Cherry Picking 2015

It's that time of year again! Probably our favorite of the Pick-Your-Ow season: Cherries. We went up to Levering Orchard for the fourth year running and got a decent haul of about 36 pounds of cherries. Each year, the kids get more and more helpful at it. This year, Gabe, Ezra and Olivia were fantastic helpers while Irene and Emma kept "watch" over our already-full buckets.

 The view is really something to see...

 The kids had a picnic lunch before they got started.

Quite the tasty haul. Hopefully, that will last us until next year! :)

John's Run 4 Kids - 2015

For the third year straight, we brought the kids downtown to run in the John's Run 4 Kids, organized by the same folks that do the Mudbug Run, Running With Horses. The course was slightly different this year. The park where they held the festivities previously is undergoing renovations, so they had to move the start/finish/party over to the library and Children's Museum. This year, Grandma and Grandpa came to cheer the the kids on.

 As usual, since she's older, Olivia's heat was first. She was really excited.

 Nick, the race organizer, had to do some running of his own to keep from being trampled. :)

 The park being closed also forced them to change the route and have a new obstacle: the parking deck. They made you run up 5 stories, across the roof of the deck and back down 5 stories. It was exhausting!

 Olivia made it through in just over 10 minutes.

 There was a little bit of time between Olivia's and the boys' heat, so the silliness helped pass the time. :)

 Finally, the boys were off! Rebecca ran with Gabe to help motivate.

 Ezra, however, was off like a shot and never looked back. It was tough catching him. I would get a pic of him at an obstacle...

 and the wait for Gabe to come through. 

 Then I had to sprint ahead to catch Ezra at the next obstacle...

 and wait for Gabe to catch up. :)

 After doing Olivia's race and knowing I'd have to do the stairs again, I cheated and took the elevator. I was glad I did because I just barely caught up to Ezra as he crossed the roof.

 Gabe and Mama weren't too far behind. 

 I next managed to catch up to Ezra at the plane in the Children's Museum.

 The I waited for Gabe while Ezra ran through the garden outside. 

 Fortunately, I had just enough time to get over to the finish line to catch Ezra's finish.

 And Gabe finished strong just a minute later.

 I was proud of both boys for really sticking it out and doing their best. I think next year, tho, we'll enter them in different heats so I don't die.

 Once the race was done, it was time for fun. Irene had a blast in the bounce house.

While the rest just about wore the slide out! :)

Some Days It's Hard to Wake Up

Need I say more?

Emma at the Little Gym

Emma finished her course at the Little Gym last week. :) It was great to see the confidence she had built and the fun she had doing the different activities.

 Her forward roll

 bear crawl

 on the balance beam (by far her most difficult thing to overcome.)

 spider walk

 high jump

and swinging from the bar. 

She had such a great time. We hope to be able to put her in another class soon!

Hay Making

So after the birthday party, we put the littles down and I took the older three to see some farming in action. Our friend, Ezra, was out cutting and baling hay so we rode out to Yanceyville to see how it's done. 

 Ezra had a "Little House on the Prairie" moment.

 They got to ride on the hay wagon as the baler worked away noisily.

 The Mr. Ezra took the boys up into the tractor so they would be out of the way for the guys stacking the bales.

 They were very "helpful". :)

They kids had a lot of fun and were a little sad that we had to leave to go home. Hopefully we'll get the chance to go back up and do it again. :)