The Biggest Pile of Leaves We've Ever Seen!

We braved the cold weather today to letterbox in Peoria - where the LockSmiths and Shorty have been busy putting out new boxes! Thanks so much!!

We started at Glen Oak Park. After finding the first box, the kids & I headed to the big wooden playground to run off some energy. While heading to the playground, we were shocked & awed to find the biggest pile of leaves that we have ever seen! Katie's first thought was said out loud "Wouldn't that be a fun pile of leaves to jump in? I sure wish we could play in them". She started at the edge and was quickly walking through the middle. I picked up Maddie and tossed her in the leaves - only to lose her! I didn't realize that the pile was that high! Needless to say, she freaked out and didn't let me throw her in again! The other three loved it (Maddie did too, just on her own terms!). Here are some pictures and a video of them playing.

We were able to find the other box located in Glen Oak Park and then headed to find "Century", which was a tribute to Caterpillar. Next came the "Flintstone" series in Grandview Drive Park...we found two of the three stamps and headed up the bluff to locate "Autumn: Falling Leaves". Last stop was at the Forrest Park where Matt & the girls went out in search of "Autumn: Scarecrow". Matt also looked for "Falling Leaf" with no luck (again). Third time will hopefully work for us.

***Matt typing now***

Skeeter, Bug-a-Boo and I headed out for "Autumn: Scarecrow" (I mile long hike). We didn't have any difficulty finding this box, and the girls kept up with me even up the steep hill.

The most exciting part of this whole hike came when nearing the box and we saw about a dozen wild turkeys. As we neared the end of the clues we realized the turkeys were just feet from the tree in which the box was hidden.

The girls walked right up to the turkeys, that didn't seemed too concerned about this and only meandered away. Once we grabbed the box and stamped in, the turkeys were only about 20 feet away. The girls really enjoyed walking after the birds.

Once done, we tried to finish the loop, with no luck. The leaves on the trail were so thick we couldn't figure out what was a "trail" and what wasn't.

Rather than getting terribly lost, I decided to head back the way we came . . . back up the steep hill we went.

Now on to try "Falling Leaf" again. Last time we attempted it was about 90 degrees outside with about 90% humidity.

This time it was about 40 degrees and we were sprinkled with snowflakes.

We headed down another trail, this had to be the one. I was excited, as I thought we were near finding this elusive box.

We went up another steep hill, double around and up again. Alex spotted 4 deer up on another hill and we all stood and watched them.

The girls were absolutely the best little hikers ever -- WATCH OUT WISCONSIN HIKER!!! :-)

I estimate we hiked about 3 miles, up rather steep hills in the cold air. There was no bickering or complaining. They kept up with me, and smiled and laughed a lot. This hike, though coming up empty on "Falling Leaf", exemplifies that its not always about the "find."

The girls and I were away from the car for an hour and a half, and I can honestly say that I enjoyed every minute of it.

As an added bonus, the last short stretch before we got to the car, a herd (is that the right term?) of turkeys was in the middle of the trail. I couldn't believe how many there were!! I started counting and lost count at 39 . . . amazing!

The biggest bummer of this all, is that I left the camera in the van :-(

I did grab it and walked back to take a picture of some of the 40 turkeys eating the scraps from a bird feeder.

The Generosity of People

The kids & I went to pick up a child folding table & chairs yesterday. A very generous lady decided that she didn't need these items in her home anymore so she placed them on Freecycle. I was so excited when she emailed me to let me know that we could have the table. Later, when we talked on the phone, she asked me if I would be interested in a wooden rocking car for the kids. I wasn't sure what it looked like, but told her I would love to look at it. I was even more excited when I saw the car! It is in great shape and to say that the kids like it is an understatement! Debbie - thank you so much for giving up these items and for choosing our home for these things to go to. They will both be used for years to come. When my kids have outgrown them, they will continue to be passed on. God bless you!

Letterboxing in Nauvoo

We love Indian summers! Saturday, we were blessed with another beautiful day and we headed to the Nauvoo, IL area to letterbox. The sun was shining and the fall colors were gorgeous. We had a successful day, for the most part, with finding boxes. Wrong Way has been very busy in this part of Illinois, and we are SOOOO excited to have some new hunting grounds within a few hours of us! If you haven't heard of Nauvoo before, it is a small town on the Mississippi River where John Smith brought his church, Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Many settled in this community while others continued to Salt Lake City, UT with Brigham Young. It is a history filled area - the area has done a good job of keeping up the community.Wrong Way has placed "Nauvoo Adventure" right in Nauvoo. It is a series of 9 boxes, plus a bonus box. They did a good job of making it challenging! Only box 1 is listed on AQ, so you must find the box to continue to the next one. We had to stop after box 7 with no luck at finding box 8. It was probably best anyways since we needed to start heading back home for our sanity sake, if you know what I mean! We also found 4 boxes by Wrong Way in Dallas City, 1 box in Hamilton, 9 boxes in Nauvoo (one by Blackberry Patch and an exchange with Team the Cure, whom we ran into on the trail!) and re-stamped in at Bird Curve - a box that we had found before, but the stamp was missing. It has now been recarved and updated. A total of 15 boxes and one exchange. This put us over 400 boxes found!

Country Corner - Visiting the Pumpkin Patch

We headed out for one of our family traditions a few weeks ago...the pumpkin patch in Alpha, IL. We left first thing in the morning (the morning after Matt got home from Jamaica...so we had some family time of sharing our stories of being apart. So, our "first thing in the morning" was truly mid-morning). We got to Alpha around 10 and it was cold and windy. We walked around a bit and were disappointed to find most of the pumpkins gone. I can only assume that they hadn't replenished the pickins from the day before! Now, with 4 kids, we don't always buy a big pumpkin for all of them, but we love to use the backdrop of the rows of pumpkins for our pictures!

We walked around quite a bit, looked at the animals and decided to spend a lot of money to have all of us ride on the cow train! It was lots of fun and all of the kids enjoyed it. It was probably fun for the others waiting in line watching Matt & I try to get in & out of this little cow! You gotta admit that it is a cute idea.

Enjoy the fall everyone - winter will be here all too fast!!

Picture Day

We headed out to the Pollock's farm today to get our annual family pictures in the leaves. It was a beautiful day with lots of yellow/gold leaves to play in and use as a backdrop. Here are some pics from today...Notice Alex. She would have rather been eating her snack than having pictures taken. We did get her to laugh though by throwing leaves on Matt and him falling over because of that! Of course, by the time we got Alex smiling - Will was done! Hopefully they will give you a good chuckle.

Happy Halloween!!

Katie woke up on Friday morning and came running upstairs to yell, "Happy Halloween" (this was followed by "Happy November" the next day!). We don't go "all out" for Halloween. We let the kids dress up and have always found an alternative for them as opposed to hitting the streets to Trick or Treat. The past 3 years Matt's boss has opened up the building for a Halloween parade for the employee's children. It is hard to believe that the first year we did this, we had to carry Maddie & Will around since they were infants. This year, they were the first in line to get candy - often running ahead! Will quickly realized that people didn't mind him going back for seconds, thirds, etc! This parade is a blessing for our family. We enjoy it so much and it give the kids something to get excited about. I tried to get a few pictures of the kids in their costumes before heading to Matt's work...however, the twins were not cooperating and Alex had to be woken up from a nap, so she didn't care to have her picture taken! Oh memories...

We ended our evening by trick or treating at Grammy & Grandads, Aunt Barb & Uncle Willy's and Mel & Betty's houses. Uncle Steve & Aunt Teri put together a fall festival for us to enjoy and it was a success! We had lots of fun decorating pumpkins, eating yummy food and having a Harvest devotion led by Grandad.

Katie & Alex are dressed as Mary & Laura from Little House on the Prairie, Maddie is a cowgirl (minus her hat) and Will is a handyman (minus his hardhat...on ground behind Katie!)