Fall Videos

 

Pumpkin Carving

Jeremy and Elizabeth did some pumpkin carving on Sunday. Nathan did not want to deal with pumpkins anymore now that we know he is allergic. 

She still doesn't like those guts! 

She was grateful to a little help from Dad. 

Bunny Counting

We've been enjoying such nice October weather this year. Here are a few pictures of Elizabeth during our weekly bunny hunt that takes place during piano lessons. We counted 25 bunnies on this hunt. 

Jogathon

Jeremy volunteered at the kids jogathon this year and took a few pictures since I was working. 

Nathan running in his camo sweatshirt. 

Elizabeth!

Elizabeth and class eating popsicles after the run. She is holding the pink fleece. 

I think this must have been before the run. Nathan's class is stretching. 

Braces are Off!

After nearly 2 years of Phase 1 Orthodontics, Nathan finally has his braces off! For now, he has a semi-permanent retainer glued to the back of his top teeth. He still has teeth growing in on top (you can see a big hole up there) so as those grow in, they will have to readjust the retainer. The hope is that he is done with all orthodontic treatment on his top teeth other than retainers. They will check and see how his bottom teeth are doing when all his adult teeth grow in. 

This kid now has the best looking teeth in 4th grade! 

Harvest Party

Our neighbor had her annual harvest party last weekend. Here are Elizabeth and Charlotte in the fire truck. This was Elizabeth's 3rd change of clothes for the day. It was pouring rain on Saturday. First, Elizabeth's friend Cecilia had her birthday party and there was a bounce house. Elizabeth had to changed out of soaking clothes twice while there because she got so wet jumping. She changed into her 3rd set of clothes for the harvest party and got wet again! It was a busy day for parties. 

Our pretty red foliage in the yard. 

Fall Colors in Richland

Howard Amon Park had some very pretty trees. My camera doesn't do it justice!

The Columbia

Happy 70th Birthday Papa Norm

Papa Norm had his 70th birthday a few days ago. Gram and Papa Norm came down for a little celebration. We had dinner at Applebees and Gram brought some yummy pie. 

Pretty Fall Pictures around the Farm

While we visited the farm, the weather was very beautiful. I took a few pictures. 

Nathan practiced his target shooting. 

Pippa sniffed the autumn winds. 

The kids checked out a few things. 

The sunset was beautiful the night we were there!

Mt. Rainier poking its white top up into the air. 

If you look on the left side of this picture, you can see a Sandhill Crane taking flight. Its wings are bent in the picture. 

When we got home, we had a lot of apples and potatoes to unload!

Birds

See those black dots below? There are hundreds of birds. Each is perched atop the braces in that apple orchard. Each brace had one or two birds. It was crazy! We were wondering if they were there to find the potatoes left in the ground? Or the apples left on the trees? 

Laura's Flower Farm

Laura has started a flower farm! She grows flowers and has sold them to local florists, friends, and businesses! This was her first summer in business. Her most successful flowers this year were sunflowers and dahlias. 

Part of the flower farm on Laura's right. 

Flower season is over. It had frozen the night before this picture so the flowers are not looking too good unfortunately. 

Here are a few that were still ok looking!

More of the dying flowers. 

All those hoses are driplines. Here, Nathan and Laura are planting more seeds for more flowers! 

We are excited to see how her second year of flower farming goes now that she has more experience and keeps planting different kinds of flowers. 

Potato Harvest

While we were in Royal, the potato harvest was getting started. Now that Papa Norm is retired, he is renting out his farm. The people renting the land grew potatoes this year. 

Nathan had a great time riding along learning about how potatoes are harvested. 

He got to ride in the tractor with tracks too. He loved that. 

One of the harvesters had a guy on the back throwing out dirt clumps, rocks, and bad potatoes. 

Papa Norm and Elizabeth checked to see the quality of the potatoes. 

Elizabeth found a teeny tiny potato she just loved. 

When Elizabeth and I rode along, this was the face Elizabeth made when we had to sit in the field and wait for trucks. There were only 7 trucks but they definitely could have used a few more! 

 

When there were trucks, they filled up VERY quickly. Papa Norm's field had never had potatoes before so that soil grew a TON of potatoes. In fact, his fields were the last of the season to be harvested because the potato plants did not want to die they were so happy in the soil. 

We followed the trucks to the shed that they went into for storage before they were shipped off for processing. All of those potatoes came from Papa Norm's field and that wasn't even half of them. Those big metal pipes are for blowing temperature controlled air up into the potatoes so they don't rot. When there is finally room at the processing plants, these potatoes will be made into french fries, hash browns, and tater tots.