Last Tuesday, September 8, 2015, Ezri started her first "official" day of Kindergarten!!!
She was so excited to have a special sign for her special day and happy to begin school. I feel like I got off a little easy as, unlike many of my dear friends on this momentous day, I did not have to send my baby away. We have chosen to homeschool, and have been doing so to some extent for over a year now, but this begins our official journey. So, after a picture and a little celebration, we went right back to doing what we had been the weeks before, working on learning to read :)
Our days remain much the same as they had been, we just spend a bit more time working on the learning portion. However, there is still plenty of time for play! The girls decided one morning that they should dress as ballerinas.
They were beside themselves when they discovered Tierney also had a ballerina outfit to look just like them!
Tierney was just happy to be included in the fun.
Each of the girls had to then show me their special dances...
Or, show me how un-impressed they were with having to wait.
The Allegan County Fair came to town last weekend, so on Sunday we headed down to check things out with Andy, Jay & Becci. The girls had a great time in the "Farmer For A Day" exhibit, digging potatoes...
Milking the cow...
Picking apples and gathering eggs too!
Alora may or may not have sampled a few apples, as one just was not enough!
We walked around, spent some time checking out the animals, walking though the various barns and playing our own version of a scavenger hunt, people version. We found plenty of fun along the way!
At the tractors, the girls discovered one particular machine to be quite entertaining as it was so big that they could not only climb onto the tire rim,
but inside it as well!
On Monday, the girls and I met up with a friend and her son to go back to the fair to watch my cousin show her steer. In between the showing, we checked out the fair together and found ourselves spending considerable time in the exotic animal tent. Today, unlike the day before, there were very few people and we were able to see all of the animals up close, and most were awake and moving around. I spent a few dollars to buy some food and the kids had such fun feeding them, especially Tierney!
After some lunch and a couple more hours walking the fair, we headed back toward home to drop Kelly off and pick Daddy up so we could return for the rides and parade!
Poor Tierney was too little to do anything but ride the carousel, but when we finally got there it was worth the wait! She was full of squeals and giggles the entire ride.
Her big sisters (and Mommy) enjoyed themselves too!
We ended the day watching the parade together with some family and gathering up quite the stash of candy.
The remainder of our week brought some warmer days, thankfully, and I spent a couple of days washing and waxing the car and van with a little help. The water and mud were too tempting on Thursday as I worked on the van, and pretty soon I had some very dirty little piggies running the yard.
Saturday morning, we made plans to visit an apple orchard with friends. Before we could go, Daddy had to finish some work, so the girls and I took a short bike ride to the bank while we waited. This was Ezri's first real ride without training wheels and she did great! She has mastered that skill and rides so well now, taking off with confidence and without any help. There is no stopping that girl!
Saturday afternoon, we headed to Gull Meadow Farms in Richland. There, we discovered so much more fun than we could have imagined. There was an entire area just for the kids to jump, climb, discover, explore and play, complete with a tractor ride...
plenty of photo opportunities,
duck races,
an obstacle course,
places to climb,
and two huge bounce pads! All of the kids (big and little) enjoyed this area immensely!
There were so many fun things to do! After we left the kids' area, we headed to watch the apple cannons and visit the barn where we could pet animals. Alora and Tierney really enjoyed petting the goats and feeding them any bits of food they could find.
Beyond that were three huge slides which drew our attention for quite some time.
We went on a couple of different tractor rides around the farm too.
Before we headed off to the corn maze, the older kids wanted to try their hand at roping.
Tierney was more interested in feeding Mommy her snack.
We wrapped up our afternoon with a trip to the corn maze where we got lost together for a short time before finding our way back out. We had an amazing afternoon together! Well past feeding time for the littles, we grabbed some quick food at "Donald Doo's" and headed for home where Ezri, Alora, Travis and Emmett fell asleep to a movie or shortly after it ended. There were some very tired kids in that room!
Though we did not get a chance to visit the orchard or pick apples, it was a perfect near-fall day together. That just means we get to have another orchard adventure in the coming weeks :)
