Fall Fun 2014

October is quickly coming to a close and you know we never slow down, so I combined a few of our fall activities into one post. One of the things we try to do every year is go to a pumpkin patch and there is no shortage of them in Michigan.  In our short time living in Michigan (both times) we have been to a total of four different pumpkin patches.  This year we went to the Three Cedars Farm and Cider Mill in a town two north from ours.  Their apple cider donuts are amazing!!!

Starting off with some donuts and cider.

They have a large playground and farm animals outside, so the kids were free to run around and check everything out.

Petting a bunny.

Sliding with Sophia.

Time for a hay ride to pick out a pumpkin.  Brady insisted on sitting by the girls' Grandma Nancy.  Poor Emma got stung by a yellow jacket on the playground.

It took a while to find a pumpkin that didn't have a hole in it, suggesting bugs had gotten inside, but eventually we did.

It was a bit too heavy, but both kids attempted to pick it up.  Izzie's groaning while she tried was priceless!

We had some really mild weather about a week ago and a decent amount of dry days in a row, so we decided this was the perfect window to jump in the leaves.  Brady was beyond excited and dove right in.

We had to throw Izzie in as she wouldn't walk in and she walked right out.  She wouldn't go near the pile again.  Maybe next year.

Izzie hung out on the playset the majority of the time outside.

Andy turned the leaf blower on her and she thought it was pretty funny for a while until it wasn't anymore.

Michigan Renaissance Festival

In mid-September, we decided to go to the Michigan Renaissance Festival with our friends and neighbors, the Krause family.  They go every year and we hadn't been yet since moving to Michigan, though I'd been the the one outside of Pittsburgh growing up.  Since there's only one for the entire state, it was quite large, and we knew to get there as soon as it opened.  It was a little over an hour drive north from where we live and we spent a good part of the day there.  As we were leaving in mid-afternoon, the line of cars just to get into the parking lot stretched for miles leading back to the highway.

Brady was asked to dance in the opening ceremony.

 The Queen

Brady and Sophia with a couple of fairies. 

Getting rings from the Queen. 

 King Brady

 King Brady with Queen Sophia

 Princess Izzie

 Shooting a bow and arrow.

 Brady had to catch the leprechaun in order to get chocolate gold coins.

 With a knight.

 Meeting a mermaid

 Brady got sprinkled with fairy dust.  This was before he got beer poured on him, poor kid.

 Andy on the Iron Throne.

 The jousting show.  We sat on the benches waiting for 45 min before the show started so we would have seats and there was a lot of talking and joking and not much action, so my kids lost interest quickly.