How About Them Apples?

It has become apple time in Illinois! This year we decided to take the kids to an orchard to learn about apples and such. The first orchard we went to, which will remain nameless but let's just say that it is in a town very very close to Springfield, was so awful. The kids were not allowed to touch a thing - not a bush, not a tree, not an apple. Then we paid $3 for them to receive a dixie cup of cider and a teeny little apple to eat. By the end, Olivia was bored and upset that she was an observer and not a participant. This was not the orchard of my childhood!

So, to correct that horrible experience we went to the Broom's Apple Orchard festival on Sunday. This place is located in Carlinville, and it is the orchard that Joe and I attended as little ones. And it was exactly as I remembered. Pick your own apples right from the tree - and while you're at it eat as many as you want for free, watch them make their own fresh cider and then sample it, walk around their pumpkin patch without worrying about hurting something, ride horses, feed goats, go through the corn maze (or the mini maze for the kids for those not wanting to spend an hour in the maze), hayrides, and a little park area for the kids.

Joe and Olivia working to fill our apple bag. She was so happy to be able to pick them herself, and became very good at not picking the ones with bad spots.


The kids and I in the orchard. Joe, Olivia, and I each ate 4 apples - we had to sample each of the 4 varieties that were ready for picking to make sure that they were good! Ethan took about an hour to eat his one apple.

The branches were touching the ground due to being so heavy with apples this year. Ethan was able to reach them with no problem.

This orchard is great. Eat as many apples as you want for free, pick your own off of the tree, and go ahead and climb the tree to get to the best of the bunch. Olivia thought it was hilarious that Joe climbed into the tree to reach the apples. You can tell that I am much happier with this orchard compared to the initial one!

Olivia in full "Fancy Nancy" mode. She doesn't do this everyday, but today she was insistant to wear her "fancy accessories".

Olivia in the mini hay bale maze for kids. This was a really cute idea.

Riding on her pony that she called "Furry Hair". She yelled "YIPPEE" throughout the five minute ride, creating much laughter in the crowd.

Joe and Ethan after feeding the goats.

Since Carlinville is so close to Litchfield, we went to my parent's home for dinner after the festival. Here is Ethan and grandma relaxing on the swing. Those sharp points on the back of the seat are not some torture device - it is to keep the birds from sitting on the swing and then, um, making a mess.

Olivia in a circle of bubbles.

A Looooong Day at the St. Louis Zoo

Joe is on vacation this week (although he would argue with that term since he will be working hard with home improvement projects all week) so we decided to take a trip to the St. Louis Zoo. We spent a full 6 hours there and the kids did great with that! We saw all of the "major" animals except for the rhino - he was either hiding or not on exhibit today. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and I highly recommend a trip to the zoo at this time of year, preferably during the week. It seemed as if we had the entire zoo to ourselves! Plus, the animals were fairly active as it was not so hot outside.

Olivia with a cobra statue in the River's Edge exhibit. It took a little convincing for her to approach it as it did appear very life like.


This is actually the hippo exhibit but Ethan was more thrilled with the fish in their tank.

Posing with the Asian elephants. They cooperated nicely by eating their hay and then literally throwing the hay onto their backs. The kids found that hilarious.

The penguin house is my absolute favorite exhibit that they have (other than enduring the extreme cold temperature in the house!). Here are the kids outside of the exhibit house. This also appeared to be Ethan's favorite of the day since he could get so close to them.

Olivia posing with the penguin statue. We actually took this photo today since we have an almost identical picture of her when she was about 13 months old and barely taller than the statue!

Ethan watching the penguins. It is nearly impossible to take a good picture in this exhibit, so you can barely make out the 2 penguins swimming past him.

All of the animals were very interactive today so we were able to get so many good pictures. I am only posting a small number of what we took. Here is Ethan watching this chimpanzee eat his cabbage.

Olivia watching the 2 chimps eat cabbage and carrots.

Olivia, Ethan, and Joe waiting for the train to arrive. We used the train ride as a break from the walking. Poor Olivia really logged the miles today!

Ethan, Olivia, and I on the train.

No wonder it took us 6 hours to see all of the animals with Ethan in charge of the map!

Olivia and some Chinese bird. I knew that I would forget the name of it. She was fascinated by this bird because it made "clucking" noises yet it didn't really look like the typical chicken.

The reptile house was the kids' favorite part of the trip. I don't know why as they are not overly fascinated with them outside of the zoo - thank goodness. Here Olivia was really studying one of the snakes, who appeared to also be studying her!

As Joe pointed out, this is a picture of me feeding our son to the lizard. It was a good thing that he was extremely well behaved today or that may have been the case! ;)

We're Loyal to You, Illinois...

...We're "Orange and Blue," Illinois,
We'll back you so stand
'Gainst the best in the land,
For we know you have sand, Illinois,
Rah! Rah!

In case anyone has missed it, Joe and I are HUGE University of Illinois fans. For both us, this started before we graduated from there, and continues to today. It was not easy living in "Hawkeye country" for that year as Iowa and Illinois are mortal enemies! One of Joe's all time biggest regrets is that he did not attend a basketball game during the "Flying Illini" team of 1989 when they went to the Final Four. So, when he heard about the "Night of Legends" that U of I was hosting this past Saturday, he was immediately calling for tickets. This night was a scrimmage basketeball game of past U of I greats (Gill, Anderson, Deron Williams, Dee, Battle, Bardo, etc.) plus the dedication of about 30 Illini basketball jerseys.

Ahh, the Quad. The best place at U of I. It is fairly empty right now, but you can imagine how packed it could get between classes, or on a beautiful weekend, or even in winter with students having fun with some major snowball fights. I cannot tell you how many times I sat out there to study, hang out, listen to the kooky preacher guy who was on the Quad every single day at lunch time (I cannot remember his name now), and I still cannot figure out why the college thought it would be a good idea to turn on the water sprinklers when the bars let out - it made for some really fun walks home. For those who do not know, I am standing outside of Follinger Auditorium and that is the Union Building straight ahead.


The reason for the "game". Here are the jerseys that were dedicated for the Illini basketball great.

This is Joe's all time favorite player - in both college and pro levels. #13 Kendall Gill (that is him in the orange shirt in front of the banner). We (Joe) waited for about 20 minutes after the event with the hopes of getting yet another autograph but had no luck. His fascination of this man can border on stalking at times!

Olivia's First Day of Preschool

Olivia had her first day of 4 year old preschool today. We have enrolled her in Preschool in the Park at Washington Park. There are several of her friends that attend as well, making it a much easier transition for Olivia compared to last year! No tears, no fear this year, thank goodness. I don't think I could handle almost 3 months of her tears again - it broke my heart.

Here is Olivia at her school. She has her Princess backpack that she is very proud of, and it was filled with art projects at the end of the day. She said that her favorite parts of the day were playing outside and with her friends Caden and Ava.


At drop off time the kids are to sit in a circle and look at the books on the rug. Olivia was a bit confused about this ritual, but she will become accustomed to it soon.

After her first day we had a special lunch at (where else?) McDonald's. This was actually the first time that Olivia climbed all of the way to the top of the play structure - before she would only climb on the lower levels. Some boy playing in it guided her to the top, encouraging her the entire way. Now she is an old pro at it.

Olivia with preschool friends Braylen and Caden.

Labor Day Party

Labor Day Sunday was spent at a pool party at Joe's aunt Kelly's and uncle Robb's house. It was the first time that all 7 of Joe's aunts/uncles/mom were in the same place for no one could remember how long. Other than it being SO HOT, the party was a blast with lots of food, swimming, and long talks.

Here is Grammy, Olivia, Grandpa Brett, and Joe, with great-grandma Phyllis hiding in the corner. Ethan missed the first half of the party as he was taking his nap.


The pool filled up pretty fast with swimmers, and even if you were not in the pool you were not safe from getting wet! Many were armed with squirt guns and "bad aim".

You may need to click on this picture to really see what good job Joe did in capturing the exact moment of Olivia hitting uncle Robb in the face with a stream of water.

Aunt Kelly (in blue) even thought of entertainment for the kids with several different craft projects...princess crowns, pop bead bracelets, rings, etc. Olivia wore her crown for much of the day today, so it was an obvious success with her! This picture is Olivia with second cousins Mattie and Taryn.

35th Wedding Anniversary Surprise Party

On June 16, 1973, my parents were married in a simple ceremony/reception in Watseka, IL. They did the entire event with $500, and my dad was too poor to afford their wedding rings (he was in medical school, my mom was in nursing school), so my mom had to buy them ($30 each). How things have changed!

This past Saturday my brother, sister, and I wanted to mark their 35th milestone by hosting a surprise party held at Rachel's house. The entire party was successful, from the event being a complete surprise, to the many other little surprises throughout the evening. Here, mom and dad pose with a chocolate wedding cake (like they originally had) that Rachel made for them. You see a bouquet of red roses like my mom carried, and, yes, that is a bottle of Boone's Farm "wine". My parents met in college at a party when my dad approached my mom and asked his famous line "Whatcha drinking?" And it happened to be Boone's Farm apple wine.

The party went outside for some games of baggos. Until Ethan decided to be a part of every game and sit on top of the board and use the bean bags to shoot baskets into the hole.

Me and the kids hanging out on the swing.

My sister has collected stuffed animals in the past and this big duck has always been a favorite of Ethan and Olivia's.

Our dinner was reminiscent of my parent's rehearsal dinner. They had "bear burgers", chips, beer, and homemade vanilla ice cream. We decided to copy the rehearsal dinner food rather than the wedding food due to the fact that neither my mom nor dad can remember what they ate at their wedding. If anyone who was there 35 years ago can remember be sure to pass that along to my parents! Rachel and Thomas brought their original menu a bit more up to speed with burgers, grilled corn, roasted potatoes, homemade vanilla ice cream, and the chocolate wedding cake. Here is Olivia enjoying the meal.

Of course we made them cut the cake in the traditional style! And no, they did not smash the cake into each other's mouth. Other surprises for them included a painting purchased in the Iowa City artisan's gallery by an independent artist and Luke singing an original song that he composed for the event titled "Whatcha Drinkin' Renee?". I videotaped this event, but I didn't think that anyone would really want to watch a 5 minute video!