Done and Done!

The deck is done, pending it passes the city inspection!

I love it. It looks great and provides easy access to our back yard.

(Peachy has already tested out it snackability and gives it her stamp of approval!)

 Mr. Cherry deserves all of the credit for this project. He single handedly planned and executed his own design.

 It sure will be nice having him around the house on the weekends and in the evenings again!

Little Peachy was helping him this weekend while I participated in a group garage sale.

She would hold on to the screw boxes and hand him one when he asked.

What a good little helper!

F-F-F-all Camping

We have been planning one last camping trip of the summer for a few weeks now. After loading up we headed out Saturday morning. Destination? Unknown. That is the beauty of camping a little later in the year. Reservations are usually not necessary.

On the road . . . please ignore the antenna.

A little way into our trip we had our state park chosen and van headed accordingly. After a stop for lunch and drive through the campground we settled in at our site and set up camp. Next up was a hike around the lake a mere stone's throw from our site. That night we enjoyed a dinner of hamburgers cooked over the fire in addition to the left over pizza we had from lunch. As soon as night fell, we jumped into our sleeping bags and hunkered down for the night. (According to a woman I spoke with in the restrooms, it was already 46 degrees out.) 

Peachy settled down on her sleeping mat in her very own sleeping bag fairly well. Then, it was time for us to settle in as well. Only, I couldn't seem to get warm. Peachy must have been having a tough time of it as well, as she kept scooting around on her mat. Soon, I had her in the sleeping bag with me. After smashing my nose in with her head several times she fell back to sleep. Me? Not so much. Then Mr. Cherry and I heard the distinct sound of critters outside the tent. Mr. Cherry, being the man, went to investigate. The raccoons were getting into the garbage we had tied to the tree. (We know better than leaving garbage out overnight and learned our lesson yet again.) 

Peachy blissfully slept through Mr. Cherry getting out of the tent and securing the garbage in the van only to awaken when Mr. Cherry opened his sleeping bag. She was ready to call it a night although the night was still young. She did eventually settle down and we all slept until we heard the pitter-patter of rain on our tent in the morning. Thankfully it was only a quick shower and Mr. Cherry was able to go out and start a rip-roaring fire to warm us all up. After a hearty breakfast from the cast iron dutch oven, it was off for a long hike. Peachy settled right in to Mr. Cherry's shoulders and napped for close to the first hour. (Good for Peachy, not so comfy for Mr. Cherry.) 

Upon returning to the site, we decided to pack up and head home to enjoy the luxury of our own beds and the modern convenience of gas heat. We finished out the day with one more hike around yet another lake and started the trek home. While it may not seem like it, we really did have fun and enjoyed the trip. It is always good to get out in nature and play around and always good to get back home and enjoy the blessings we have in our everyday lives.

Birthday Weekend

Mr Cherry had a big birthday this past weekend. I won't tell you how old he is, but it was a big enough birthday for me to give him a little bit of grief. :o) I originally had some pretty big plans, but in the end they didn't work out. The next plan also didn't pan out due to crummy weather. So, we ended up enjoying a fairly relaxing weekend at home. On Sunday, the weather allowed us a hike in a nearby state park.

Peachy had quite the fascination with this guy.

The perfect sized buddy.

Trying out the new-to-us backpack.

Yup, it works.

Hiker Man and Hiker Chick together again!!

Some pretties in the woods.

This is about all we saw for wildlife.

Camping with a Baby

Call us crazy. Call us adventurous. Call us admirable. Call us what you will. We took our four month old tent camping and lived to tell about it. (I would go as far as to say, enjoyed it.)

We have been camping with babies before, they just weren't ours and we therefore did not have full responsibility for them. Sure we did our share of holding and listening to crying, but at the end of the day we went to our tent and they went to theirs. Not this time, though.

Little Peachy is a lover of the outdoors which for the most part helped us out. Unfortunately she was so infatuated with her surroundings that she forgot all about the need for sleep. This did not bode well for her overall mood, but a few cat naps got her through until the major meltdown on the way home. The poor little thing cried and cried and cried until 20 minutes from home when sleep won out.

M and I enjoyed the great outdoors as well. There is nothing better than stripping life down to the bare necessity of just plain surviving. For some reason we find cooking over a campfire and having to heat water to do the dishes relaxing and fun.

We even managed to sneak in a few hikes. All in all, a wonderful weekend.

And I didn't even have to resort to the Gilmore Girls season of dvds that I had brought along just in case I ended up spending an inordinate amount of time in the van! (And your thought dvd players in vans were for children.)

Moonlight Snowshoe

Two Saturdays ago M and I headed out to a local state park for their annual candlelight c.c. ski/snowshoe. We have participated in this at least one other time, if not two. (The memory goes when you start to get old.) It was the perfect temperature to be out, but the wind it was a-howlin'. We kept the wind to our backs on the first stretch and then went down into the protection of the trees on the way back. Some of the trail was simply illuminated by the light of the moon as the candles had blown out. After snowshoeing we headed to the warming house for some hot chocolate and cookies and then enjoyed a few minuted by the bonfire outside. The only problem was my sore aching legs! My hip joints have started to bother me with the pregnancy and snowshoeing didn't make them feel any better. Oh well, it was worth it.

Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures this year. Good thing we have some from another year!

Before heading out:

M on the trail:

One of the ice-luminaries up close:

A Wonderful Day

Yesterday evening I decided to transfer my normal walk around the neighborhood to a park about a mile from our house. After parking the car and hooking up my soundtrack to life, my MP3 player, I headed off onto the paths and grassy fields along the river in the park. I knew it would be a good walking day when I set off, but I didn't yet know how good. It was one of those perfectly fall days where everything just seems right in the world. The sun was glinting off the freshly yellowing leaves. The sky was blue dotted with the occasional puffy white cloud. The temperature was just warm enough to leave the air feeling crisp, but not too cold. The park was buzzing with activity. There were children playing soccer, dads playing with their kids, and even runners in a race.

I so wish that I had my camera with me as I walked. I just didn't know how the day would inspire me. I thought I was going for a simple walk. (I have included some pictures taken last year around this time from the same park. The other peeps in the first pic are M's sister and my sister.) You will just have to try and recreate my day in your own mind's eye.

I truly hope that each and everyone of you can revel your own wonderful fall day.

If You Go Down in the Woods Today . . .

. . .you're sure for a big surprise.

While we may not have been surprised by what we saw on our Friday excursion, we did have a wonderful time in the woods and prairie. After loading up the picnic and driving to the state park, we started off on a 5 mile hike. A few miles in we came across this cute little bird watching hut. It had three walls and on the wall facing the lake there were all kinds of windows cut out to watch the birds. There were even little benches to sit on and a little broom to sweep. (Just in case you felt the need for some light house keeping.)

After watching the ducks stick there little butts in the air for a while, we were off again. As we walked we talked about how we never see many wild animals while we are out hiking. And then around a bend in the trail, there was a fox partially hidden in some tall grasses just off the trail. (Now I know you can't really see it in the picture, but you will just have to take my word for it. Look at the lone tree on the hill and then look for the lighter spot below and to the left. That is the fox. Or you can just use this picture to admire what a wonderful afternoon we had for a hike.)

While most of the trees are still green, a few random leaves had started to turn. This is supposed to be an excellent park to go to for the change of colors and I could see why. The hills were thick with hardwood trees and I could just imagine them alive with a patchwork of fall colors. M and I have an obsession with taking detailed photos of leaves, so here is one I caught on this trip. (I am thinking that someday I will print and frame them and put them in our master bath. )

At the trail center, we found a birdie to be our friend. He even agreed to have a few photos taken. :o)

After working up an appetite it was time for our picnic. They had just built this great shelter at the park. And while we sat outside on a table, we talked about what a great shelter it would be for a party. (They even had an industrial sink and counter set up in a back room. Very nice for a state park.)

The picnic area was right by a small trail to the top of one of the hills. It seems as if everyone who comes to this park hikes this trail and we didn't want to be left out. So up we went. Part way up M found this old piece of farming equipment and of course he had to investigate to see what it could have been. Amazingly enough, it stumped the farm-boy/engineer in him.

What a wonderful way to spend a fall afternoon.

**Bonus Points: Try to identify the song from which I took the title and what the next line of the song is. And how about we don't use our friend Google.**

Lazy Days of Summer

To me, nothing beats a good old lazy summer day. A day with infinite possibilities, but no real schedule. This weekend my sister and her husband came to see our new house and just hang out. After a relaxed Saturday morning start we hit a local frisbee golf course which we followed with a picnic in the park. After enjoynig some yummy sandwiches, fresh fruit, and chips we just lazed about in the grass soaking up the summer. Ahhh . . .