Fun Weekend with Grammy T!

Sorry for the looooong delay...we're busy, busy right now preparing for our next big thing.

So Grammy T came into town last weekend and was able to enjoy the boys for a couple of days.

We had a little guy under the weather, but we were able to have some fun out and about St. Louis.

Grammy brought some fun stuff to play with (as Grammy's always do)....

And if you bring Legos for the big guy....he'll be happy as lark!

That "Little" Brother isn't so "Little" any more is he?  What a big guy E is becoming!

Grammy also brought these air powered rockets....

...and  you'll never guess where Daddy's first launch landed....DOH!

We extended Grammy's stay until Monday, Labor Day, because the first two days she was here it was 104F and we were cooped up inside all day.  Well luckily, Labor Day was beautiful here.  Temps in the lower 70s and just gorgeous....so where did we go?  Back to the Apple orchard of course!  (we have so many apples, they are literally growing out of our ears)

Mommy and the Mookie!

Daddy and the Adidas boys.

Gotta love those Frost Brothers....such unbelievable joys they are, in their own special way.  God I love them.

Apple Pickers, ready for the hunt!

Grammy got a GOOD one!

"Twist and Pull" Ethan!

We're done with this orchard, let's walk to the next one!?

Headin' back on Johnny Tractor with our Loot of Apples!

Nice Hair Spiky!

The beautiful countryside of  Eastern Illinois and the Mississippi River Basin.

We got lucky and saw that there were still blackberries to be picked. Grammy jumped all over that, she loves them blackberries!  We picked almost 7 lbs of them!!!!

Here we go:  One of the Christmas Pictures for our cards this year!  So perfect!

Aidan screamin' in the Lil Applecracker 500!

Tire Swingin'

Grammy loves them boys!

Grammy thank you so much for taking care of the boys this weekend.  You are so loved.

Thanks for reading...have a great night!

More fun begins tomorrow...check the blog Tuesday for details!

Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan

Eckert's Farm - An FFA Tradition!

Every year, we venture out on the last weekend or so to Eckert's in Grafton, Illinois to pick apples.  Although most apples are not yet ready, the best (in my opinion) are.  This year and every year, early season pick is the Honeycrisp apple!  Really great apple and we love them.

A little bummed this year to find out that our fun trip to Eckert's wouldn't include the Grafton Car Ferry.  It's been shut down due to money and other river related stuff going on.  So we had to go around the long way, it was a scenic drive though.

If you remember last year's post, Ethan said the word "apple" for the first time....if you could only hear that blabbermouth go now.  What a difference a year makes!

Once at the farm, we all were ready to go!  Onto Johnny Tractor it was to head back into the orchard to pick apples.

Those are some excited apple pickers are they!?

Let's do it, Aidan says!

The Brothers' Frost

"You got reach, Grab, Twist and Pull!"

Yeah, you got it big guy!

And that makes Three with Mookie's finds!

In the orchard with our loot!

Quite a nice day in Illinois on Saturday....notice the pumpkin patch there to the left.

And more pumpkins....still green though, not for long!

Here's the big guys after a successful apple picking bonanza!  Aid looks like he worked up a sweat!

As a special treat this year, blackberries on the vine were still available to be picked. So you KNOW Mommy had to get in on some of that action (Blackberries are Mommy's favorites, especially right off the vine).

As Emmy so eloquently stated, "We've found a perfect job for two 4 foot tall beings"....Picking Berries of course!  That Mookers was a champ!

Look at that little Blackberry Picker go!

He was the #1 winner of the day...and proud of it too!

Nothing beats a good pick like a picnic in the shade....

And then a run around the Applecracker 500...on a John Deere bike!

Or a few 100 times down the tube slide!

In the end, we did pretty well.  Over 40 apples and close to a half pound of blackberries.

Today we did our normal stuff and again the weather was gorgeous.  Low 80s and low humidity.  Perfect for breaking out the water play stuff to play in and water Daddy's miserable grass (seriously, look at that grass, looks like hay).

As always, Daddy had to show the boys that it was just water and not cold and a lot of fun!

Both guys got into it eventually!

But they sure love warming up in a nice towel, too!

That's all folks, should be a fun week ahead with Grammy T coming into town Thursday morning, we've got the boys all ready to have some fun with you!

Thanks for reading, have a great night.

Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan

Catchin' up!

Lot's of catchin' up to do before this big weekend.

First,  last weekend (and many weekends before, Daddy (and Mommy) have been completely redoing our Master Bedroom.  It started first with ripping out carpet, putting down luan, painting the ceiling and walls (multiple times) and then putting down a new floor and getting some furniture.  Well, the crazy IKEA trip is where we got most of our supplies and I'll say, it turned out real, real nice.

In the beginning, there was a Mookie in a blue sea of carpet padding....

 Then came luan and sleeping on the floor (and someone tagging up the walls)

Next the walls were magically painted and there was a laminate floor....

Finally a new space was created...and it was good!

So still some little things here and there needed to complete the room, but we're really happy on how it turned out!

Next, Aidan started with his Fall soccer team last weekend.  We headed up to a local indoor soccer facility (good thing because it poured the whole time) and had our first practice....here's the little kicker:

My motto, if you're not good, at least look good....check!  (but Aid actually is pretty decent)

Listening to his Coaches, Denny and Marva

Even Mooks got on the pitch for a little futbol action!

Such a big guy now huh?

Afterwards the indoor facility invited the boys up for playtime in the bounce house!

Our final big thing over the past week was that we (Auntie Elizabeth) came across some free tickets to the Cardinals game on Tuesday.  Although they were down 11-0 by the fourth inning, we still had a good time!

You know, we always seem to run into Fredbird...one of the best pics I think the fam has ever taken together.   Awesome!

Blimp!

The boys were very interested at watching the Metro train drive by....

It was a hot night, but our little Cardinals fans took it in stride!

In perhaps the last game we see Albert Pujols in person, here he is cracking (literally, look closely, he shattered his bat) the ball back to the pitcher for an out.  Most of the night was awful for the Cardinals players and they ended up losing 13-2. Ugh.

Finally, the game was attend by our friends Tracey, Tom and Tyler....here's big Ty with the Mooks and Nums.

That's all for tonight, we've got a big day planned for tomorrow...check back later!

Have a good night,

Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan