Fall is in the air

This was the last official camping weekend of the season at our local campground and we had some great fall weather - 70's by day and crisp evenings perfect for huddling around the fire.  We enjoyed a couple of nice hikes, some bike rides, dipped our feet in the chilly Coralville Lake, and the kids spend hours playing with their friends at a sandy playground.  We had an awesome first season with our camper and went on 10 camping trips spanning the state.  We're very excited to start planning our trips for next summer!
 

Sunrise, with mist rising off the Coralville Lake.  Yes, the kids woke us up early enough to see the sunrise, two days in a row :)

Haden's new pursuit at school is joining the Chess Club.  After hearing about this club, he insisted that Kye teach him how to play.  Kye spent each night last week teaching Haden the game and then he attended his first meeting on Friday.  I've never learned how to play and didn't really care to know, but I suppose I'll have to learn now so that I can play with Haden when Kye is busy.


Ok, so I've been couponing for a while now and James loves to work on his coupon binder too.  I give him expired coupons and other random papers to cut and he will sit and cut/organize his scraps of paper and then insists on bringing his binder to the store also.

Last weekend, the boys and I headed to a local apple orchard for their Johnny Appleseed festival.  Unfortunately, a cold spell early in the apple growing season caused the trees to produce few to no apples.  So, there weren't any apples to pick, but we still had fun on the tractor ride and they each picked small pumpkins.

 I love how the boys are so in sync in this pic!

 At first glance, it seems the boys are trying to think of a way to pick up the giant pumpkin, but they were really just studying the yellow ladybug type of bugs sitting on top of it!