Hubbs Corn Maze

I've had these pictures for quite some time.  However, I was waiting for the pictures at the end of this post, before I completed the post.  

So this was about two weeks before Halloween.  We took the girls out to Hubbs Corn Maze.  

That's Hannah, mid jump, over the red stripe.  

You may remember that we took the girls to a corn maze last year, Konow Farms in Illinois.  The girls loved it.  Hannah had a blast navigating the maze with David.  

There's Riley and David.  Riley wanted to jump, of course but she she's so small she had to have help.  Hannah's off to the left.  

Grandma and Grandpa Fox joined us for the maze.  There's Hannah in front, taking the lead.  

Riley wanted to participate, naturally.  The ground was pretty bumpy, which made for lots of stumbling.  

Having a mid maze snack.  

The maze was split into two sections.  After the first section, I took Riley out to let her play on some of the stuff set up for kids, like this dirt and tire mound.  

After Hannah successfully got David and Grandma Fox through the second part of the maze, Hannah and Riley went for a ride together.  

After having a picnic in the parking lot, we decided to go back through the maze.  We didn't make it very far, though, because we had one tired girl.  And two girls that we had to get home.  

These are the pictures I had to wait for.  It's because I had to brag on myself and Becca.  ; )

We went back through the corn maze at night, like a week later.  David and Ryan decided that Becca and I should navigate, while they follow along, only offering advice when necessary.  

We decided that Rebecca would lead while I used the map and told Becca the way to go.  I did use a pen to help me keep track of where I was.  I think Ryan and David offered assistance 3 times, maybe 4.  

At the end of the event, David and Ryan complimented Rebecca and I on how well we navigated the maze.  And I must admit, I was proud of myself!

And now you understand why I had to have these pictures before I completed this post!

Our first 5/5

I can't believe that I have forgotten to post this blog!  I realized this past weekend, while we were visiting with Grandpa Bob, that I hadn't posted about our first 5/5 geocache!  

A group of us: Ryan and Rebecca, Ashley, Ty, Logan and Iris, and the Cernock Clan all went out to look for this one that David started out on New Years Eve with Josh and Jared.  We had five coordinate points, and at each point we had to find a number.  

With those five numbers, we could get in to the lock box, which hopefully held the log book and prize.  

Our journey took us all over the woods, in some burned out buildings, along a river.  

We managed to get all the points, in just under 4 hours.  

The locked box, sat on top of this old concrete pillar.  Ryan just happened to have a grappling hook, which was necessary in our quest.  

While we were waiting, we sat on the opposite concrete pillar, watching the progress.  

Since it was Ryan's grappling hook, it only seemed fair to let him use it.  Although David was a little disappointed.  

So what was in the locked box?  Another set of coordinates!  The adventure took us right at 5 hours.  But it was a great way to spend a day, hunting through the woods with a big group of friends. 

We haven't got to that other set yet, but it does hang on our wall.  

Riley was also the trooper.  She hung out in the backpack the whole time.  

The tick inspection that night resulted in 0 ticks.  However, there was one on Hannah's arm the next day and then Riley's head a couple days after that.  

We survived

Roller skating with kids.

This is the day before.  You might be surprised to know that at one time, David was quite fancy on roller skates.  So he broke out his old skates to "stretch them out." That was his quote, not mine.  

Here we are, at the skating rink on Sunday.  We got there as soon as they opened.  

Practicing with Ryan.  We put Hannah in regular skates at first.  

After about 30 minutes, and some discouraging falls, we went to the plastic skates that go over your shoes.  She kept trying, even after one hard fall in which I think she jammed her elbow.  

We went roller skating to celebrate Iris' birthday.  That's Iris in the pink, with her dad.  Her mom and brother are next to her.  It was quite experience.  There was definitely some "Mommy, I don't want to skate anymore!" Which was followed by a "Too bad, let's go again!"  

Logan, Iris' brother, crashed into the wall so hard one time that his glasses went flying and he got himself a pretty big knot on his forehead.  Yet, they all skated still.  

Riley was beyond ticked off that she could not be out there with everyone else.  Ryan would skate around on the carpet with her a little but she seemed to lose interest in that after awhile.  All she wanted was to be where all the other kids were.  

I don't think I've ever seen David so patient with Hannah.  At least, positive patience.  

My big crash involved Rebecca.  We feel together, and I landed on top of her.  No really, ON TOP OF HER.  My butt was on her hips.  A little kid maneuvered in front of me and I tried going around and Rebecca was responding to me moving.  It was just a big mess.  That resulted in us both on the floor.  Although, it wasn't so painful for me.  ; )

Iris went through every type of skate option the rink had, multiple times.  But we all kept trying, through forceful means at times.  

I'd say Hannah got the hang of it.  She kept trying and by the end of the afternoon, she laughed when she fell.  She got smoother, gliding more.  Most importantly, she wanted to keep trying. 

The next day, Hannah complained about her thighs being sore.  

There's a slow rollers time at our skating rink every Saturday afternoon.  David and Hannah are going to start making a date of it.  At least once a month.  Maybe she'll surpass her dad's talents!  

Date night

Remember that sleepover arrangement Michelle and I created.  I blogged about it here.  Well a couple weeks ago, Michelle took Hannah and Riley.  I must admit, I was a little nervous because it was going to be my first night away from Riley.  I don't know why, as moms, we feel so anxious about leaving our little ones for the first time.  Of course, maybe not all moms do.  However, I teared up a little saying goodbye to her.  

The first thing I did: went for a run!  Then I went home to get ready for our date.  We had decided to go to Wine & Design with another couple, Rebecca and Ryan.  So Wine and Design is a cheaters way of painting.  That way, those of us that are not artistic can still walk away with a decent looking painting.  

This is the painting we did the night we went.  

David, creating the border of his painting.  

Creating my canvas.  You can already see how different mine and David's are.  It's not intended for everyone to have identical paintings.  

If you look under my canvas, you can see the array of snacks Ryan and Rebecca brought.  We had a variety of nuts and bread, with our wine of course!  

Rebecca

As usual, David was the first one finished.

Here's our two paintings.  We had such a good time.  It was relaxed.  We chatted, we sipped wine and snacked.  The teacher was very sociable and friendly.  He even had a glass of wine with us.  

The end of the night.  

Notice David and Ryan are the only two guys there.  We all agreed that we would do it again.  

The way I see it, every time David and I go, we get a new painting for us and a gift for someone else!  

From there we went to Peirro's and had dinner.  We sat next to a bacherlerotte party, and had a great time imagining what their night would be like!  

The next day, David and I went geocaching together, and I have some photo's from that but they're not on this computer, so I'll have to share those with you later.