Tis the Season!

 Steve and I brought the 4 oldest of Mike's kids to the house for an over night visit last week.  We had lots of activities planned.  We went to
Bass Pro.  What a fun place to take the kids.  They shot targets with guns and bow & arrows.

 

They raced cars.  And they sat on Santa's lap.  (I need to find my picture of that!)

At our house treats were being made as fast as the kids could go.  We made Reese's peanut butter cookies.

 

Bark.

 

Peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses and fudge.

 

We picked up Olivia and headed out for pizza and a drive through Zumwalt Park in O'Fallon.  Everyone had a great time!

 

 



Pea Ridge Christmas Tree Farm

The weather was beautiful on Saturday!  Our friends were heading to cut a Christmas tree and asked if we would like to come along.  Oh, yeah!  The farm was close to Herman and the back roads were both scenic and nauseating.  The first stop was to see Santa.  Olivia wasn't sure about him at first, but soon warmed up.

We hopped on a tractor pulled wagon and rode out to the fields.

After much careful searching the perfect Scotch Pine was found.  Olivia wasn't sure what was going on but soon got down to check it out.

On the ride back to the barn:

 Vince, Addie Rose, Mackenzie, Karen, and Dave.

Don't think Dave was addicted to his phone.  Chris was sending him directions to the restaurant we were going to eat dinner at.  

Dave, Olivia, Sarah and Sunny.

Welcome Edie!

Edie is here!  She came a little early but is healthy and beautiful.  She was quickly absorbed into the family by the girls.  They won't put her down!  If you want to hold her, you need to wrestle her away from her older sisters!

Ghouls in the Garden

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day.  My mom and I met Chris, Sunny & Olivia at the Botanical Gardens for our first ever Ghouls in the Garden.  After our experience at Mark Twain Park, this was a refreshing treat.  There were no scary costumes or people jumping out to scare the kids.

Olivia wasn't too sure about Mother Nature.  She didn't have any candy!

 When this friendly witch cackled, Olivia did it right back!  She was very proud of herself.

Leaves are good!

The grandkids came over to hang out on Saturday.  And we had plenty of leaves waiting for them!  Catherine grabbed a rake and started making a pile.

I want you to notice the grass path showing in between the leaves.  Catherine probably worked on this for an hour.  She had a maze all over the yard.  The rest of the kids kept running and running through it.  They thought it was wonderful!

Mark Twain State Park

Just sit right back and I'll tell you a tale, a tale of a fateful trip!  Well, it wasn't really that bad!  I've waited a whole year to take the grandkids to Mark Twain State Park to visit the Indian  Creek Campground to experience their Halloween Extravaganza. Steve & I arrived Friday night with Mary, Michael & Gussie.  Catherine had a soccer game so she and Amber drove up Saturday morning.  The weather was perfect!

Karen and Vince joined us on Sunday.  Here is Steve showing off some more of his man muscles!

Gussie was fascinated by Grandpa disconnecting the RV from the truck.

We took several hikes.  This one was next to the lake.  The kids threw  many rocks into the water.

Mary helped decorate our campsite.

Many snacks and drinks were consumed.

We saw several beautiful sunsets.  This was the view from our campsite.

And now for the end of the story.  The kids dressed up. We drove to Indian Creek Campground.  Paid our $5 to enter.  Lots of people were there.  Every RV was decorated to the hilt. And it was terrifying! Mary lasted about 10 minutes, Catherine, Michael & Gussie about 15 minutes. We went back to our RV.  Made a fire and roasted smores. And prayed the kids didn't have nightmares!

East Coast

For some reason when I entered these pictures, Blogger decided to add them out of order.  I'm too lazy to fix them so we will be jumping back and forth!  Steve & I kayaked on the Swan River in Dennisport (Cape Cod).  The wind was in our face and the tide was coming in behind us so it felt like we were sitting still.  Lucky for me Steve has man muscles and powered us through!

It was cranberry time!  Here is a bog that hadn't been harvested yet.  I wanted to jump in there and eat them all. I love cranberries!

This is the White Mountains in New Hampshire.  There were so  many beautiful waterfalls.

The colors were brilliant!

This is the Mt Washington Hotel.  While Steve went on a day hike, I went here and ate lunch.

  This was the view off of our balcony in Dennisport, Cape Cod.  It was beautiful.  Other than it being windy, the weather was perfect.

We went to Hershey, PA.  Now, I have been to Chocolate World many times, but have never stayed overnight in the town.  I'm ready to go back.  We went on a trolley tour of Milton Hershey's school and plant.  Very informative. It made me want to each a bunch of chocolate bars to support what they do with their money.

Being a Tourist

Steve & I went to New Hampshire.  And we had so much fun!  Before we did all the hiking stuff, we decided to hit all the tourist spots.  This is Cider Hollow and they have wonderful apple cider and apple cider donuts.

Then on to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory.

We found where they bury all the old flavors!

Albany Covered Bridge

Breathtaking views all around us.