Apple Pickin’ Time!

This year the apples ripened a little early because of all the moisture we got this summer and the nice weather.  So we had to move the pickin’ outing up by a couple weeks.  I remember last year’s outing rather well… I certainly remember all the walking that sent me into labor 3 days later!

Bill was out of town this year at a Nebraska Husker’s game, so Alexis, Noah and I had to find other company… AKA, the KELO crowd.  We met up with the Dunsmoors, Hansons & Elsens for a fabulous day at the orchard.  Alexis was right at home and knew exactly what to do!

 

Noah needed a little more direction, but got the hang of it quickly.

Bella and Alexis got along great as usual, posing for pictures & taking giant bites out of their freshly picked apples.  I think Alexis ate about 3 while we were out there.  She’d ask me to “open” one for her by taking a bite out of it to get it started.

Since it was just me with both the kids, a diaper bag and a 20 pound bag of apples, Ben was nice enough to offer to carry Noah around a little.  Thought it was cute to see the guys all standing around, holding diaper bags & all.

We took our pick home and got to work making good use of it all.  I was very proud of myself to figure out how to make applesauce, which the kids LOVED!!!!  Can’t even believe how easy it was!  I just cut up a crock pot full of peeled apples, added some sugar, cinnamon and water and let it cook down for 6 hours on low.  FABULOUS!

Then I got the crazy idea to learn how to can.  I mean, I had so many apples left, I still didn’t really know what to do with them.  So, we bought some stuff and I went to a seminar at the library to get all my questions answered, and got back to work in the kitchen.  I cooked up another batch and was able to get 3 jars of applesauce canned.  We’ll have to see how they do & whether I REALLY preserved them.  Fingers crossed.

We’re Gonna Win Twins!

Brent, Carissa, Bill and I had made comments all summer about how we needed to get to the new Twins Stadium.  So, we finally picked a Saturday at the end of the season, checked with Chris & Laura to see if they could come (they couldn’t :o(), got Mom & Dad to babysit the kids, and hit the road for a daytrip.

  We got to the parking ramp about an hour before the game (which turned out to be perfect timing… we could have probably shown up even earlier) checked out the exterior and headed inside.

The Twins were playing the Oakland A’s but it was also the first time ever the Vikings were playing the same day in a preseason home game.  So, Bill wore his Vikings jersey.

The stadium is awesome!  We bought “standing room only” tickets, which meant we didn’t have seats, but got free roam of the stadium and got to hang out in the “standing” sections.  

Once we got our stadium brats, we found the perfect place to stand, and stayed there for 7 innings.  Check out our View:

   

We thought that since the Vikings were also playing that day, that maybe the crowd would be a little thinner, but that wasn’t the case at all!  The place was packed, and it stayed packed. 

So, they didn’t win… actually lost 2-6, but Gardenhire got thrown out arguing a call, that’s always good to see him sticking up for his players, and the Yankees also lost that day.  So they didn’t advance their record.

(We got there just days before Sanford Health got its logo installed on the Target Center.  hehehe)

This is a look at how the layout of the stadium is so open.  The views are unobstructed when sitting in the chairs because the pillars are back in the walkways, but still allow for a great view from anywhere while you’re buying snacks or standing in line.

Oh, on the way out, Kirby Pucket started some trouble with Brent… hehehe.

 

On the way to the Cities, we said if we left town in time, we wanted to stop by one of the apple shops along Hwy 169.  We’ve passed by them all for about 20 years now an have never stopped.

We picked the one that was freshly painted BRIGHT yellow, and found treasures galore inside!  Fresh pastries & pies, canned items, fresh vegetables, and just about every candy you could ever think of.  We scored some apple butter, squash, apple fritters, pickled eggs (Bill’s purchase, not mine), fresh jerky and cheese curds!

We’ll have to stop again next season!

The Spencer County, Iowa Fair

Grandpa & Grandma used to take Bill & Micki to the Spencer County, Iowa fair when they were kids.  So, to share the experience, they made reservations for us to camp in Spencer and spend Saturday at the fair. 

It all started with a shuttle ride from the campground to the fairgrounds…

 

We all boarded the bus (including Bill, whose head you can see in the front of the bus hanging out with the stroller).  It was much easier than finding parking near the gate.  Everyone who lived within blocks of the fairgrounds sold out their front yards and curbs for parking. 

Then it was off to the exhibits… the ShamWow guy was even there!

But I think Alexis & Noah were especially interested in the animals.  I don’t think Alexis had ever seen a pig in person, and today she got to see dozens of them.

 

The one in the photo above actually charged at Alexis when it was let out of its pen.  As a mom, I will admit my heart skipped a beat watching.

They both were extremely interested in the massive train display.  The Smoky Mountain Central Railroad display has at least 21 operating lines.  It also had a Santa Claus and set of reindeer flying around a neighborhood

Then we finally found the baby animals… including more pigs!  They squealed so loud when taken away from their mom, it hurt your ears.  That freaked out Alexis enough where she didn’t want to even touch them.

She also got a chance to ride a saddled hay bale… She didn’t quite know what to do, so I convinced her the “horn” really beeped.  And her cousin, Ethan, showed her how to milk the fake dairy cow.

 

One of the areas I found somewhat comical, was the poultry barn where, among the ducks, chickens and other odd looking feathered friends, they also had turkeys.  And just outside the entrance…

 

you could also EAT one at the Gobblestop Turkey Shop.

 

We also got to watch a couple sheer their sheep and find out why some shaved all the sheep down to the skin and others left more & blended it in.  Basically it’s for show and if you don’t have a very good sheep, you use its fur to help cover up its flaws. 

That’s about the time I came down with a massive headache that I couldn’t shake for about 8 hours.  So I didn’t take many photos after that.

It was expected to be a chilly night so instead of putting up the tent, we stayed in the pop-up with Tom, Rose & Ethan.  The kids did very well sleeping!  Except that Alexis decided it was time to wake up as soon as the sun came up.

After breakfast, we cleaned up, packed up and were off to the massive park… it was going to be another beautiful day!  Noah took a nap while Alexis ran circles around us on the jungle gym.

 

Before we left I tried to get Alexis’ picture in front of another jungle gym that was a ship, but when she put her hands into the window…

it turned out to be SUPER hot!  She quickly pulled her hands off and was okay, but I was extremely surprised something so light-colored could get so hot in the sun.  That’s all it took to end playtime.  So it was off to the potty before we all loaded up in the car and were on our way back to Sioux Falls.

(BTW, 9/11 was Bill and my 12 year dating anniversary!  Wowzers!)

Our Animals Meet The Zoo Animals

Bet you were getting tired of looking at the landscaping pictures, huh?  Well, I’m getting caught up, little by little.  After this post, I’ll be only 2 months behind! 

Over Labor Day weekend, we decided to take a trip to the Great Plains Zoo.  It had been, probably, decades since I’d been there last.  So we coordinated with Chris & Laura and met them out there for a walk through the grounds.

We were especially impressed that Alexis got in the Jeep, because she freaked out the last time we were at Pizza Ranch and tried to get her into the fire engine with Bert & Ernie.

 

Cousin Tristan helped keep Alexis headed in the right direction.  As long as he has her by the hand, she’ll do what ever we ask! 

Had to share the camel contortionist… You’re looking at the hump on its back and his head wrapped around looking back at it.  Took us a minute to figure out what exactly was going on.  If you tap on the window or put your palm on the glass, these little monkeys come up to see you!

  

We took a train ride to see the backside of the property, but it was kind of a joke.  Most of the ride shows you the area where they hope to expand in the future.  So the most exciting thing going on at that time was watching the squirrels run around in the leaves.  It was a dollar per person… And Alexis loves trains!

 

Then you get a decent view of the giraffes and other animals, through a fence.  Don’t know how they expect you to keep kids preoccupied to this point.  The lighter giraffe is the baby and the dark one is the mother.  The baby was born just a few months back and is among tons of babies born at the zoo over the past year or so.

 

But Alexis’s favorite animal was the “dinosaur”…

She didn’t want to leave the rhino exhibit for some reason because she thought it was a dino.  Too funny!  She kept her face pushed up against the plexiglass, which had rhino snot blown all over the cage-side… or at least I hope it was on the cage side.

 

Then it was off to the area I was looking forward to the most… the petting zoo.  The llama was super cute and had a baby camel friend in there with it.  Alexis wasn’t overly excited… okay, she didn’t want to be near it.  On the other hand, Noah reached right out and grabbed its nose.  I think it liked Noah too because it didn’t seem to mind. 

So, you can just about guess how she felt about sticking her hand in to feed the goats…

  It really was a perfect day, not too hot, not chilly at all, and very surprising for September in South Dakota.  Were a little bummed we couldn’t find Callie, the new baby tiger, but think the kids got to see a decent number of animals for the day.