An Afternoon at Klackles Orchard

We have an apple orchard/pumpkin patch/family fun area about 40 minutes from our house called Klackles Orchard. We usually go a couple of times a year, once for apples and once for pumpkins. My father-in-law is up visiting from Arkansas so thought we would take him to Klackles and show him what an apple orchard/pumpkin patch was like.
We take this picture every year. Kinda fun to see how much they change in the year.
Since we were there during the weekday, it is not very busy. Without it being super-busy there was not as much running as normal. On the weekend there are continual rides to the orchard parts, but since it wasn't very busy we had to wait about 30-45 minutes for our ride so we killed time in the family fun area.
There were a couple of new things since we were there last year. One section is the "Wild West Klackleville" area. There were 5-6 different "buildings" from the Wild West.
One building was a jail where all 3 Marcs got thrown in jail.


Another building was a saloon. They had tables set up with card games and drinks. Marc didn't know it was supposed to be beer and he was pretending to be thirsty and taking a sip.
There was a stagecoach that Marc wanted to go in and look and Samantha was getting antsy to get out of the stroller so we went in. I thought it was a cute photo op.
There was also a horse-drawn wagon that was a good stage for some more photo ops.

Another part of the family fun area is a track to race foot-pedal-powered cars/bikes. The 3 Marcs had a race. The winner is still unclear due to bumping and rule-breaking. ;) I think Marc III should be the official winner since he didn't break and rules. ;)
There are a couple of tented areas for kids to drive tractors and trikes. The kids had fun. Marc was able to drive them on his own, but I had to help Samantha, especially because of her arm.



Since Marc got some practice driving the little tractor, we thought he was ready to drive the big tractor now.
It was finally time for our ride out to the orchards. On the bust weekends there is a wagon ride to the apple orchard and an enchanted pumpkin wagon to the pumpkin patch. Since they weren't that busy, we rode the pumpkin ride out to the apple orchard and then to the pumpkin patch. We're ready for our ride!
Sorry for the blurriness of some of the pictures, the ride was very bumpy!


Our first stop was to pick some apples. Here are lots of really cute pictures of the kiddos. :)

Marc picking apples

Marc showing me his apple

Samantha thought it was cool that there were apples on the trees

Yum!

Can I pick those too?

I LOVE this picture!!

Marc and Samantha showing us their apples

and eating a bite of them

After we picked our apples, the next stop was the pumpkin patch. The only pumpkins still on the vines were small ones (all the big ones had already been picked and taken up to the store). We had small ones from his field trip, but I wanted a few pictures of my little punkins in the pumpkin patch.

Samantha thought they were neat

Both my kiddos posing for a picture

Every year we take this picture too, since the kids are the apples of our eyes! :)


There is a wooden train that the kids can "drive" and ring the bell. Every year Marc enjoys this.

Marc lead me though the kids maze. We took a few wrong turns, but eventually made it out safely.
The weather was cold and windy, but we still had a great time. We spent 3 hours there! :)

Fun at Chuck E Cheese

Every time Marc Sr comes up for a visit, we always end up at Chuck E Cheese some night for dinner and play time. This trip was no different. Samantha had a BLAST in the toddler climbing area. We didn't know if she would go up into the little climber (it has like 3 steps to get inside) with her splint on, but we let her try. She did great!She climbed up the stairs, crawled across, and slid down the slide (with a little help from Bumpa).
My "big toddler" decided to crawl up and play with his little sister. ;)
Then they both wanted to go down the slide again.
Samantha was SO excited to be up in the climber that she kept squealing! Every time she caught one of us looking at her, she would squeal. It was so cute! I don't think I have ever seen her get SO excited before. :)
She had fun peeking around the corner of the wall at me and "booing" me. :)
Last time we went to CEC she wasn't big enough to go in the toddler area yet. This time we were worried that she wouldn't be able to do it because of her arm, but she did awesome. I have a feeling the toddler area will bemore a permanent part of our trips to CEC..well, as long as she is still a toddler.

Apples, Apples, Apples

Last week we went on Marc's field trip to Klackes and came home with lost of apples (which we used some to made home made apple crisp). We had too many to fit in the fridge so I put them in a basket. Samantha has enjoyed "exploring" them.
Marc picked one apple that is really small. He said it was cute. It just also happend to be the perfect size for Samantha's hand.I took that apple out her mouth (they haven't been washed yet), so she decided to pick out another one. Here she is looking through the basket.
"Look Mom, this is my next choice."
Then Marc decided to come over and join in on the "exploration" session. ;)
The other day I said "apple", so Samantha tried to say it too, but it didn't come out as apple. So, here, inthis video you will here how she says apple and Marc trying to teach her to say it correctly. Super Cute!

I love all of the new exploring she is doing. It is so much fun to see her growing and maturing. :)

Some Assembly Required

At Chandler Woods they have assembly 2-3 times a week. At each assembly all of the kids (Grades K-8th) get together in the gym and they talk about general rules and policies, and issues that are going on, and the moral of the month. Each assembly 1 class "leads" the assembly by doing something up in front. This week Monday (the 19th) the kindergarten classes were the leaders. The moral of the month is "Respect" so the kids (all 42 AM kindergartners) sand a song about respect. I was working but luckily Marc Jr had the week off since his Dad is in town so Daddy and Bumpa got to be there for his assembly performance.

Unfortunately, the expressway that we take to school was a parking lot due to an accident so Marc was a couple of minutes late getting into the assembly, but he got to sing most of the song. It is very cute. Enjoy!

Wal-Mart Trick-or-Treating

On Saturday, October 17th, we popped into the Wal-Mart on Alpine to pick up a couple of things for Marc Sr. Well, to our surprise, there was a Halloween game/trick-or-treating event going on! :)
Marc got to decorate a cupcake......play toss the eye ball into the spot.....

turn a sucker into a ghost.....
play pin the nose on the pumpkin.....
pick a spider with a white belly......
shoot some hoops.....
and get a tattoo.
Here is his finished product.
We got there about 7:30 and it ended at 8"00 so we hurried through so he could get to all the stations around the store. It was fast but fun! :)

Kindergarten Klackles Field Trip

Marc had his first kindergarten field trip on Friday, October 16th. We went to Klackles Orchard. Daddy was able to take the morning off and Samantha went to childcare so we both got to go with him, which was nice. :)

They start out by having all the kids (42 to be exact) sit at the picnic tables and learn about how the apple trees get pollinated and grow and how pumpkins grow.After their lesson, we all hopped on a wagon ride to go pick some apples. Each one of us got to pick a small bag of apples to take home and one to eat.
Marc and his friend Katerie.
Marc and his friend Ainsley.
After we picked our apples, we each got to pick a pumpkin. The kids thought it was fuuny when the tour man told them they could pick a pumpkin "the size of their head".
After picking the pumpkins, we all hopped on the wagon again, and rode back up to the picnic tables for cider and donuts. YUM!
It was very cold, but a lot of fun. We enjoyed watching Marc interact with the kids in his class. Just as a side note.....he chose to spend his time with the girls. ;)

Downtown Rockford Fun!

Sorry I am so far behind in updating this...we have been busy. I am hoping to get caught up in the next few days. :)

We went Downtown Rockford on Saturday, October 11th for some fun.
There was a workshop called "Young Fun". There 20 or so business that deal with early childhood that were in 1 building. Each business had to have a craft or activity for the kids to do. My preschool participated several years ago and thought it was a cute idea so we went to check it out this year. We discovered that Marc was too old for it and Samantha was too young. Marc still enjoyed doing some of the activities even though the were really easy for him. Samantha, being 18 months and down an arm, the only thing we found for her to do was make a bingo dauber picture...which she LOVED doing! :)
After Young Fun we went downtown and did some of their Harvest Festival activities. The most fun one we did was trick-or -treating at the businesses. They way downtown is set up, there are several business that make a big circle. So, the kids walk about the circle block and there is a business employee sitting outside their door handing out candy to the kids as they walk by. Last year Samantha was too little to remember Halloween and trick-or-treating so this was a new experience for her. After the first person put candy in her pumpkin, she took it out and just stared at it!


Luckily, her big brother Marc showed her the ropes of trick-or-treating. ;) Marc was Clark Kent in the process of changing into Superman and Samantha was the cutest little lady bug ever! We had to find a costume that could go over her big splint! They both came home with a decent amount of candy for a 15 minute trick-or-treating session. ;)







Looking forward to more Halloween festivities to come! :)