Camping at the farm

We decided to rid ourselves of the sprinkler job for one night and headed up to the VanDyke farm in Eden on Friday. It is definitely my style of camping - running water, bathrooms, and an entire house of stuff in case you forget anything! Ryan came up with us too, and after we got the fire and tents set up (we have a rediculously complicated tent, you'd never know it by looking at it because it is nothing special) we cooked our tin foil dinners, fresh peach cobbler (YUM) and homemade ice cream (double YUM). The kids loved the ice cream experience and made salt stew in the ice cream maker after we were done with it. It was an interesting experience to get Avery to sleep in the tent - she was SO tired by the end of the night as she has had a cold for a few days, but she kind of went crazy right before bedtime and find some extra energy. She was climbing all over everyone, talking loudly, and just avoiding sleep in general. It only lasted about 15 minutes though, and she calmed down and slept like a log the rest of the night. It got quite a bit colder than we expected that night, so I was glad to have the two little ones all cozied up with us to stay warm! Some of the highlights from the trip:
-Uncle Lee's garden at the farm - not much to look at, but an amazing amount of great food growing in there - the best green beans I have ever tasted!
-Ollie riding the motorcycle and shooting the BB gun with his Daddy - good ol' male bonding at its best.
-Leaves starting to change color up in the valley - BEAUTIFUL!

Hair-raising experience

My sister Amy came over today to hang out and put the ultimate trust in me: putting foils of highlights in her hair. I had never done it before, and although I knew it would not be the easiest thing in the world, I thought that since I had highlights done several times on my own hair, I might know something about it. Anyway, it turns out there is a level of physical coordination that I do not have to perform this task well. We muddled through, and although some of her foils were DONE before I even got the ones in on the bottom, she looks great! (Turns out there is a time coordination that also goes along with this task!) It was great to hang out with her, as always.

School Days

I know that everyone looking at this post right now may be having deja vu, seeing as how this is Ollie's THIRD year of preschool (maybe we will win some award for the most school EVER!!), but he started at Miss Sheralyn's today. He was so excited, and slightly perplexed when he woke up this morning and found out he had to wait until AFTER lunch for it (he's in the afternoon class). It felt like an eternity, and we were the first ones to show up when the time finally came! He had a great time, made some fun crafts, had a great snack, and got to sit next to his buddy from across the street too. I am so proud of him - I can't believe how big he has gotten. We made the day extra special with ABC (NOT already been chewed) sandwiches for lunch. And when Dad got home and asked how preschool was, Avery proudly answered "good!" Apparently she liked something about the experience too. She was quite concerned when we left without Oliver and mentioned his name about a hundred times throughout the afternoon!