Little Biker

Miriam is really getting into the biking!  After her big step of learning to ride without training wheels yesterday, she got to take her first ride around Reed's Lake on the tag-along today with Grandpa!

Grandpa said she did great, and they even made it up the Hall Street hill.  After their ride, they had a picnic with Grandma.  What a fun way to celebrate Grandma's birthday and a beautiful fall day!  At this rate, she's going to be riding RAGBRAI with Grandpa next year...

No more...

No more cribs, no more pacifiers, no more naps, no more diapers... no more training wheels!  Yes, Miriam the overachiever has done it again.  True to her personality (I can do ANYTHING my brother and sister can do even though I'm younger), she learned to ride without training wheels today.  Yesterday we were at her friend Mary Kate's house and she wanted to ride Mary Kate's princess bike.  Since it doesn't have training wheels, I was pushing her around on it and decided to kind of let go to see if she could do it.  She pretty much did, and that made up her mind.  As soon as we went outside today she told me to get Daddy's tools and take her training wheels off.  After a few tries, she was doing this...

Robinette's

Today I was able to go on a field trip with Peter's class to Robinette's.  It was a beautiful fall morning and we had a great time going on a wagon ride through the orchard, picking apples, seeing how cider is made, walking into the huge refrigerator, and eating donuts and drinking cider.  We had Mrs. Robinette herself as our tour guide, which was really cool!

Getting instructions from Mrs. Robinette

Wagon ride!

Picking apples

Checking out some of the machinery

Putting an apple into the cider mill

Seeing how cider is made

Donuts and cider!



Happy Birthday Grandma W!

We celebrated my mom's birthday a couple days early today since Karen and Juan came into town for the weekend.  We had a yummy dinner (mostly prepared by Casey) and spent quite a while at the park this afternoon. 

Here are the kids giving Grandma their cards:

The kids also got to open gifts that Juan and Karen got for them when they were in Hawaii on their honeymoon.  Esther and Miriam got cute hair clips that change colors in the sun, and Peter got a cool t-shirt!

Happy Birthday Grandma/Mom!  We love you very much, and are so thankful for all that you do for us!

ArtPrize

This afternoon we took the kids downtown to see some of the ArtPrize exhibits.  Karen and Juan are here this weekend, so they went with us too.  It was crazy busy, but we still got to see quite a few things before the kiddos got tuckered out and tired of walking.  It was a beautiful day for walking around, and we enjoyed seeing some of the neat things that people have created.

The kids were especially excited to see the piece that they helped create as part of their art classes at school.  The artist, Dale Wayne, used plastic bottles to create beautiful flowering trees.  The kids each got to paint one flower in art class.  It was fun to see how the project looks and it is really pretty!

Grandparents Day!

Friday was Grandparents Day at the kids' school and they were very excited about it (the kids and the grandparents)!

They started by seeing an all-school program in the gym.  After recess (coffee time for the grandparents), they got to visit the classrooms.  The K's started with Peter, while the W's visited Esther.  Then they switched halfway through.  This worked well, and the kids really enjoyed having their grandparents there and doing some fun activities with them.  Here are a few pictures that they passed along...

Sleepover Part 2

Yes indeed, Miriam had a great time at her sleepover.  She and Grandma went to the bakery and Dollar Tree.  Miriam got a cool cookie at the bakery and a glow wand and coloring book at Dollar Tree. 

She was very busy for the rest of her time there.  She and grandma baked cupcakes yesterday and they went out for supper to Russ' with Grandpa.

This morning she had waffles for breakfast, helped Grandpa with yard work and decorated the cupcakes. 

Time to taste test those cupcakes!

Uncle Nick colored a picture for Miriam

She had a great time, and on the way home from Peter's soccer game she asked if she could sleep over at Grandpa and Grandma's house again sometime!



Miriam's sleepover at The K's

We weren't able to fit in Miriam's sleepover at Grandpa and Grandma K's house before summer ended, so she got her chance this weekend.  She has been very excited about it for the last couple weeks since we set the date.

Miriam and I met Grandma at the mall and had lunch at Olga's, and then she rode the carousel with Grandma.  They were planning to run a couple errands, do some baking, and have Grandpa take them out for supper.  I'm sure they had a great time!

Esther is at her first friend birthday party sleepover tonight, so Peter got mom and dad all to himself.  We went out for dinner and then rented a Cars Wii game for his special evening.  He loved having both of us tuck him into bed!

Meijer Gardens

We spent a couple hours at the Meijer Gardens enjoying a beautiful fall day.  The weather was perfect and it was so nice to be outside.  We always enjoy seeing the gigantic pumpkins and exploring the children's garden!

Walking out to the farm

Junior photographer at work

While checking out some gourds,  Peter says, "Hey, this reminds me of a character on Veggie Tales!"  Um, yup, that would probably be Jimmy Gourd!

Peter playing with the "Do-Nothin' Machine" in the log cabin.  In case you're wondering what it does, it truly does nothin'.

Peter spent quite some time digging for dinosaur bones in the sand area.  He told me he thinks he wants to be  a paleontologist when he grows up.  I think he's been watching a little too much Dinosaur Train!