramel from the orchard.
• Hosted the monthly Dinsanity party.
• And most recently, have been working hard in the yard. The kids had the opportunity to plant their very own Norway Pine trees, thanks to cousin Logan supplying the trees. Last Saturday was spent outside all day clearing and burning brush, cutting down trees, etc. On Sunday we were able to obtain four 6'-10' beautiful spruce trees thanks to our friend and my co-worker Rob Dykstra. I hope to get some pictures on in the next couple of days as the trees look great.

20 Minutes

Though the outcome wasn't what we were hoping for, Amy and I enjoyed a great weekend in East Lansing as we joined our faithful Hawks Bill and Katie for a roadtrip to the Iowa v. Michigan State game.

The campus was nice, weather good, and company great; but we really don't care if we visit the stadium again. Though it was a great view from the upper deck, the design was brutal and trips to the bathroom weren't exactly quick.

In addition to the brutal outcome of the game, it took us 20 minutes to get from our seats to the outside gates of the stadium. Sadly enough, we were so frustrated from the game that we actually timed this painful journey.

In our search for a parking spot prior to the Hawkeye Huddle and game, we couldn't help but notice this glorious parking ramp. Yes, that is brightly colored corrugate sheet metal over the steel structure itself. The pictures don't even do it justice.

Faces

Move It! Dig It! Do It!

Of course our kids loved spending time at the Johnson County Fairgrounds for the Move It! Dig It! Do It! show put on by the Children's Museum. It was a lot of fun as they were able to get in a combine, garbage truck, fire truck, pumper truck, etc.

A little boot camp with a blow-up maze sponsored by the U.S. Army Reserves.

And how cool was this, we were able to go inside a hot air balloon.

The kids were also able to participate in their first (I'm sure of many to come) tractor pulls.

Birthday Weekend

Well, Carver and Kinnick enjoyed a full birthday weekend last week rather than just one day. They started with dinner at Pizza Hut (their choice) in Tipton Friday night, which was actually their birthday. Saturday morning consisted of opening presents from Mom and Dad, and Iowa tailgating at our house due to inclement weather.


Following the Iowa victory over the Clones, we were able to fully celebrate the boy's birthday with a party at our house including both sets of Grandparents and my sister's family. On Sunday we were able to enjoy the morning at our church and then the afternoon was spent enjoying time along Lake Macbride. One of Amy's co-workers and friend lives west of Solon and just off the shore of Lake Macbride. We were thankfully invited out to Wayne and Diane's house to enjoy a ride on the pontoon boat, a little bit of fishing, and grilling out dinner. The kids had a wonderful time as Wayne, "The Bear", was a favorite with the kids.

Can U Dig It!

Another masterpiece was created by Amy for the Kinnick and Carver's 4th birthday this past weekend. With the boys being obsessed with "diggers" they of course requested some type of construction cake, and Amy did not disappoint as she created an Excavator out of cake. See below for pictures from start to finish.