Corn Maze

When I was 5, my family moved to Michigan from Illinois.  In all the years that we've lived in this wonderful state, I have never been to a corn maze.  They weren't a popular activity when I was a child,  but I never managed to take my own children when the mazes became a fall thing to do.  Saturday afternoon, I broke out of our weekend rut and took Paige and Allie to a corn maze.  Katie and her fiance went with us.  We dropped Madelyn off for a cheer leader event and drove to Harvest Moon Corn Maze.  It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, perfect for an afternoon outside.

Allie, Katie, Paige and George posing for a photo before the fun begins.

We had to stop to pet the goats.  Paige loves goats.  This was her favorite part of the day.

After tearing ourselves away from the goats, we did the 'Lil Maze.  Katie and I took opposite turns at each choice to see who would get through the maze first.  We tied.

Paige on the corn slide.

Allie's turn!

Overcoming our fears of giant spiders.

Beginning our trip through the large maze.

Alison and Paige leading the way through the maze.

Finally, we made our way out of the maze.  Allie felt it necessary to kiss the ground!

Persevering to the end!

It was a fun afternoon, and we can all cross "Going to a Corn Maze" off our Bucket List.

Yard Work

Our backyard looked pretty sad this summer. I didn't have the money to do some of the major projects that had been mentally earmarked to be completed. The stone seating area that was to encircle a huge maple tree will need to wait until next spring. The additional patio space didn't get installed either. I'm still hopeful that I will find the time, money and appropriate weather to paint the outdoor fireplace this fall.

We did manage to get two gardening spaces prepared last spring. We were able to put up some tomatoes, broccoli, herbs, green beans and onions.

We ate tons for fresh peppers, lettuce, radishes, beets, and peas. The other large project that we accomplished was to haul in three trailers full of compost. It was back-breaking work, but well worth the effort.

This afternoon, Steve raked the soil out for the final time and planted shade, high-traffic grass seeds. Joe watered the seeds well and I'm hopeful that we will have grass later this fall. I find patches of bare dirt in the middle of lawns depressing. You would think that I would be used to it by now, but it still remains a constant battle to have a thick lawn.

The city is supposed to cut down two of our smaller trees and trim the branches on one of our 150 year old maple trees. The tree trimming truck came through last week and cut two branches off of one of the smaller trees. I'm hoping that they will return soon to finish the job, before all the leaves fall. Our leaves are already changing colors and we have a light dusting of covering all the grass.
It will be interesting to see if we can find enough time to keep up with the fallen leaves this year. Last fall, we took a few days off of school and dealt with blowing and raking.

Visit to the Lake Shore

We picked Mike up from work and drove to the Saugatuck area this afternoon. This was my first trip to this area. We've gone to the state park near Saugatuck, but never made it into the actual town. The area has many historical homes that are well preserved.

This area is a mecca for artists. It was surprising to see all the sculptures and murals as we drove through the small towns. The younger three girls climbed on some of the sculptures. At one point, Allie almost got stuck when she was trying to climb through some abstract figures that had hallow insides.



The children were also able to see the ship the Keewatin. The younger two girls were amazed at the size of the ship.

A Walk in the Woods

Today is Mike's birthday. He wanted to spend some time outside with everyone, so we headed off to a park that I drove past on Friday. Russ County Forest is a beautiful wooded area with hiking trails, a picnic area, and a small playground.

We packed a picnic lunch and then began walking the trails. There is one letterbox in this park and we planned to pick it up as we wandered around. The leaves have changed a lot since Friday. Over 1/2 of the leaves have turned to vibrant yellows, oranges and reds.

The clues to the box stated that we should start at a particular trail at the big tree. We found the beginning of the trails, with a large tree near the trail-head. As we walked along, enjoying the creek and other sights, I realized that we were on trail 1. We were supposed to be on trail 3. Obviously, we had not found the big tree. There was a bulletin board in the main park, but it did not contain a map. A short time later, we discovered a map where three trails meet. One the map, we found a Big Tree.

While looking at the map, two women approached us and began speaking to us. It took me a few moments to realize that they attended our new church. The younger girls were given permission to pet the women's horses. The girls were surprised at the softness of the horse's coats.

We spent some time trying to figure out the letter box's clues from the where we picked up the trail. A few minor mistakes were made, but we were able to locate the bridge needed as a marker for the final few clues. I counted the required paces and headed off the trail, counting my steps as I went along. I was scanning the trees for some words included in the directions and came within 6 inches of stepping on a Blue Racer snake. The snake was 4 feet long and moved slowly. (Perhaps it had just eaten.) As I raced to return to the trail, I kept my eyes on the snake. My family members were waiting for me at the bridge.

After hearing my shouts, Mike asked if I had run into some bees. He should realize by now that I do NOT scream about bees. My screaming and running is reserved for SNAAAAKES@!

After my family had joined me, I reread the clues and located the box's hiding place. Past where the snake was still residing. The snake eventually crawled away and climbed into a hole in the ground. As we watched the snake leave, Steve noticed another Blue Racer coiled around the low branches of a short tree.

Mike offered to get the box for me, if I would tell him where it was located. I got the stamp and Mike replaced the box without any further incidents. My letterboxing hobby began about 3 months ago and I have already seen snakes at three boxes. So far, we've located 112 boxes. My friend has been letterboxing for years and has well over 300 stamps. She has never seen a snake while letterboxing. Am I lucky or what?

Letter Boxing Habit

I was really bad last week. Joe and I went letterboxing on Wednesday. Mike and I went letterboxing on Thursday. Mike, Madelyn and I went letterboxing on Friday. Saturday, I went letterboxing with my friend Melinda. Friday and Saturday were all day excursions. My other children are beginning to feel neglected.

On the plus side, I've gotten a lot of exercise and have logged more than 100 finds this summer. Several new parks and hiking trails have been found for future family outings. It's been such a nice break to get outside in the woods regularly. I even feel more calm and relaxed.

This week, my letterboxing hobby will need to be scaled back. so more time can be spent with the kids. Some weatherizing needs to happen with the house as well, so time will need to be spent getting ready for the cold nights that are beginning to arrive.

Hopefully, I'll be able to grab a few boxes while driving to my mom's house on Monday and a few boxes on Wednesday, while Madelyn is at writing class. Fall is quickly turning to cold and wet weather, so there aren't many more days left to letterbox this year.

Letter Boxing

The weather has been so nice lately, that we've been outside a lot. We've headed out to some of our favorite hiking trails after the kids finish school. Several days, the kids and I have managed to do some letter boxing in the afternoon before Katie comes home from school. Mike has been wonderful about going for walks and searching for letterboxes when he has an evening or day off from work.

Joe and I located three boxes on Wednesday, while Madelyn was at her writing class in Kalamazoo. The boxes were along some of the bike paths throughout the city. Joe is such a good sport about rooting around in the underbrush and in swampy muck. We had a good time on Wednesday and he discovered an unbroken umbrella that someone had lost. He also picked up some more bottles to add to his old bottle collection, which will soon require another shelf for his growing collection.

Mike and I have been searching for one box a couple of times. I love the walk through the forest, so the extra searching has been enjoyable. We decided that this box is no longer available, but will probably continue hiking in this park. The kids would probably enjoy this park.

Tomorrow, Mike is taking me to the Grand Rapids area to spend the day searching for more boxes. The weather is supposed to be beautiful. I'm also supposed to go on Saturday, with a good friend. She wants to get an early start. Tonight I learned that the temperature is going to be 34 degrees at daybreak. It should be a cold start to our day! At least I'll be getting plenty of exercise.

Halloween 2009

We finally got the costumes ready Saturday morning. Paige wanted to be a butterfly. Then Allie wanted to be a butterfly also. There was a short skirmish, until I explained that only one girl could be a butterfly. That was the Halloween rule. After learning that she couldn't be a butterfly, Allie wanted to be a murderer. I tried to talk her into being a bee or something similar, but nothing was any good. She decided to let me see what was available at the store. Eventually, she agreed to be a black bunny with white ears and a white tail. I had planned to use black sweat pants and sweat shirt for the body parts of the girls costumes. Did you know that plain sweat shirts and sweat pants are not available? They all have designs or sayings. Walmart had long black shirts and leggings, so we used them instead. The girls wore blanket sleepers under their costumes and remained warm throughout the night. Sorry that the photo is so bad.



Joe dressed up in a shroud with black wings that he made from an industrial garbage bag and two curtain rods. He also carried an ax-thing. He explained that he was "Your worst nightmare." Steve dressed up as Dr. Who with a home made sonic screwdriver.



Madelyn fashioned a pirate costume from items around the house. I really enjoyed not spending hours and hours preparing costumes this year. The kids used their imaginations and I wasn't stressed. Maybe this should become a family tradition.

Three down, many to go

Amy, Katie, and I got a lot of painting done at the other house on Sunday. I picked up paint on our way into town. Michael dropped off 4 of the kids before he headed into work. The plan was to paint the dining room and kitchen. I purchased two gallons of satin paint and we went to work. There are two large closets off the dining room and an entryway into the living room, so I figured that two gallons would complete both rooms and would have enough left over to do periodic touch-ups. Katie tackled the closets, Amy did the edging around the ceiling and windows and I rolled paint. We completed the dining room in a few hours. Amy painted the kitchen ceiling and I worked on the walls. Katie painted the laundry area which is off the bathroom. Amy and I were also able to finish the downstairs bathroom before my in-laws dropped by for a visit. Katie worked on priming the walls of her bedroom.

The other children spent several hours raking leaves. Our neighbor explained that the city will suck up the leaves that are raked into the road. Horray! There was 8" of leaves covering all our property (approximately 1/2 acre) and only about 1/3 of the leaves have fallen. The trees were all a brilliant orange/yellow. The yard was so beautiful when I first arrived. I'll look forward to enjoying the color change next year, when we will be there to see it!

What I Will Miss the Most

This is my favorite tree in our current yard. I love the bright colors it turns every fall. It's wide branches provide shade for a large part of the backyard. Two different years, the children and I tapped the tree and made maple syrup on our gas grill. It was an experience that the kids still talk about. Btw, making syrup from sap on a gas grill isn't a CHEAP thing to do. I can't even remember how many tanks of gas we purchased. But the syrup had a memorable taste that we haven't found anywhere else.

Fall Days

The leaves are falling at a good pace. Yesterday was a warm 60 degrees and sunny. So the afternoon session of "school" was canceled. Everyone went outside to soak up the sun, rake leaves, and enjoy one of the last nice days of the year. The kids and I used the leaf blower to make piles of leaves. My older kids wanted to immediately bag them up, but I wanted the younger kids to have the opportunity to jump in the leaves. After the older children complained about the piles getting strewn around the yard, they decided to join in on the fun.




Madelyn and Joe climbed the scruffy evergreen in our back yard. The tree really should be cut down. It is located on the fence line. We have privacy fence, so the tree has had a lot of pruning. After this picture was taken, a wasp was annoying the kids. They decided to jump down. Joe got his foot caught between the tree and the fence. He fell head first. The ground was fairly soft because he left a 3 inch hole where his head struck the dirt. I was concerned about concussion, but the only consequence was a headache.



The kids spent some time on the trampoline after we had finished working on the leaves. We'll be taking the trampoline down soon to move to the new house. I'm trying to wait as long as possible because it's used frequently by all the kids. This is Steve getting ready to do some flips.



Monday was such a beautiful day! I'm so thankful that we were able to slow down and spend the afternoon enjoying nature. We're supposed to have another nice day today, so maybe we'll play hooky again.

Simple Pine Cone Craft, Ummm

The local Joann's store has a large pile of cinnamon pine cones stored in their entryway. The smell is wonderful,albeit overpowering. A small bag of pine costs almost $5 and I'm cheap. Today, I discovered a huge plastic storage bin filled with pine cones that we had collected several years ago.

I baked the pine cones for 1 hour in a 250 degree oven. After they had cooled, Madelyn sprayed the pine cones with clear polyurethane. After they had dried, we placed small batches of pine cones in a large metal bowl and sprinkled them with cinnamon oil.

My whole house smells faintly of cinnamon. The children and I placed baskets and small bowls of pine cones throughout our living spaces. After Thanksgiving, we'll be adding small pine branches and red bows to the containers.

About 1/2 of the pine cones were used. Now, to think of ideas for the rest of them.

Indian Summer Day

What a terrific day! To beat the glum election news, I packed up the kids and we headed to our favorite state park, within easy driving distance. The weather was a balmy 69 degrees and the sun was shining brightly. My two youngest girls wanted to go wading in the lake, so they took off their shoes and socks to test the waters. They discovered a ton of snail shells and began to gather them up by the handful. My 15 year old daughter and I also went wading. We wanted bragging rights to be able to say that we went wading in November in Michigan.

We spent an hour walking around the lake and climbing hills for spectacular views.

After, getting lost a couple of times, I eventually located an area called "The Devil's Soup Bowl". It's a huge, steep ravine. Years ago, it was possible to drive to the rim and then walk to the bottom. There is now walk of about 1/2 a mile before reaching the "Soup Bowl". The site is less used than it was years ago and there were several fallen trees and lots of shrubbery in the trails to the bottom. My children were enchanted with the thrill of getting to the bottom. I certainly got my exercise for the day!

We all had a terrific time and enjoyed the wonderful smells of autumn and the feel of sunshine.

Last Fall Leaf Pick Up

Due to the warm September weather, our maple trees changed color late this year. Usually we have completed all our leaf clean-up by Oct 10. Today, we bagged up the remaining leaves. When I was a child we burned the leaves in a large burn-barrel in the backyard. The smell of burning leaves always reminds me of fall. As I grew older, we bagged the leaves up in black plastic bags that were hauled away with the regular trash. After I got married, the laws were changed and leaves had to be disposed in special leaf-fill areas and huge vacuum trucks sucked the leaves up from curbside. Ten years ago, the city decided that the trucks were too expensive, so we now bag up leaves in large paper yard-waste bags. I understand the need to not fill landfills up with leaves that will decompose quickly, but I think those paper yard waste bags need to be rethought. The bags tear easily, don't hold very many leaves, fall apart in rainy weather, and are over 50 cents apiece. I know I'm cheap, but for a product that doesn't do the task it's supposed to do, they seem expensive.

Fall Has Arrived

Boy, has it been cold at night lately. The weather gal is forecasting unseasonably cold
temperatures for the next week. We've been under heavy clouds. It's dark way too early at night. There is a lot of work to do to get ready for cold temperatures.

Inside the house today, the temperature never got above 60 degrees. The children were asking when we can turn on the furnace or light the gas fireplace. Every year, I try to hold out as long as possible. I always aim for Thanksgiving, but usually don't make it that long. Right now the furnace room is a mess, so I can't light the furnace anyway. The kids have piled boxes of outgrown clothing up against the furnace. There are all of the items that no one wanted to get rid of when they cleaned their bedroom stacked next to the clothing boxes. I'll have to kick everyone out of the house soon, so I can throw out (oops, I mean reorganize) their possessions.

The brighter side is that the leaves are finally beginning to change color in our area. Yesterday, I heard the crunch of fallen leaves for the first time this fall. I love getting the sweaters and warm pajamas out of storage. Everyone looks forward to candles glowing softly after the day is finished and when we can relax.

Apples, Apples Everywhere

Instead of exercising this weekend, I worked on putting up apples for the winter. I completed 24 pints of apple butter (which my children feel is NOT enough) and 20 quarts of apples. I still have a couple of bags to complete, but I'm going to do those in small batches when I have a few minutes to spare throughout the week. My favorite thing about preparing apples for later is that they don't spoil immediately. I love being able to work in small blocks of time.

My mom has talked me into freezing the remaining apples. I have always canned apples, so this is a new experience for me. I hope the apples are the same quality as canning because it will be a lot quicker to do and a lot cooler in the house.

It's Apple Time Again

Katie, age 15, gathering apples.

My children have been begging me to take them apple picking. Although they enjoy picking the apples and trying new varieties, what they really want is homemade apple butter. I ran out of apple butter in February of last year. These poor kids are wasting away eating apple butter from the grocery store.

The temperature was a comfortable 70 degrees and we planned to pick 5 bushels. Two years ago when we last bought U-pick apples, I paid $9.50 a bushel. We went to an orchard 25 minutes from our house. The orchard has started offering hayrides, pumpkin art, decorated scarecrows, and many "events". The U-pick apples cost $9.50 a 1/2 bushel. I thought that maybe the price was so high because the orchard was now a "Family Fun Destination." So, we got back in the car and went to a different orchard 45 minutes in the other direction.

This orchard is still a farmer's orchard. It's located between two corn fields. The apples were $13 for 1/2 a bushel. YIKES!!! We picked 2 bushels. I'm still finding it hard to believe that I would spend $52 on 2 bushels of apples. Here are my justifications: 1. The children were begging to go an pick apples. 2. We didn't have time to drive to another orchard. 3. The cost of gas to drive to another orchard would make cheaper apples almost as expensive.

We all had a good time and will spend tomorrow freezing sliced apples and making apple butter, which I will distribute sparingly.

Madelyn, 10, picking Roma apples. The farmer had tons on the trees still and they were starting to split. What a waste!

Paige, 5, holding up a Roma apple that she wants to eat in the car on the way home.

Stephen, 13 1/2 amongst the branches looking for apples.

Joseph picking Empire apples. He filled his bag before anyone else.

Amy, age 21, helping Alison, age 3, pick apples without breaking branches.