Family Fun Update - Fall Season 2015

We have had a busy fall season.  The beautiful weather this week is truly a treat.  It does make me a bit nervous though.  I think we may pay for this warm and sunny stretch soon enough!  But while the weather holds nice I thought I'd craft up a post about the things we got up to this fall (so far!)

Every year we do a corn maze.  This year was no exception.  Late in September we took a drive to our favourite apple orchard with a fun (and educational!) corn maze.  Wynn Farms had a great maze again this year.  The maze theme this year was Bees - how they help the apple trees, and what goes on in a bee hive.  Emma was able to write down the letters for the "secret message" and read parts of all the signs.  It was a fun day!

That same weekend we took part in Culture Days.  Emma and I participated in a workshop creating art using items from nature.  I was very impressed in the work created by all the participants!

I won some tickets to Disney on Ice when that came through town.  Emma and I got to go since it didn't start until Rose's bedtime.  It was great fun, but I really could not get over the prices of the snacks and stuff - wow!  That bag of popcorn in her hand cost us $15!  Maybe that's because of the tiny bag they put it in (that was lost the next day in the house somewhere...)

We are doing dance every Saturday morning still, and this season Emma's dancing Wednesday nights for 2 hours.  This past weekend there was a little excitement when a toddler pulled the fire alarm just as Rose's class was starting.  We got to go outside and watch the fire trucks pull up - an adventure for the little ones for sure!

Thanksgiving was excellent this year as well.  Two delicious dinners and two lovely weather days.  We've been spoiled by going out to a family friend's for Patrick's family dinner - they have a huge property, with a big garden and a barn, a "pond" and, if the weather's right, a fire pit.  Not to mention a giant house so we can all pile in and eat when the time is right!  I made "grandma's buns" to take this year and they went over really well.  We even managed a family photo!

Emma had a Halloween birthday party.  It earned it's own blog post here.  We had a lot of fun, but a bunch of kids in our small house creates a little tension.  Next time - less children I think (and maybe not Halloween themed!)

Patrick and I went to local theatre production of The Rocky Horror Show.  That was a good time.  We even went in costume.  I also crafted a blog post about our costume creating here.  There are also pictures of the evening on my Facebook page Modern Moms Life - you may have to scroll down a bit, but there is also an album of our Halloween costumes and yard decor if you're interested!

Speaking of Halloween, that was a great night!  The weather was nice, the girls got to trick-or-treat with friends this year, and the yard looked great!  I actually saw one family where the kids were scared to come to the door.  Made me a little sad, but also impressed by our Halloween-ness!  Now we have more candy in our home than we have ever had before.  Anyone one have ideas or recipes for using up tons of candy??

Well I guess that's a pretty long recap of what we've been up to lately. If you want to hear more specifics about any of these topics, request it in the comments please!  And also let me know what fun things you've been up to with your families this fall season.  

PS - it's so nice out today I went for a walk after hanging my clothes on the clothesline, and I saw fresh dandelions and 2 robins!

Summer's In Full Swing - And Busy!

Alright - summer is in full swing and I feel like I need to take back some of my "summer is relaxing" comments I made in my previous post. ("Summer is Here - Let The Relaxing Begin")  Summer definitely sends out it's relaxing vibes, but I'm coming to realize life is just as busy (if not more so) now than during the school year.

I still have to go to work - that is the least relaxing part about summer, so far, for me.  The kids do daycare - some days - and camps and other extra curriculars.  Plus we're doing a cottage week, there there's some days at Grandma and Grandpa's (while hubby and I go to Toronto for a few days), and Emma is at a day camp this week.  And she's still taking her Mode Elle course on Tuesday nights.

And then there's the around-town family and friends stuff we want to do.  Kingston Buskers Rendezvous is on tap this week - we will likely go Thursday night, and then I'm meeting another mom friend on Saturday to do more kid-oriented Buskers then.  There are the Movies in the Square every Thursday (except this week because of the Buskers) which we have not gone to yet - they don't start until it's dark, which is getting on to 9pm this time of year.  Another few weeks and we'll try to catch one or two movies.

We've been filling our weekends with other around town things, like Taste of Kingston, and a free Fort Henry visit as part of the Pan Am celebrations when the torch was here.  The girls want to get to a beach this summer,; I haven't managed to get into Nanny's pool yet (the girls have been a few times); and then there's just the fun outdoor time at home with the neighbour kids.  I think those are the best days, when the kids are just outside somewhere and I can just sit on the deck, read a book, hang out the laundry, and then maybe relax with a drink.

What do you get up to in the summers?  Are your weeks a busy as mine?  I don't yet feel so busy I can't deal with it - so let's hope that doesn't happen!  Now that the girls are older a busy summer is much different than when they really do need 24/7 supervision.  I'm enjoying this summer so far, but it's not quite as "relaxing" as I'd imagined!

Toodles!