Apples and Scarecrows, Oh My!

Please excuse the title of this post. Between my middle daughter talking about the Wizard of Oz as a political allegory and one of the pictures below, this is what came to mind. First, however, is a picture of what I think is an unusual sunflower. At least I haven't seen one like it. Three blooms on one stem.

Last weekend we went to a nearby orchard and picked Haralson apples. It was a beautiful day! Some of us like to climb up right next to the apples.

Sorry honey, but someone had to take the picture! The wagon belongs to the orchard. We never had one at home so it is all part of the experience.

There are other activities like climbing up on a huge pile of hay and goofing around. There were also a couple of mazes (not pictured).

Then we looked at the scarecrow contest entries. Here are a few favorites.

Of course the above entry was particulary funny this year. I wonder if we'll remember Cash for Clunkers 20 years from now?

Here is a well done traditional display.

And I'll leave you with this thought.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

The girls and I saw this last Friday. It was cute and it was nice to see the nerdy underdogs become heroes. I felt full after watching all that food and when it was done it was time for dinner!

Favorites

I just finished this book and I highly recommend it! The main character is a single woman in her 30's who ends up temporarily being the owner of a small town newspaper in Louisiana. I enjoyed getting to know her and the rest of the folks in Green. The newest resident helps the town as much as it helps her. I'm going to see if the sequel has been published yet.

It's the time of year when we usually start buying this. Sticky, but oh so good!

Senior Year

The oldest started her senior year of high school on August 28th. Time flies........

A New Start

On Labor Day, we were all a little creative. The youngest and I finished work on the tote bag we started many months ago. She did the sewing and pinning and I did the cutting and ironing. It came out nicely.

This definitely was the summer of nail polish--many colors, multicolored nails and nails with designs.

There was reading all summer. Some of it was for school. This was the night before the first day. Just making sure it was all under control!

All set!

The start of a brand new school year.

Visiting

Over the holiday weekend we took a trip to visit hubby's father and his brother's family. On Friday evening we had a summertime meal of grilled burgers and chicken with fresh fruit, baked beans and, of course, corn on the cob. Here is the youngest with her uncle looking for some good ears.

An 85th birthday was also celebrated with my father-in-law. I only hope I am doing this well at 85!

We had an extra guest spend the night at the hotel with us. The girls and their cousin had fun swimming on Saturday morning. In the afternoon we played mini-golf and some of us did this.

Followed by this, which got people a little wet.

And then, to get really wet, you did this! It was great weather and a fun weekend to end the summer.

The State Fair

It is an annual tradition to go to the State Fair. We started this year's visit in the building where baby animals are born. The Future Farmers of America were taking pictures as a fund raiser. The day was rather chilly to start with so we're all in our jackets.

The younger two love the giant slide--almost as much as we love taking pictures whenever we see one of these cutouts.

This was our 1st food stop. We split a basket. I wanted a picture to show the signs above each window that say which mouse hole you are in front of! It's hard to read them at this size. Sorry!

After some rides, stopping for mini-donuts covered with cinnamon and sugar is a must!

Everyone but me took a skyride. I was busy looking at a few things that aren't as popular with the rest of the family. You can see that the sidewalks and streets were pretty full. The weather was so nice and it was the weekend. I believe I read that over 190,000 people were there the day we were.

Time for another ride on the giant slide!

We did not get a picture of the booth that sells buckets of warm chocolate chip cookies. That was our last stop of the day. The husbands braved the throng while families waited in less chaotic locations for their hero to arrive with the cookies. Yum! Can't wait til next year!