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.

Delta Steampunk

We took advantage of a free museum day to check out the Steampunk exhibit. It was a strange mix of Victorian fiction authors and science-y, mechanical art. It definitely wasn't our favorite; maybe it was for a little older audience. 

There were a few interesting, hands-on things, like the static electricity generator, that the kids enjoyed. Their favorite is still the kids' room (forest, teepee, and pioneer cabin), which hasn't changed much in the last 7 years.

The following day I joined a group of ladies for a serious hike in Grand Teton NP to Delta Lake. It was a 9-mile round-trip, out-and-back hike with 2400' of elevation gain, which basically meant it was going up most of the time and provided spectacular views of the valley below. The top picture is Bradley Lake (where we hiked 5 years ago).

The last mile or so is not maintained by the park (the lake is not even labeled on their map!) for whatever reason, so the trail wasn't in the best shape or even always clearly marked. That translates to steep, loose dirt and going over/under fallen trees, sometimes on all fours. We also had to traverse three "boulder fields", following cairns and stepping carefully. Can you see the "trail" in these pics?

It really was a difficult hike, and my legs felt like wobbly lead weights toward the end. Nothing like hiking to 9000' to remind me of my puny little Gulf Coast lungs. But we made it! It took about 3 hours to hike there, but the beautiful turquoise water at the base of the Grand Teton was almost worth it. Ha! 

Because I was a little preoccupied with not falling off the mountain, I didn't do a great job photographing the fall colors. But rest assured that autumn is here in the Tetons!

Fair September

We've been taking it easy in September. OK, there was that one day when I took the kids to some events at Cabela's and then drove Hadley to the East Idaho State Fair! But the rest has been quiet. Cabela's was having a Labor Day festival with face painting, games, archery, and crafts - all for free! I thought it was worth checking out on a Sunday afternoon when no one else was there.

My husband would say that, "we're not fair people", but Hadley wanted to see the animals, and I like doing stuff out of the ordinary. I'm glad the boys stayed home, because the fair is expensive! Hadley rode some rides and milked a fake cow for some chocolate milk.

A friend told us not to miss the penguin high-diving show! Penguins high-diving?! We were definitely not going to miss that. Alas, it was humans dressed as penguins, but still entertaining. They did acrobatics on trampolines, diving boards, and even a dive from 80-ft up in the air! I guess this is a career path for ex-competitive divers...

Hadley and Ollie, the cat, have struck a pseudo-friendship. Ollie must be starved for attention, because she puts up with a lot!

It's been pretty beautiful weather-wise here. It was even warm enough on Saturday to brave the gym pool, although it was a bit windy and looked like a front was about to come through. Our gamble paid off, in that we had the place to ourselves! The kids even got to lounge in the adults-only area!

Owen has been playing running back on his team again. He's gotten a few touchdowns! But this is not one of them. If I film a touchdown, I will repost it. :)

Hadley loves crafts! She finally had the skills and patience to use her mini-loom to make a couple of pot holders. She was so proud that she used them as her first subject (3 sentences and a picture) for sharing with her class at school. She has also been excited to start up gymnastics again this fall!

August Recap

Looking back at August... Our travels make the car dusty and bug-splattered, and the kids love washing the car! So, when they make the offer, I take it. I think Owen mostly likes to shoot the car with the spray nozzle, but I hope this lasts! 

We celebrated our anniversary with friends this year (another couple even shares our exact anniversary date!). Our neighbors had organized a progressive bike ride on that date (stopping sequentially at 5 couples' houses for apps and drinks throughout the evening). It was super fun! Our Aggie friends were out of town, so we stopped by their house and took this Hook 'Em pic to give them a hard time for missing out. Yass! Love our friends!

The library had another Awesome August party in which we partook of the festivities. This one was for rock stars, and I thought this picture was pretty cute of guitars the kids decorated themselves. Although they were playing ABBA songs when we arrived, and Owen gave me a LOOK (you know, future DJ), I think they ended up having fun.

Owen is still obsessed with football, so another season of flag football is upon us. This year, we don't know the coach or anyone on our team, so it's an interesting experience.

We also attended the annual Friends Don't Count Chromosomes Run/Walk as part of Team Eli. Owen had his first football game (and scored 2 touchdowns!) during the early part of the event, but they made it back in time for a team photo and the fun run. (See Owen in green and the rest of the team in red?)

Hadley stayed with me, while I filled up balloons, but she got to run the race with her brother. I saw them zip by while I was manning the pictures along the far point of the course. It's always a good time, and we had a fun afternoon with the rest of Team Eli at his house afterwards.

The day before school started, I had to twist the kids' arms to go to the zoo with me! My, how times have changed. I guess we won't need the membership anymore! Despite their lagging enthusiasm, we enjoyed our relaxed stroll around the zoo before school routines take over!