Trip to the Cider Mill

Last Sunday, NanaB and GrandDad took Charlotte and me to the Rochester Mills Cider Mill, one of the Rochester area's four cider mills.  

NanaB chose this cider mill for Charlotte because it had some fun things for pre-schoolers, like sheep to pet . . .

 . . . and hay bales to climb.  (Even NanaB climbed some hay bales, too.)

Yay!

After playing outside, we headed in.

Charlotte picked out a little pumpkin.

The cider mill had a great selection of pumpkins and gourds.

NanaB and a display.

Being a cider mill, they had lots of apples for sale.

Here's the cider press in action.

We settled down with cider mill donuts and cider for a mid-morning snack.

Mmmm.  Cider mill donuts . . . . with sprinkles!

There's just something nice about a place that advertises "pies" on the building . . .

My traveling buddy on his trip to (and from) Dallas

Hey!  There are planes outside the window!  PLANES, MOMMY!

I love love love the play area outside Gate C18.  I think I went down this slide 49 times.

Holy cow!  This plane is so cool!  And I got my own seat!!

Those dudes out there with the luggage sure are having fun throwing those bags around.

I think Bubba Bear needs me to feed him some pretzels.

Now that we're on our way home from Dallas, I can honestly say that I love to fly on an airplane.

And I seriously LOVE these little bags of pretzels.

All right!  Last plane from Houston to Nashville.  Let's get this puppy off the ground!

What?  Whaddya mean this flight is full and I have to sit on your lap?  I think I should demand to play with my cars the whole time and throw a fit if you don't pick them up immediately every time I drop them accidentallyonpurpose.  It shouldn't be a problem for you to bend down to blindly grope around on that dirty airplane floor to retrieve my cars with me sitting on your lap and sitting next to a guy with the broadest shoulders in the world, right?  Right??

[Actually, Petey was a pretty darn good boy on the airplanes.  He didn't fly nearly as much as his sister did in her first few years of life, but you would never know he's not a seasoned pro.  Soon he'll be too old to be a lap child and I'll have to pony up and buy him his own seat on an airplane.  He's growing up so fast!]

Peter messes with Texas

Peter and I dropped Charlotte and Corey off at the airport on Friday and were anticipating a quiet weekend home alone without them.  Then, my mom called at about mid-morning and convinced Peter and I to use a free ticket to fly to Texas for the weekend.  I called Corey and it was decided that Petey and I were Texas bound.  A few hours later, we were back at the airport -- this time to hop on a plane ourselves!

We got in pretty late Friday night, and Petey went to bed without complaint.  Saturday morning, Petey and Grandpa Spike were goofing off right from the start.

It's always fun to see my mom's ultra-clean house assaulted by the toddler food explosion.  Peter was in especially messy form that morning.

We took a walk through the beautiful path winding through the neighborhood and imagined how much fun all three kids would have there over Thanksgiving.  Peter could have thrown rocks into the little creek we found all day long.

Peter insisted on using the lawnmower on the driveway.  He kept calling it a "car-car" of course.

It must have been the novelty of being the only kid there and enjoying the undivided attention of three adults, but Petey was a pretty darn good boy during lunch at Stir Crazy.

After Petey took a great three-hour nap, we headed to the neighborhood's Octoberfest.  We put one of Grandpa Spike's hats and a name tag on his back and set him loose to flirt with the herd of little girls running around.

Peter got a dragon tat to make him look tougher.

His favorite part of the party was this terrier puppy who gave him all sorts of love.

After we ditched the party, Petey had a brilliant idea!

Let's heat up the hot tub and take a dip!

Hot tub hijinks!

I have no idea what they were doing there.

Sunday morning, we zipped over to a local elementary school's playground to, well, play.

Both Petey and Grandpa Spike thought it was the height of comedy to slide down on their tummies and crash into each other.

Peter Knievel!

Peter didn't understand why we sat him on this big green blob.

Petey and Grandpa discussed strategy for their next game.

Cheesy!

We were wondering if Petey would be able to hold on to the bar, so we put him to the test.  He held on like a champ and started making monkey noises all on his own.  What a little monkey boy!

Grandpa helped a little with some pull-ups, then Petey and I ate a quick lunch and flew home.  We had just enough time to retrieve the Big Red Van from the economy lot before Corey and Charlotte's flight from Detroit arrived.

The dynamic duo was reunited, and all was well with the world.

Thank you so much, Grandma JoJo and Grandpa Spike, for flying us down to Texas!  We had a blast on our whirlwind trip and can't wait to see you in a few weeks in Indiana for the IU/Northwestern football game.

Charlie Jo at MSU

This weekend, NanaB, GrandDad, and I took Charlie to my beloved MSU for the first time.  We took her up on October 15, the day of the MSU/UM game.  We did not go to the game, but took in the sights and sounds of the campus.  We started at Beaumont Tower.

After that, Charlie tailgated with Mr. Drew and Miss Kym.

After socializing a little bit, we took Charlie up to Adams Field, where the Spartan Marching Band assembles before each game.  We found the Baritone section.

It was fun to watch all the action on Adams Field before the game.  Each section warmed up, going through their traditional pregame rituals.  Some things never change, and that's a good thing.

Charlie met this member of the Color Guard.  Charlotte's mommy and Aunt Stephanie used to march in the color guards at Duke and MSU.

After the sections warmed up, then the whole band assembled.

Professor Madden conducts the SMB through their warm-up exercises.   After each song, Charlie yelled "Good job, Band!"

After the band warmed up, Professor Madden announced that the band would begin their traditional "March to the Stadium" in seven minutes.  The crowd headed down across the Red Cedar to wait for the band.

On the way over to our parade-watching position, Charlie gleefully participated in the random chants of "Go Green, Go White" that echo around campus before games.  She even high-fived people coming by. She especially enjoyed using her "Go Green, Go White" gloves that NanaB made her.

Sparty led the band.  Even though Charlie did not get to meet him personally, she was delighted to see him up close.

The Big Ten Flags came next . . .

and then the Color Guard . . .

After the band went by, Charlie insisted that we follow them to Spartan Stadium.

As we walked back to take pictures with The Spartan statue, I found this Cadillac.  Green, White and 455 cubic inches of V8 Detroit glory!

CJS, CJS, and The Spartan.

Three lifetime Spartans.

We really enjoyed taking Charlie to MSU, and she had a blast.  I can't wait to introduce Peter to MSU, and for many more campus visits with the kids.

As the game kicked off, we headed for lunch and for home and listened to the game on the radio.  We pulled into the drive way at Cobb Creek just as the Spartans defeated the Wolverines for the 4th time in a row.  

That means that UM has never beaten MSU in football in Charlie (and Quinn and Peter and Maisie's) lifetime. 

Go State!