all aboard

This was probably my favorite field trip ever!! We drove down to French Lick last Friday (I know, funny name - sounds scandalous) to take a 1 hour train ride. Rickety and unleveled this 1920's train was. I'm surprised we didn't tip over! The kids thought it was so exciting and had a grand old time bumping along, eating snacks, and talking. We passed through a half mile, pitch black, tunnel. The fall colors made an amazing background. Oh, and we passed Larry Bird's home - where he grew up. Nothing fantastic, just a humble house. Funny French Lick's claim to fame is that they are the hometown of Larry Bird. I guess he grew up on the right side of the tracks.

applacres

I set up a Field Trip Friday group over the summer - to explore the wonders of Indiana. Last Friday we went apple picking at Applacres [sic]. It was a perfect day and we had a cute crowd of pint sized pickers! The apples were at perfect picking height. Ty had his picking strategy down, making sure to twist the apple off instead of yanking it off. Beckham thought it was better to pick them off the ground. They all had a great time eating their hand picked apples - and now I am left with a 5lb bag of apples and no idea how we are going to consume them all. Any fun recipes you want to share with me?

Two little apples up in the tree,
One for you and one for me.
I shook that tree as hard as I could,
And down came the apples, mmm they were good!

Some of our field trippers.

Honey Farm

The field trip group visited the quaint local honey farm. The sights were beautiful and it was so interesting. They showed us the whole process of making honey and at the end the kids got to make their own honey wax candles. This family that runs the operation brings their honey and products to the Bloomington farmer's market. 

Ty and D posing by the bees!

wheeler farm

TyTy's commentary on our trip to wheeler farm:

I liked Wheeler Farm, we were touching the water when we got in the pond. And we had fun playing there really good. And we were enjoying ourselves. The girl horsey with the white ear and white hip bite me a little bit but it didn't hurt me that bad. And we were saying "go ba ba!" and that was so funny. And then we were sitting on a tractor getting a picture. I said, "cheese." Amen. Ha haha ha. That's so funny! And I said, "Can I pet him?" and you said, "He'll probably bite ya." I said hi to the piggies.

fcmlkfzd

That stands for Freezing Cold Martin Luther King (Jr.) Free Zoo Day. Today is the only day of the year the zoo offers free admission, and like last year, the only day of the year that we will go - that is until we are finished with grad school. Here are a few pics of our day. The animals that were there braving the cold were all really active and the boys loved it. Our favorites this time around were the penguins and sharks. Ty got to touch a shark.