Simpler Times?

My daughter Morgan and I took a horseback ride to The Red Mill in Waupaca on Sunday. A place we have visited hundreds of times as shes grown but traveled by vehicle and recently UTV many many times. It usually would have been roughly an 8 -10 minute drive. Reminder, it's Sunday November 13th in Wisconsin and 36 degrees. Why not mount up and take a ride for distance right?

The fall day was biting cold yet beautiful. The wind was crisp, the leather saddles were stiff, and the steam from our horses nostrils and the on and off small snowflakes were a definite reminder that summer of 2022 is completely over. It took 4 hours round trip to get coffee from our hidden gem. An unforgettable adventure. We figured out later that we traveled 14 miles!

Teachers when we talk about the "olden days" to young minds and refer to them as "simpler times"... I must interject. Morgan and I were discussing our distance on our ride and trying to estimate how far we had traveled but judgement is completely distorted when riding a horse vs driving an automobile. Distance and time for a trek like this are completely underestimated when you have to think about it because you dont take this trip regularly on a living animal. A trip to the grocery store would be a day trip by horseback, not minutes... so who really is living in simpler times? I'm not even getting into the discussion of refrigeration or electricity.

 This time with my soon to be 18 year old daughter (who will be leaving next fall for college outwest) on horseback was something I will never forget. This valuable time together that includes the usual beginning ride bickering at eachother and turns into relaxation and reminiscing, laughing and an all around good time is something I have been consciously trying to remind myself are numbered. I remind myself to soak it all in and wish for time to slow down. The days of me being able to go to her room in the morning and say, "Hey Morgan it's a beautiful day outside do you want to go for a horseback ride?" are coming to a close. A new life chapter is on the horizon. I wish I took more pictures of our trip but fingers were frozen.

What Children?

Fall is here! The leaves are changing and it is beautiful. The kids are enjoying playing in the leaves and doing the fall cleanup around the house. Morgan wants to save all the pretty leaves and not have them be part of the leaf pile but Myles insists it would take forever to take out all the ones she wants to keep. They compromise and Morgan saves a few... On with the raking and jumping, and re-raking to higher heights, and more jumping. If you remember about a decade ago the "Crop Circle" scare. Well my children have designed the equivelent out of all of the leaves in our backyard.

Myles: "Don't mow them mom...they are our leaf forts."

It was creative so I left them alone. I put away the lawnmower till next year.



Above: Myles dawing on his pumpkin design.
Left: Morgan stabbing her saw into the Pumpkin flesh.



Pumpkin carving this year was a cinch! Myles and Morgan did almost all of their pumpkins all by themselves. However, I did volunteer to draw on Morgans silly face for her, Myles did do his own. They did all the cutting out with those special pumpkin carving kid friendly saws. (great invention by the way) They turned out quite splendid. They loved the gutting part. The messy stuff is always the best.

 

Sunsets are at their fall peak. We love driving around in the country and looking at the skys bright colors. Morgan loves the Purple, Pink, and Bright Blues. Myles likes the Burning Orange, Red and Yellow ones. I just love the sunsets all together. They are never the same. Just Awesome.

oh my gosh... you can tell who they are again.

the face paint has worn off after a long night of
trick~or~ treating and visiting family.

Today is one of my most favorite holidays. I take pride in dressing up my children in the not so normal once a year just to see the delight on their faces when they look in the mirror and check to see if anything on them is recognisable. This year Myles was a Demon (so fitting because lately he has been the deciever of our two bright children) and Morgan was a spider witch (not so fitting because she hates spiders, but these ones were pretty purple and black and sparkely!)

Summer Fun!

Morgan in the Butterfly House at Mosquito Hill Nature Center 



Miss Morgan Holding a Beautiful Monarch



Myles and Cub Scout Friends at Bay Beach on the Swings.



Morgan and Daddy on the Bumper Cars at Bay Beach.

Myles Fishing at Rich Lake



Myles and one of the little ones.



Myles and one of the Bigger ones. (Still not a keeper)

Morgan eating at the Lost Cousins Reunion

Reunion Fire Works over Rich lake.

Fishing With Friends & Signs Of Fall

A couple of weeks ago I took Myles and Morgan Fishing... and like all kids they like casting and winding the best. We had a few bites but no catch at the end of the day.


Morgan hoping for the first bite




Myles using his spinner. "The Lucky one"





More hoping and praying from everyone

  I on the other hand was looking at the nature surrounding us when this came into view.




Monarch cattipillar!

And yet another one!!!



Munching on milkweed!

 Just a cool thing to see. Yet sad... Fall is comming. The good news, cooler nights, warm fires, and chili cookoffs!!! Yippeee. Don't forget the pie. (whatever your favorite is)



Then this!

The sun was setting so we wrapped up and went home. No fish but plenty of fresh air and fun times.

Camping Vacation!

Matt & I took our two Children Myles 7 and Morgan 5 on our second annual family camping trip this time to Tranquil Timbers in Sturgeon Bay, WI. It was chilly but worth every peaceful minute.

The views were spectacular!!

We camp every year with my friend Kris, her husband Tim and their two boys who are friends of our children from school, so it works out well for all of us. As a team effort we tried to to something different every day, but the biking and hiking was by far the highlight of this trip. Here are some examples of what we saw on one of our biking trips.

Myles and Morgan are at the top of this 75 foot tower looking out at some Islands. One of which Myles named Dodge Island...

Here are some more views from the top of the tower and pictures of us...

Here is a picture of some of the tower... I was trying to get the picture from my bike without sun glare... so it is not the whole tower.

On our way back down the bike trail we came upon some caves with awesome root exposed trees. I got the bright idea to snap some photos of us having fun in and on them. Here they are...

Myles and Morgan on trees extending out like benches!

Myles and Morgan on Natural Rock ledge

All of us taking a seat on the rocks

The kids in the cave. Maybe they should have left the helmets on?

and finally our ride back to camp. Morgan was a little trouper her first real bike ride and she did it twice! With a little help from dad on the way up the last hill back.

When we returned to camp all four children wanted to take their last summer swim. So they did...



Myles and his classic flying side kick!!!!





Morgan getting one last piggy-back ride from Ben.
Till next year anyway. 



 This was a the best end to summer!