Walking the Huckleberry with Grammy

There is a trail in Blacksburg called the Huckleberry Trail and I had never made it over there to walk it until my Mom came for a visit.  We put on our jackets and grabbed Simon's tricycle for a little ride, knowing we wouldn't make it too far.  In fact we ended up carrying his tricycle part of the way back!  It was a nice walk though and I can't wait to go back and try to do the whole thing.  I think it's 6 miles!  We went a grand total of 1 mile.

He posed a little for me here.

 Then Grammy got in the shot.  So cute!

I'm not sure what they were laughing about here but it must have been funny!

 Always with the tongue sticking out.

The trees we were walking under were lovely.  Unfortunately after our walk we smelled dog poop and sure enough Simon had some on his shoe!  What made it worse is that Grammy got some on her jacket when she was swinging him around!

Riding a Bike

Josh is now cruising on his bike without training wheels!  He mostly taught himself by just practicing over and over again.  I am very proud of him and how hard he worked for this accomplishment.  Grammy bought him a new helmet (the old one has been too small for quite some time) and now all he wants is a bell! 

Wood Working

In mid October I grabbed a wooden pallet off our neighbors trash pile.  I thought it had great potential for some shelves or something.  So we started to dismantle it and the boys spent a good part of the afternoon "working" on it themselves.  There were many times that I cringed in fear as I imagined them accidentally hitting a themselves or each other with the tools.  But, they did great and it was a good way for them to spend some energy.  I haven't finished my pallet shelf yet and it kind of got messed up and so it will not be the way I imagined it to be, but I will share the finished product later.  In the meantime, I still have my eye open for another pallet so that I can try again.

Who knew a crowbar, a hammer and a wooden pallet would supply so much entertainment for two little boys!

Working together!

Hiking Up Gateway Trail

Last Saturday we set out on a hike up Gateway Trail.  It's close to home and we've wanted to go for a while  and finally got around to making the effort.  It's a 1.6 mile hike that we didn't complete.  Maybe we will make it all the way next time.  These guys just start complaining of being tired, bored, hungry, thirsty, etc... 

Josh reads the sign for us.  Now that he can read he likes to tell us what everything says.  

And we are off!

It was easy going at first but once we started going up into the mountain it was challenging.

I really had no idea that it was part of the National Forest.  

As the trail became steeper the complaints became more frequent.

We did let them stop for rests and water though.  

The trees were changing into their fall colors and were just gorgeous.

I took photo after photo of their beauty.

We collected pine cones and acorns to decorate with at home and it was fun to have the boys searching for these treasures and to hear them say, "I found one, look at this one!".

The littlest hiker fell down on the way back.  He just tripped on a rock and scraped up his arm.  He did not want us to touch it or look at it.  Poor thing.

Picking Apples

This past Thursday we went to Johnson's Farm in Bedford, VA and picked apples.  It was a first for all of us and it was a lot of fun!  It was about an 1.5 hour drive but it was worth it.  Beautiful scenery and a perfect family trip.

We picked out the size of sack we wanted to fill and then set off into the orchard to pick our apples.

It was easy to do, and we didn't need any special equipment to do it.

Most of them were down low so they were easy to pick.

Josh was a great apple picker, he could have filled several more bags if we would have let him.

Some of them were up high so a little help was needed.

This one came away with a bit of branch, I thought it looked cool!

My little apple pickers!

There are over 100 varieties of apples in their orchards.

Simon must have had a sour apple...

They had a little train that the boys played in for awhile.

Caleb posed with a Johnny Appleseed statue.  We will definitely be back to Johnson's Farm! 

Bouncing Bears

I signed Simon and I up for Bouncing Bears this fall and we had our first class this past Wednesday.  It was so much fun!  I did it with Caleb and Simon this past spring.  There are new mom's and kids that we have never met, so I am excited about us both making some new friends!

There are inflatable slides!  I even went down a couple of times...

The class is an hour of playing on fun inflatables, with balls and climbing squishy ramps and blocks.  

Bouncing in the bouncy house.

Shaking my sillie's out!

Bubbles!  There is about 15 minutes at the end where we sing songs, dance, pop bubbles and have parachute time.  

Simon loves the bubbles.

Going for a ride on the parachute!

This picture quality is not great, but you can see on his little face how happy he is!  This is why I stay home with my kids, and looking at pictures like this will remind me of that when the day is not going so great!

Funny Mouth

I got these guys a fun treat for a photo shoot and since they were still sucking on their mouth candy when we got home, I decided to take a few pics myself.  They thought it was funny to give each other kisses with them!

Slobber was running down Simon's chin at this point but I am not sure why Caleb is "helping" him with his sucker.  I think Josh is just thinking, "I'm hungry.  What can I eat now?".

Oh, my precious boys.  I'll remember these moments forever!