Today we went for a hike with the Reagens. The hike was fun, and a little longer than we had bargained for, then we (the Lieslands) got stuck on an icy hill trying to leave the park. A nice man in a pick-up truck stopped to dump some sand and the Reagens came back to help push us out.
Not too many pictures of the big kids as they were well ahead of us. Maybe I can get Andrew to share some of his pictures. . .
The weather was awesome this week, so Mary Connor found a lake house at Sun Valley Lake for Gary and Kathie to stay at for a couple of nights. Mary, us and the Reagens came out for a day to enjoy the warm weather.
We have had a few early season snows this year and this afternoon we were surprised by a few inches that wasn’t even predicted. I think we ended up having around 3 inches by the time it stopped. The older kids aren’t as interested anymore, but Lucia and Rose had a blast.
It was a nice day today so we headed back to Pumpkinville to find some more clues in the maze. You would think it would have been much easier in the daylight, but we actually only found the same number as we did in the dark.
It is not very often that I post without pictures, but tonight we went to a pumpkin patch and corn maze in Mitchellville, just outside of Des Moines, and had a great time. We are celebrating Andrew’s birthday tomorrow night and we were looking for something to do on his actual birthday. The Reagens recommended the corn maze and we all met up just before the entrance closed at 8. We spent a little over an hour in the maze before sitting around a fire until a little after 10. When our cars were the last ones in the lot we felt it was probably time to leave. The funniest thing is that the boys group, Andrew, Ian, Cameron, and Elliot, spent a long time doing the corn maze blindfolded. It was a challenge under normal conditions and I am not sure how they did it.
Oh, and Happy Birthday, Andrew! More to come on that. . .
This afternoon Susan and I took off work to take Lucia and Rose to Howell’s Pumpkin Patch. I am not sure they got the apostrophe at the right place, but we all had fun anyways. Lucia and Rose loved every minute of it! We used to have more opportunities to do things like this with the older kids, but their schedules create more conflicts that we have to work around.
My uncle Tom, who lives in Colorado Springs, has not been doing well. His mental and physical health have been declining and I had the opportunity to go visit with him for a few days at the end of last week. Susan stayed home on kid duty and I spent my days visiting with Tom, making time for a hike each day.
No soccer games today, so Elliot and I took Lucia out for her first mountain biking. She was a little nervous, but had fun and said she wants to go again.
Susan and I took the afternoon off today to take Lucia and Rose on a ‘field trip’ to Jester Park. We used to be able to do this sort of thing more often with the big kids, but with the big kids’ activities it can be a challenge these days. We enjoyed learning about the different habitats at Jester Park.
