The Apple Orchard!

Today was a beautiful fall day!  I love this time of year.  The leaves are just in the beginning stage of changing color and I always love the colors of fall.  I only wish they stayed around longer.  Today we went to Ferguson's Apple Orchard in Galesville.  I have taken the kids there the last couple years and it is a great place for kiddie fun!  Jason has never gone with us before and I was able to snag him this year to come along.  Normally they only do wagon rides on the weekend but we lucked out and got one today anyway.  We couldn't have picked a better day for it.  Sounds like this season's apple crop has done really well. 

Here are some more photos from my week.

At Riverside Park

Not sure what this is.

At the colorful Winona Park.

At the Irvin Park Zoo.

Cute Qoute of the Day

10pm:  Riley comes downstairs.

Riley:  "There's a spider in my room.  It's sleeping on my wall.  I want you to come and get it out of there."

I go upstairs and sure enough there was a spider on the wall.  So I killed it. 

Then Riley says "Thanks for getting the spider for me."  Now he is back to sleeping.  Love him! 

Nashville trip 2013

Tonight is my last night of vacation.  I knew it would go fast, I looked forward to our Nashville trip for so long and now it is all over.  What a great time we had!  It was one of those trips that even after you get home you wish you could go back.  My aunt Marianne was so surprised that we had planned this trip for her and she packed all warm clothes so she had to go to Kohl's and search through the clearance racks to get some summer clothes to bring with.  Then she was surprised once again to see my Aunt Beth at the airport as she was coming to Nashville too.  The memories we made are priceless!  Every time I think of it I smile and think "What a great trip!"  I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family.  I know you can't choose your family but if I could I would choose the one I already have!  Here are some pictures from our AMAZING trip to Nashville, TN.

The beginning of our trip at the airport waiting to board the plane.

Always time for some Karaoke!

 

 

At our hotel which was wonderful.  We had adjoining rooms from each other.

 

Getting some shopping in at the downtown Nashville stores.

Getting ready for the Grand Ole Opry

 

At the Opry.  When we first arrived there were 3 women sitting in our seats.  They politely told us they would move after the intermission.  How sweet of them.  Turns out their seats weren't even in that row!  They said "They weren't really worried about it."  Of course not when our seats were better than theirs.   

 

Our happy little family!

It was so nice to spend time with Aunt Beth.  We don't see her that often and she is so much fun!  We sure had a lot of laughs!

 

 

At the Grand Ole Opry Hotel.  This place is amazing and you can't go to Nashville without seeing it.

 

 

Although our trip was amazing.  Our flight home was not.  It sure makes a great story though. 

 

Our flight from Nashville arrived in Chicago at 8:30 pm and we were scheduled to board our flight out of Chicago to Milwaukee at 8:30 and leave at 9 pm.  There was some confusion going on at the airport so we were forced to wait on the plane for about ten minutes before we could get off. We got off at terminal G and had to get to terminal L for our flight home.  We all had to go to the bathroom and I was able to go quick while mom and Kelly waited to pick up our luggage.  Then we ran like crazy people to the other side of the airport huffing and puffing and dodging people the entire way.  It was a long and stressful run.  We were told our flight was still on time so were sure we would miss it.  We were relieved to find we hadn't missed our flight when we got there.  We were all trying to catch our breath and smiling so proud of ourselves that we made it in time.  Then we notice that it says the flight is going to Toledo!  Turns out there is mass confusion a the airport and our flight will be boarding after the Toledo one due to the mix up.  Now we feel relieved and happy again.  Kelly, Marianne and mom decide to go to the bathroom since it seems we should have some time before we board.  They wander off and I stay back and watch our luggage.  After a long time of waiting I begin to get worried as to where they are.  Then an airport employee walks up to me and asks if my name is Katie.  Oh no!  This can't be good.  I say "yes".  She tells me "Your friends are stuck outside."  Ok I am totally confused and feeling like I am in the Airport Twilight Zone.  I have no idea what she means by "Your friends are outside."  I say "What do you mean my friends are outside!?"  She says they are stuck outside and cannot get back in unless they have their ID's and boarding passes.  So I grab both my mother's purse and my Aunt Marianne's purse and hustle after the Airport employee to hopefully help them get back in.  (What actually happened is while they were walking to find a bathroom they stepped out of the airport area and had to then go through security all over again.)  Very comical as I think of it now but not so much at the time.  I see my mom standing behind the security area and she has that look on her face of "Help me!" and I know this is not good!  I tell her I have both of their purse's and she only takes hers thinking she didn't need the other one.  Now I head back to our terminal and find Kelly laying on the ground breathing as if she just finished a marathon and saying I think it will all be good now.  Then she realizes Marianne does not have her purse and once again runs it to security as she will need her ID to get back in too.  Mom and Marianne do finally return in time and we are all laughing about this crazy story when my mom's face goes white and she proclaims "Oh no!  I don't have my wallet!"  YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!  She starts to walk off saying she needs to find her wallet before we can go anywhere and Kelly the marathon runner takes over and runs to find it for her instead.  Meanwhile as she is off searching my mom finds her wallet in a different bag.  Now we try to get a hold of Kelly but she did not bring her phone so we just wait for her to return obviously empty handed.  There is a happy ending to the story in the fact that we did make our flight and made it home safe and sound with one heck of a story to remember.  Although the kicker of the night is that there was one bag that was not found at the baggage claim.  Of course the one and only bag was my mom's!  Too crazy!  She did get it delivered the very next day to her house so it all turned out ok in the end.

 

Although I miss Nashville it was so nice to return to these beautiful faces!

 

 

  

   

 



Riley's first day of school.

Today was Riley's first day of pre school at Summit Elementary School.  He has been so excited to finally go to school and he could not wait to ride the bus this morning.  He picked out the shirt he wanted to wear (Spiderman) and he was armed and ready with his brand new Avengers back pack.  Everyone always says time goes by so fast but the very first day of school is the first tear jerking moment that reminds you of how true it is.  Riley is such an independent and social kid that I knew he would do great with going to school.  He hopped right on the bus and sat down waving goodbye with a big cheesy smile.  For a moment I thought maybe I should ride the bus with him, I mean he is only 4 and how can the bus driver keep track of all those kids!  Then I just waved good bye, turned around and cried.....just a little.  They had a few bus glitches and Riley ended up riding the bus a little longer but he didn't know anything went wrong.  He was just thrilled to be riding the yellow school bus he always used to wave to.  I guess in the first week of school it is bound to have some glitches, especially when you have little 4 year olds riding the bus all by themselves.  He said he had fun at school.  I asked what he learned.  He said he learned how to sit "Criss, Cross, Applesauce" and then he demonstrated this for me.  He also said he learned how to be quiet and how to clean up the mess.  He learned some new songs and got to sit near a kid on the bus who was wearing a Power Rangers back pack!  First day of school was a success!

The teacher gave all the kids a little felted heart to bring to school every day.  All the parents were to give the heart a kiss and let their child know when they get lonely they can hold the heart and be reminded of how much we love them.  I know this is kind of cheesy but I thought that was so cute.  Riley showed me his heart when I picked him up at Tammy's and told me he took it out at school when he missed me and dad.  That is just so cute.