Fall Fun at the Peach Tree Pumpkin Maze!

We went Tuesday after school to the Peach Tree's Maze.
It wasn't exactly a nice day, but it wasn't raining and
the temperature was comfortable. The kids of course
wanted ice cream so the two activities didn't seem to
really go together, but they enjoyed both. We look
forward to the maze and pumpkin patch every year, and
we are blessed with such a beautiful place to live in the
Fall how could we complain about a few clouds on what
turned out to be a great day!

Well it has been a while, but we just haven't made
very many pictures lately, until we headed out to the
gardens for the Butterfly release. The kids did
crafts and all though the weather wasn't great we
enjoyed a walk thru the gardens. The best part
is in the Orchid observatory, this is where they have
all the butterflies that are in their chrysalis's and
just emerging. The kids both got to release a Monarch
butterfly. Just like with the hummingbirds it is so fast
that the picture was just of their hands with the butterfly
gone. There were lots of them around thou for photo
opportunities. It was a nice morning and the kids had
fun! They also had a magician that they watched
twice and Elizabeth even got to be an assistant.

Our very own butterfly and dragonfly.

Bravo to the magician!

Nice hat or is it hair?

The magician made great balloon animals too!

A lady bug and catipillar

Apple Festival and Camping!

Well we headed up to the mountains for Labor Day Weekend.
We stayed in Bonclarken which is a retreat affiliated with
our church. The kids camped with MiMi and Pappy
down in the campgrounds while David and I stayed in one
of the residency halls. I can't call it a hotel, because although
they did bring towels and tidy up the room one day that was
it. We had no TV, radio and barely lighting. Your not really
meant to be in the room much, and thankfully we weren't.
We went to the Apple Festival on Saturday and then spent
part of Sunday looking for some water Falls my Dad thought
were relatively close. THEY WEREN'T! The kids did
some fishing and they loved this little creek that ran by
the climbing wall. We also paddled around in paddle boats on
the lake and enjoyed walks around it as well. The weather was
good and overall we had a nice relaxing weekend. Our Labor
Day was spent driving home and doing laundry from the
weekend outing. The kids caught up at MiMi and Pappys on
their cartoons and came home later in the day. Hope all of
you had a nice weekend and enjoyed weather as pleasant
as we did!


The little stream was a big hit for snails and rocks!

Hendersonville has these great Apples all along

the street that the businesses have painted in

a variety of designs. As you see we took pictures

in front of several of them.

The one below is a great one for the Festival!

Of course this one was Matthews favorite. It had

a train painted on it for the NC railways.

This one was one of our favorites. Its a carmel

coated apple! We also enjoyed a couple of those

while we were there.

Matthew really ENJOYED getting a geode and

having it split open right in front of him, and getting

to help split it. It was exciting for us to see and

for him it was GREAT!

They enjoyed doing some fishing off the end of

the gazebo at the lake, and both caught a few

little fish along with a turtle!

Summerfest and Pigging out for Libby Claire

This past weekend was a busy one, but we didn't
really get any good pictures. We spent Sat. morning
at Summerfest, in York. It was very busy and very
hot! We had fun, but anytime we go to that type of
thing, we girls of course want to shop at all the vendors
and David of course does not! We all had fun, but David
said it cost him too much for what he got out of it. Oh
well it was his idea. We also stopped at the Peachtree on
the way home for peaches and a watermelon. They
were delicious! We wrapped up the day with the Pigging
out for Libby Claire benefit. It too was very busy and
seemed like they had a great turn out. The ones who
set it up did a great job. Overall a nice hot end of summer
weekend. Looking forward to Fall!

Elizabeth has become quite the hairdresser with

her American Girl Doll, which is also Elizabeth.

She got a hair salon chair for her birthday, and has

put it to good use.

Seed little seed what will you become?

Matthew planted some seeds earlier in the season
not knowing what would come up we were
surprised with this first little pumpkin. The seeds
were snack food for the hamsters so we didn't
really know what he had planted until they started
springing up in the yard in different locations.
He was quite proud of the fruits of his labor!

Happy/Sad lets get it over With!

Well the first day of school. The kids were noticeable
anxious and David and I were too. Each year this is
a happy yet sad day. I was really the sad one today,
David is having a little anxiety with Elizabeth now
having reached double digits, but I was sad about
really not being needed as much with each year that
passes. Oh well that is life and children grow up. Hope all
are having great first days of school I know ours will be,
and as soon as its behind us I will happily say goodbye.

She was up and moving, but there were tears and
anxiety the night before.

Do you think this is a forced smile?

Hummingbird Release

We went to the Botancial Gardens again this
weekend for the hummingbird banding and
releasing program. Matthew wasn't as
interested as Elizabeth so I was really glad she got
to release one. They are so fast and tiny we
didn't get a picture of it flying out of her hand,
just her empty hand!

The flowers are really in full bloom. This hibiscus

only pales beside Elizabeth.