What I Love About the Midwest (Part 2)

Apple picking!
I guess it doesn't hurt that the house we lived in the longest during my childhood (also by far my favorite house) had an apple orchard just beyond the backyard.

Just a week or so ago (see! I'm catching up again on posts! we've just jumped from Labor Day weekend to last week!) Pete and Eden and I headed up to Eckert's for a day o' family fun. Since it was a Friday, not all of the attractions were up and running (aka no pony rides), but it was also much less crowded and we didn't have to pay for anything. And it was even more fun than I expected! There was a kids' area with a big wooden play structure, tire swings, and lots of animals, a country store, and of course, apple orchards and a large pumpkin patch. Eden loved it all, especially the wagon ride (behind A TRACTOR) and the apple picking. I was surprised how much she liked picking the apples actually. She was very into deciding whether an apple was a "good one" or "yucky," and she loved putting them into our bag.

I think the pictures sum up the day best and there are quite a few of them, so enjoy!
Unsurprisingly, this is the first structure Eden wanted to climb in the play area.

Chickens! (Really, I promise they are there. Normal-sized, living chickens, mind you, not just big wooden ones.)

Goats!

Pigs!

The same pigs! (They warrant two pictures because they were adorable. Don't you judge me!)

And see! Here's a second picture of the goats as well. They were not as adorable. But they had this contraption in their pen that supposedly they climb up from time to time. I'm not sure why - perhaps so they can get a good look at their adorable neighbors. But I have to say, we did not witness any goat climbing while we were there. Makes me wonder if Eckert's is trying to pull a fast one.

Camel! Yeah, I'm confused on this one too.

Tortoise! Also a slightly confusing barnyard choice. But fortunate, as Eden is a big fan of tortoises.

She will tell you that they come from the "Glop-a-gose."

I love this kid.

This is practically the only picture where they are both looking at the camera. Punks.

Pun'kin.

Here comes the tractor and wagon to take us to the orchards.

Fun fact about Eden: often when she's really enjoying something she gets a very serious look on her face instead of smiling. She's done this every since she was a baby. I think it's because she's really focusing and concentrating? I don't know. But lots of experience makes me say with confidence that she is feeling much happier than she appears in the above photo.

Almost to the orchard!

And here is just a long sequence of Eden helping pick apples. I know I should have cut some of these pictures to make it shorter... but I couldn't.

Thank you, Eckert's! Eden still wants to know when we're going back to the farm.

What I Love About the Midwest (Part 1)

Festivals!!
Okay, I know all regions of the country have local festivals of one kind or another, but I really think the Midwest has the best.

Way back at the beginning of September we attended the Jersey County Victorian Festival at the historic 1866 Fulkerson Mansion. Since it was Eden's First Official Midwest Festival Experience we brought along the camera to document our time:
Eden really, really likes tractors. I think she must know that even though she was born in Southern California, rural Midwestern farms are in her blood.

I just had an image of microscopic cows and barns and tractors floating around in her bloodstream. You know, Innerspace-style.

Maybe this is a good time to mention that I recently took some pretty powerful cold medicine.

More old tractors!
The festival included a stagecoach hold-up by Jesse James and his gang. (Note: that is NOT Jesse James or his gang pictured in the foreground. Although that would have been awesome.)

I appreciated that this was followed by a gun safety demonstration.

Other activities included a Civil War reenactment (camp pictured above), tours of the mansion, a Victorian Civil War style show (narrated by Mrs. Lincoln, no less), a reading of the Gettysburg Address by President Lincoln, a duel of honor (we missed this - hope they paid attention during the gun safety demonstration), working crafts (blacksmithing, rope-making, etc.), and an antiques, arts, and crafts marketplace.

There were two other activities though that I know stood out to Eden as the highlight of her day:
Baby's first funnel cake!

And... possibly even more exciting to her...
Riding behind a real live tractor back to our car!

My brain is now so fuzzy that I can't think of any rational way to end this post. All I can think of are tractors.

Tractors. Tractors. Tractors. Tractzjklz. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Nigh-night, all.

For The Love

In all honesty, I have seriously considered abandoning this blog over the last month.

I just can't find the time to write anymore. And that's not a bad thing. It's just a natural result of my life being very full right now - much more so than it was just a few months ago. I'm working a lot harder, but it's good work, it's satisfying work. I wish I had more time to work, in fact. And it's interesting to me that while I'm working harder than ever (and enjoying it more than ever) I'm actually earning nothing. Well, zero dollars, anyway.

But do you know what I think it's called when you get up every morning still tired from the day before, but glad - so glad! - to have another opportunity to work, to pour all of your energy and everything you are and have into the tasks set before you, even if those tasks are, by all objective standards, mostly small and insignificant?

I think it's called Love.

So, so thankful for my life.

(Also. This blog is not over quite yet. Eden is: 1) stinkin' cute, but also, 2) not that interested in listening to my meandering and, frankly, rather self-absorbed thoughts on life. Thus that role must still fall to you, dear friends o' the Internet. I recommend skimming. At least until you get to the pictures of the stinkin' cute kid.)