Birthday Field Trip?

Caeden really, really, really wanted to take his Daddy and his Krampa & Gram to the cool places we found geocaching the other day.  So, since Daddy took the afternoon off and Krampa & Gram arrived early in the afternoon we did just that on this beautiful day!

The kids were SO hyped up and excited as we drove to the Kickapoo park, I said to Jeremy, "You'd think we were taking them to Disney World!" and they all agreed it was just about as exciting.  We were shocked, but happy that they appreciate places close to home that have meaning.

Come on, Gram!  Look at this!

Me and my handsome hubby.  :)

Jeremy and his sweet Sylvie girl.

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Caeden and Gram racing for the tree with the X on it, in the forest at West Park.  I think she let him win.  

A photo by my talented photographer father, taken in a beautiful corner of West Park...

The kids wanted everyone to see the "star shaped tree" in the forest.

I love this man!

Making memories in the sunshine...!

Sweet little boy, happy birthday!

I hope you will always appreciate the "simple" things in life, and know that God has orchestrated every blessing you have, just for you!  You are so special!

SIX

Our littlest one is a big SIX years old today!  He sure adds adventure to our life, and we love him very much!  

Here he is, just getting home from school, wearing the birthday crown Mrs. Tompkins gave him.  

Happy birthday, little buddy!

Portraits at Moraine View State Park

We spent some time trying to get some nice photos in the beautiful Autumn leaves today at Moraine View State Park.  While I planned to get there in the morning, we had too much fun exploring and geocaching on our way there.  We arrived right at noon--the brightest, sunniest part of the day, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  It was tough for me to get pictures without shadows on their faces, so we may have to try again.  But, we sure had a good time!

Columbus Day Geocaching

The kiddos didn't have school today, so we decided to do some adventuring.  The leaves are changing colors right now, and are just beautiful everywhere you look!  And, the weather is sunny, and warm, and dry, and perfect!

We stopped about 5miles from our house for a geocache at the Grand Village of the Kickapoo Park.  We were amazed at the history we found there! 

There are some amazing structures too!

Annah read to us about The Spirit Fire.

The kids were sad to learn about how the native American indians were forced out of this land by fire and laws in the 1800's.

Our second stop was also only a few miles from our house, at a beautiful little county park.  We admired the trees here.  Annah found a cache quickly.

Inside the cache, Sylvia found our first Travel Bug, a little bear who has travel 5554 miles from Germany to us!  We plan to take him further, to Indiana, at Thanksgiving time.

This park is dedicated to those who love forestry!

We hiked back a trail into the woods, where it was just gorgeous.  We looked for a cache in the woods too, but it was hidden when there was no tree cover, and hasn't been found in almost a year.  We plan to go back once all the leaves have fallen and try again.

Our third stop was an earthcache at one of the windmills nearby.   We were sad to see graffiti on it.  

We learned a lot about wind here, how is changed and how it is used!

Our last stop was at Moraine View State Park.  We spent a couple hours there, walking around, playing in the leaves, [me] taking lots of photos of the kids, and finally doing an earthcache about what a Moraine is...very interesting!

Here the kids are sitting on an erratic.  Do you know what that is--without looking it up?!

We had a great day of adventuring, fun, and enjoying each other and God's beautiful world around us!