Apple Orchard and Pumpkin Patch...Fall is here!

My favorite time of year is here! Last weekend was a really great weekend. As I mentioned in my post from last week, we spent Saturday morning doing the ALS walk. The Friday night before, I got to see my friend, Nicki, and her daughter, Leah, for a play date. I had not seen Nicki in such a long time, and I had never met her daughter, who is now 2. Andrew and Leah had so much fun together, and Nicki and I had a good chance to talk and catch up.

Later in the day on Saturday, we made our first trip out to the apple orchard. Andrew had actually already been to the apple orchard on a field trip from the week before, so he was pretty excited to play again and eat some more donuts.

On Sunday afternoon, we met Tammy and her kids out at the pumpkin patch after meeting Mike's parents for breakfast.

I also caught him doing a little dance while we there. He loves to dance!

ALS Walk

On Saturday morning, we participated in a walk for ALS, which was actually right by our house. Tammy, Peyton, and Kathie also were there for support! The walk was the first of its kind in Rockford, and they had about 400 people and raised almost $50,000! Since ALS is so rare, it felt comforting to be around so many other people that understood, as their family members or friends have also been affected by the disease in some way.

Andrew Soccer 2013

Andrew was back in Raptor Tots this summer, and he could not get enough soccer in his life. He was ready to go every Saturday morning 2 hours before class even started. We had to tell him that coach and the other kids were not there yet, so we have to wait!

Labor Day

We had a nice and relaxing Labor Day with family this year. We enjoyed some college football on Saturday and even got the pleasure of buying a new refrigerator. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in one of my previous blogs, but our air conditioner and our fridge broke on the same day in August. Of all the luck! We thought the fridge was fixed, but it broke again with the same issue a week later. Basically, we used our neighbor's fridge and lived out of a cooler for weeks. It was AWFUL!

The Friday before Labor Day, Andrew made 4 Grandparents' Day necklaces. He was THRILLED when Marcia and John wore the necklaces to his soccer class and my dad and Myrna wore their necklaces at Granite City for dinner Saturday night. I know my mom would have loved to wear that necklace!

Labor Day, Mike's parents' did their annual breakfast at the park, so it was a good chance to see family. On Monday night, we had a beautiful trip on Mike's parents' boat. They ordered pizza and the weather was great. Mike's cousin, Beth, took some really neat pics of Andrew and me.

Here are a few from my camera:

We have also been seeing these beautiful hummingbirds on our flowers in the evenings. They don't seem to be afraid of humans.

Something else really neat that happened over the weekend was a hawk that made a little visit. I told Mike on Saturday night that this hawk that we always see on this particular road while driving is my mom watching over me (we just see him so much!). Well, Monday morning, Andrew and I are sitting on the couch eating breakfast, and Andrew points to the window. I asked him if he wants his milk, and he says, "No. Big bird!" I look out the window, and there is a hawk on our deck looking at me and Andrew in the window! WHAT!? I yelled for Mike to come in, and we all stared back at it until it spread its huge wings and flew away. A little coincidental, don't you think? :)