Emma Krumbee's

We drove down to Belle Plain on Friday. We'd been wanting to do the apple orchard thing this fall and since snow was forecasted for Saturday, we thought this may be our last chance. It turned out to be a lovely day.
 






 


On the way home, we stopped to get pumpkins at the the store near Jordan (the one next to the funeral home) to get pumpkins.

In the back room, they were taking honeycombs out of the frames. It was cool to see the various stages of making honey.

After all this, we dropped Relia off for a night with Grandma D.

The library

It is fall, so we don't go as often as we should. Relia gets home at supper time on school days. They all go to bed so durn early, and there is no time in the morning before Relia goes to school. This afternoon I promised to take the big kids.

It is so much fun on the way home listening to both of them read their chosen book out loud. Relia actually reading and Felix making up the story as he goes along. I'm so proud of my kids!

Stranger Dinner

Some people at the co-op down the street hosted a "Stranger Dinner" last night. There was yummy food, music, a bonfire, toys and sign making.

What a nice idea. It reminded me of Donna's annual dinner. So great to get together with neighbors. Some of whom we hardly ever see for one reason or another. I didn't even take pictures, I was having such fun. But here is the sign Relia and I made:

Lovely Sunday

This morning we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and went over to Minnehaha Falls. We dodged a thousand and 2 families with their photographers and hiked all the way to the river. It was wonderful. The kids are at a great age. Such enthusiasm!

Until the hike gets a tad too long, but even then, they can be perked up with the discovery of a wayward cicada







When We dragged them away from the sandstone caves for lunch, Relia countered, we're not hungry for lunch. We're hungry for SAND! 

Later, Relia had a birthday party to attend and Felix was disappointed that he didn't get to go, so we took a bike ride down to see the rabbit. It is such a gift when I get to spend time with one of the kids by ourselves.

Neighborhood sale

Twas time for my parents' big neighborhood sale. It wasn't quite as dense as it has been in previous years, but still a good sale.

We had a couple of objectives, a bookshelf for Relia's room, Relia was determined to find a recorder or flute. FP, of course, was hunting for books. I wanted curtains for our room or Relia's room, and a bike. -Mine was stolen last November :(

We made out pretty well, FP got his books, Felix got some trucks -so cute handing over his dollar and later telling us that he only paid "one" for his truck. He still has 4 pennies in his pocket, so he must have gotten a good deal, right? Relia spent all her money on an umbrella stroller and a music box.

I got a dehumidifier for our basement, parts for a raised garden bed, some jammies for the kids, and a sewing machine. I don't need a sewing machine. I do want the table that came with it. But when we got home, I felt that I had to thread it up and see how well it works. First of all, I'm proud that I got it threaded before reading the instructions. Next, I was surprised to see these cute little shapes the machine makes. It is so fun, I may not give it up any time soon.

FP found this HotWheels set, and I couldn't rest until I figured out how to charge up the little cars and get them around the track.



But, no bicycle. So I decided to go ahead and get one I found on Craig's list. Essentially my old bike but in a women's style. The guy I bought it from is a bike mechanic, and the thing is in great shape. I just miss my basket, and my cute bell from Paris.

A Fair-ly good day

Our first year where the kids outnumbered the adults.The weather was perfect! Mostly overcast, in the 70's, hugely crowded, even for a Sunday.

Ready for the Fair!


The giant slide was first. I convinced Relia to ride on her own this year, and she was so proud of herself. Felix rode with me, and he thought it was too fast.

On to the animal barns!
I asked Felix if he wanted to see the horses or the cows first. He answered "The pigs!" Okay. Once we did make it to the swine barn, he wasn't satisfied with the piglets and the largest boar, he needed to go see ALL the pigs.
Then we went to the horse barn and... dug for horse bones?


Next, the annual photobooth portrait.
No trouble waiting for the pictures to come out, everyone was well occupied.


I love how Felix sits on his Harley, crotch rocket style.


Felix chose a Pronto Pup for lunch. That's my boy.


We did a few rides

Felix regretted his choice of the airplanes. He hid behind the dashboard with a scared look on his face the whole time :(

But Relia had a great time on the Pirate ship thingy (on the bridge, in pink)


He was much happier with the cars

and the tractors



I never think of myself as a history buff, but I love when I see these around town.

On the Sky Glider (Felix hid from the camera once again)


A bungee jump for Relia while Leo, Felix and I watched Flamenco dancers

Some Sweet Martha's and then it was time to go.

The kids were all amazing this time. They did a fantastic job listening, and sticking close enough to our wagon home base. I really didn't worry about them much. Leo had a hard time because he couldn't run free very much, but that is to be expected. I was so very proud of them today.
My two favorite of our additions to the fair experience this year:
-Leo's wagon seatbelt, cobbled together from remnants of expired car seats.
-Bringing a bunch of solo cups so we could share everything on the go. Totally doing that again.

I keep thinking there is something I'm forgetting... Oh yeah

Clearly Felix was not feelin' the photobooth this time around. However, Relia nailed the silly face this year! Dare I say we may have too many kids for this? Nah. Pretty soon they'll be big enough to pop their heads in from the side, right?

And the whole history. Click on the image to see it bigger
UPDATE: Fair attendance was 236,197 yesterday (including our family). Single day record. So if there are about 5 million people in MN, that is about 5% of the state at the Fair on one day. 1 in 20! Wow!

Our Fancy Minneapolis Weekend

A few months ago I won a "Teacher appreciation" prize through a drawing at my Credit Union. This weekend we got to experience the Wonderful (and a tad bit weird) W Hotel in Downtown Minneapolis. We arrived and experienced Valet parking which neither of us had ever done at a hotel, we had dinner, and walked around downtown, and to the Stone Arch Bridge to see the sunset, and the bats and one fortunate raccoon. Then back to the hotel for a fantastic sleep.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at Key's and stopped at home to relieve mom & dad. It sounds like all had a good time. They were brave and took them all to Ikea and the farmer's market. Thank you so so so so much Mom & dad!
Later Pat & Donna arrived To take over for night number two.

A stay at the W Foshay, includes admission to the observation deck, and Museum. How cool!
We spied on the ushers before the game.





Seriously, we saw the roof of our house through the telescope!







I can only imagine the view back in the day, when there were no obstructions.


The museum was really interesting, I had no idea Foshay was jailed for mail fraud after the stock market crash. Things awlyas come to light when the market goes south. It was so weird, that when we got back to our room and turned on the TV, "The Lost Twin Cities III" was on, and they were talking about the Foshay.
Then it was off to Target Field!

The view from our seats.





I told FP that I wanted to learn to use a scorecard. It is a little addictive to someone who loves to track stats like me. This may be a habit.



After the White Sox won, we went down to their dugout to see if we could chat with anyone. A player popped his head up and tossed FP a ball! How cool.



We walked back to the hotel and took advantage of our 2 free drinks (about the only way we could afford to drink there), and gawk and the interesting pairs seated all over the bar.


we learned from another couple that the players were staying at the hotel. So we nursed our drinks a little hoping to glimpse a player, or announcer, but no luck.

In the morning we tried to go to one of our favorite Sunday breakfast spots, but apparently it'd been so long, they no longer do that :(

Back to the hotel, where I convinced FP to wait on the autograph hound's line to see if he could get that ball signed. I had a yummy breakfast at Key's -Sadly no autographs. Finally it was time to head home, but we convinced Pat to come with us to take the kids up to see the observation deck before we checked out.
Holy Moly, if Pat wants a Nanny job, she would be hired on the spot. She gushed about our kids, got them to clean up (the house looked way better than we'd left it), and was playing Old Maid with the bigger ones when we arrived. Thanks a million and ten Pat.

Frontenac State Park

Our second camping adventure -the first with little Leo

Well, we learned a lot.

Lesson #1 It seemed like a great idea to stop in Hastings and let the kids play at a playground before lunch. But in their eyes, it made what we'd promised them would be a medium length trip take almost 3 hours.

Lesson #2 Lock the door. Yeah, I'm a genius. I forgot to lock the front door, and just as we were arriving at the park, we got a call that our alarm system was going off. A quick call to Ry and our neighbors, determined that the wind blew the door open, everything was fine, and the cats were enjoying the fresh air.

Lesson #3 It is awesome that the DNR links to Google photos of some of their campsites. We got to see the layout before we reserved,

and I just knew that dark spot behind the picnic table at the back of camp would be a trail the kids would be able to run down -and it was. Once we got the tent set up, FP took the big kids to check out the trail leading from our camp. he also established the boundary point up to which they could go alone.


After they got back from their adventure, having stopped short, so I could get in on the fun, we went a little farther down the trail. It was pretty steep and a little rocky, difficult with a 20 lb wiggle puss on my back.


Lesson #4 $15 play tent was worth every penny. After our yucky night, I may invest in a "real" one for the kids to sleep in next year.

Lesson #5 Pinterest is my BEST camping friend. The lists! Oh the lists! And the smart creative parents who have been camping with little ones before us.
Baby gate/pen around the firepit -I thought it might be overkill. I mean, it is SO BIG, but we did not have to worry at all about kids getting too close. Until they are all big, we'll be continuing to haul this one.
Bells and whistles whistles for the big ones were more trouble than they were worth, but we'll hold on to them for when they are older and want to go off by themselves on longer trips. The bells though, were AWESOME. I bought a little velcro wrist band with jingle bells on it to attach to Leo (right around his crotch, because that was the only place with a loop). We always knew where he was! Speaking of which, while he always wanted to go where the big kids were going, when everyone was at camp, he understood the boundaries and stuck to them.

Writing your campsite number on the kids' hands. If they got lost, people would have a clue how to get them back to us! Fortunately we never needed, but nice to know it was there.

Otherwise, we ate, and explored, and ate some more, and sat byt the campfire, and had a good time.

As FP said, Frontenac must mean Land of Daddy longlegs, because they were everywhere.
We put Leo down to sleep with a preemptive car trip, and then the kids down as it started to get dark (they usually go to bed around 7). FP and I stayed up to try to catch some stargazing, and hopefully some meteor showers, but sadly, the clouds thwarted us. Once we crept into the tent, Leo woke a little and decided that now that everyone was in the tent, it must be party time. After a long attempt to cuddle him to sleep with us, I gave up and took him to the car where he could scream his head off and not bother anyone else. he nodded off after about 10 minutes strapped in his car seat.

In the morning, after all of us were a tad sleep deprived, there was lots of arguing, so FP and I decided to cut our losses, and head home. All in all, we did it. We took all three of our kids camping! It will take some adjustments of expectations, and possibly leaving Leo out until he is a tiny bit older, but I still feel like this is something we can and will do as a family at least a few times a year.