Fun Fall Weekend

Since it became apparent that the weather was going to be beautiful for the weekend, it also became apparent that John would be working all weekend as all the combines were rolling.  Since the kids and I were going to be on our own for most of the weekend, we decided to make a quick trip over to my parents.  This is always a good time of course.  We got there in time for lunch on Saturday and then made a trip to my grandparents, where we visited with Grandma Bert for a while.  Ava and I also spent a little time in the combine with my uncle Dave.  Dave and the kids have had an on-going battle with silly string and they came prepared that day!  After missing him once, they saw him get out of the combine to move a grain truck so they took off fast to go after him.  They got smart enough to get between him and the combine ladder so that they for sure could get a chance to get him!  These silly string fights always evoke lots of smiles and laughter - I'm sure that this battle will continue for quite some time!

 We had to go see Grandpa Milt up at Dave's house, where he was transferring dry corn between bins.  The grain vac and auger made it pretty noisy and hard to visit too much with him.  But he had stopped it when we got there since he had some corn hung up in the gravity wagon and needed to get it out.  I ended up climbing into the wagon to break all of the corn loose for him since I really didn't think that my 83 year old Grandpa really needed to do that job.  In the process, I ended up filthy dirty but the kids thought it was amusing that I looked like a snowman:)  Obviously, a little dirt never hurt me!

Later that evening, we went to my aunt Beth's house to watch a couple of hot air balloons take off for a flight.  They help on a crew for this balloon and they happened to be hosting an end of summer party for several balloonists.  So they let the kids and I come crash the party and watch the balloons inflate and fly off.  The kids enjoyed it, but Ava was rather disappointed when she realized that the balloons were flying off WITHOUT her!  I hadn't realized that she thought she would get to ride:(

 After church on Sunday, we also attended a lunch and auction hosted by the ladies of the church.  It was a yummy meal and the kids learned about auctions - Blaine kept bidding on lots of things:)  I had to pull his hand back down at times.  But they did bid on some things on their own and got the process down well.

After then spending a little time playing with the cousins, we headed back home to see John.  He had gotten home from work, but ended up over at the neighbor's house to help him replace the combine part that John got for him.  The kids were not only eager to see Daddy, but also love to go to Rick's place, so we had to go over there when we got home.  As soon as I mentioned going over there since Daddy was helping Rick work on the combine, Blaine immediately had to get his toolbox to take with him.  He got his tools out and proceeded to "fix" things:)

We initially had no exciting plans for the weekend, but ended up having a lot of fun just being with family and friends.  I love weekends like this - simple but fun and good memories!