Hadley's First Loose Tooth

It finally happened! Hadley had been asking about losing her teeth for so long (I think she's one of the last of her grade to lose one). She finally had a loose tooth that was wiggly for weeks. One morning I helped her brush her teeth, and then realized the tooth was gone! Luckily, we found the tooth in the sink before it got washed down the drain. She could hardly go to bed; she was so excited for the tooth fairy to come that night, but I told her that the fairy only comes if you are asleep. Don't tell the tooth fairy, but Hadley was disappointed at the dollar bill under her pillow. (Kids today!) She said she wanted two quarters because that would have been more. I guess we still need to learn about money. (Of course, we had to go look up when Owen lost his first tooth.)

We also wrapped up Owen's flag football season. They ended 6-2, which was pretty great (and surprising, based on their team practices)! Go Screamers!

I had to get a picture of Hadley being a supportive sibling, cheering on her brother on a cold, rainy Saturday morning. Though you have to know that during most of the season we had to bring something to entertain her (homework, coloring, etc) to be able to actually watch the game ourselves.

I said I would post a video if I got a touchdown recorded. Well, I was a little slow on the draw, but Owen got 3 touchdowns in their last game! I did get the last few seconds of a couple of the TDs when he crossed the goal line. He's too fast for me to get the whole play on video. :)

One evening the kids and I discovered this praying mantis on our porch, which was fascinating. I figured he was eating pesky bugs, so we left him alone.

Lastly, this makes a parent happy. Sometimes we have a 'make your own dinner night', and the kids make their own sandwiches! It's great to teach them some self-sufficiency, and I hope grows their appreciation of adults making their food most of the time.

Fall Trifecta

It's that time of year when the wind has an extra chill, the nights come too soon, and the socks have to come out of drawers again. The only saving grace, in my opinion, are the changing leaves. Nature's parting farewell is sooo pretty!

One fine fall afternoon, we met up with an after-school playgroup to do some apple picking. One of the moms is a fantastic photographer, so she snapped a group shot and individual families! Pay no attention to the goofy boys on the right. Ha!

The kids enjoyed picking apples and running around with their friends. The orchard is run by a sweet, older couple, and their policy is 'all you can eat' while you are picking! We came to the same place 3 years ago, and they still have Cortland, Macintosh, and Honeycrisp! Yum! Lots of apples in lunches and maybe some applesauce coming our way.

We also did our annual trip to the nearby pumpkin patch. Aw, we've been coming here for 7 years! Hasn't changed much. Classic hay pyramid pic. 

The kids had a great time taking in all of the fun activities again, including a corn pit (filthy corn dust everywhere!), jumping pillows, and crazy haystack slides.

The kids spent probably an hour in total going up the haystacks and down the slides. They were supposed to go down the slides feet first, but of course our little rule breaker H had to test the opposite. Face first, right into a mini corn pit. Thud! Later, Owen and a couple of friends figured out that they could fill burlap sacks with some of the corn, haul them up the haystack, and send a corn waterfall down the slide with them. For some reason, that was super fun!

The kids love pedal cars, but Hadley isn't quite strong enough to power hers on her own. So, Owen hopped off of his and pushed her all over the patch, barefoot! (Because the grass was wet by the jumpy things and their socks were drying.) Isn't that a sweet big brother? Then they found one with a seat for two, but I was the only one big enough to pedal it. And Owen still had to push us over any bumps!

Oh, and we did find a pumpkin or two to bring home!

To complete our fall trifecta, we went to Pocatello's City Creek trails again, too. This time we brought Dad along! He adores fall colors! 

Lots of beautiful scenery, yellows and oranges and reds, from maples, aspens, and other plants all getting ready for winter. It was warmer than last year, but maybe that caused some of the plants to be out of sync. Anyway, it's still a lovely trail with a babbling creek and bridges back and forth over it.

We did venture a little bit further this time and came across an impressive overlook of the city of Pocatello. I guess fall is all right...

Old Faithful, Still Going Strong

Since we had a Parks Pass, it was past peak tourist season, and the weather was supposed to be in the 60s and sunny, we decided to make a Yellowstone day trip to see the geysers. The kids did not really remember much from the last time they saw Old Faithful, 4 years ago, so we thought it was time. As usual, the bison were doing what they do best: slowing traffic along the main road.

It was definitely NOT in the 60s or sunny, more like 40s and intermittent rain. Did this sign grow taller along with the kids? (see post 4 years ago) Weird, must have been a different sign. Anyway, we had some time before the next eruption, so we watched an introductory movie in the visitor center, which was great for the kids.

Old Faithful was quieter than the kids were expecting, but it still drew quite a crowd. As Hadley remarks in the video, "everybody's phones are almost up."

As the crowds dispersed, we explored the Old Faithful Inn for a while. The lobby interior is always impressive! The kids really enjoyed it, but were disappointed that they couldn't head to the crow's nest up top. We did get to peek inside a couple of rooms and discuss how they were small and didn't have bathrooms, and some of the staircases seemed a little lopsided. Owen wants us to make reservations here for next year anyway.

After we sat on the Inn's covered balcony and snacked for a bit, the rain subsided, and it was time to walk. So we headed out on the boardwalks to see the geysers up close. What a difference a few years makes! The kids had lots of questions, and looked at each geyser, remarking on the different colors and bubbles they saw. Owen remarked that it was better now that they're older and not saying they're bored, "it's actually fascinating!"

How Yellowstone-y is this picture?! Bison grazing in front of the Old Faithful Inn, if only there was a geyser in the frame also. 

Too bad his large friend was parked closer to the boardwalk. We decided to turn around. Some other groups chanced it by continuing on the boardwalk, and Hadley declared, "they must not have watched the video!" (The introductory movie made it quite clear to keep 25 yards distance between you and bison.)

Between the bison blocker and some of the boardwalk being closed due to 'increased thermal activity', our walk was pretty short. But on the way back, we heard a subterranean roar and the Lion geyser erupted right next to us. So cool! It was quite high and went for a long time. The kids skipped ahead and even got sprayed a bit. (They're the tiny figures to the left of the yellow-raincoated person below.)

We also got to see Old Faithful erupt again from the back side. We perused the museum exhibits and got some hot chocolate to warm up before we headed back to the car.

Before we left the park though, we opted to do one more small stop through the Firehole Canyon, which we don't think we had seen before. It was a lovely drive.

A little further down the one-way detour road was a staircase leading down to a swimming hole. The kids and I just had to check it out! Across the river from the "beach" was a cave accessible only by the water. Spooky and magical!

The swimming hole was calm and inviting, and we agreed that we might have to brave the summer crowds some time to come try it out when it was warmer.

On the other side of the staircase was a trail that led to lots of rocks and secret water access points. Definitely worth more exploration, but nature called in another way for some of us, so we had to depart abruptly. Luckily the bathrooms were still open! Thanks Yellowstone for an enchanting afternoon.