Apple Picking with Aunt Beth

Aunt Beth came this weekend and of course we went apple picking. Yes that is two weekends in a row of apple picking. Same orchard. Last week Ally wanted to do the hedge mazes. I refused. A few years ago Ally and I attempted the small maze while Beth and Becky picked apples. It was a hot day and it was a nightmare. Ally and I wandered and could never find the middle. So I told her she could do the mazes this week with Mama and Aunt Beth.

Turns out Beth has a fear of hedge mazes. So that left Becky to accompany Ally. Great choice. They made it out of the small maze in 10 minutes!

Then we picked apples. Empires and Royal Gala and Cortland this week.

I was Ally’s ladder this week. She was “saving her legs for the monster maze”. Becky carried all the apples back to the car. I carried Ally on my shoulders.

That is an aerial shot of the Monster Maze. The advertise it as the “largest hedge maze in North America”. It is apparently 1 1/2 miles long and they tell you to expect it to take about an hour!

Photo op with the sign and studying the map before entering the maze.

In they go!

They found the middle! And made it out in 20 minutes! One of the employees told me Ally had a big smile on her face the entire time. This girl really likes her challenges.

Before we left Ally and Beth got their picture with the orchard mascot “Henry Bear”.

Birthday Party

Last weekend we went to Andy’s 7th birthday party. It’s the 4th year in a row we’ve attended his party and we wouldn’t miss it. This year it was held at a local children’s farm and garden.

They got to touch chicken, and went on a scavenger hunt looking for things around the farm.

My favorite part was watching Ally and her friends taste new things. The farmers picked different herbs for them to try; marjoram, chives, basil, cilantro. Then lettuce and nasturtium flowers. Ally was a good sport and tasted everything!

Then they picked eggplant and squash.

Sliced up the veggies and then cooked them up for snack.

It was a fun party. Ally even ate her whole piece of carrot cake!

After the birthday party we went to a BBQ at Charlie and Gwei’s house. Ally was the only little kid there so she spent most of the evening inside the warm house watching TV on my iPhone.

But the highlight of the whole day was that Lauren skyped us from Hawaii. Ally was thrilled to talk to Lauren and see where she lives. Everyday since then she has asked “what time is it in Hawaii”.

1st Grade Home Work

Ally has been so excited to get homework. Starting this week all first  graders will get a homework packet every week. They can do a page a day or work on it as they wish. At “Back to School Night” last week her teachers explained that the homework is not intended to be stressful, its about installing responsibility in the students and helping to develop good habits.

Monday Ally after school Ally wanted to do her homework right away – before even TV!

Ally has a school desk – it was my dad’s and a matching chair – but she has that set up as a “hair styling station” right now. And she was determined to do her homework, so she pulled her chair over to her new nightstand and used that as a desk. Honestly the nightstand is pretty  big, and her little legs fit inside the shelving so it was a perfectly good desk for her. She spent about 45 minutes working on it all. No questions for me. She did wear some headphones (that were not connected to anything) for part of it. She was so excited and happy.

As soon as she was done she came running to tell me – so we sat down to look at it together. Here she is with her first completed homework packet.

Page 1 – draw and picture of where you will do your homework. That is Ally at her table, pink rug, white table with books inside the table, sitting on the chair.

Page 2 – Draw a picture from your favorite book. Title: I Love my New Toy – its and elephant and piggy book and that is piggy with the new toy. It also asks what kind of books you like, and Ally answered “non-fekshon” that would be our budding scientist who likes non-fiction books. I asked her what those were and she told me “books about real things”.

Page 3- Practice writing her name. She is really working on getting the y down below the line.

Page 4- Math is Everywhere look around you home and draw 4 examples of math. Ally’s examples are Books, Pennies, Flowers and Toys. For a huge laugh, click on the picture and see how Ally spelled pennies I think her teacher will get a big kick out of that one. I explained to Ally  that she actually wrote a different word than pennies and she giggled when I told her what she did write. I said, well, I guess that is “ok for first grade” and that this year she would learn more about spelling.

Carl is loving Ally’s new bed – every chance he gets he curls up in it!

This picture has nothing to do with homework – but I was out on Sunday for a while and when I came home this was on the floor in the dining the room. No cheding – and it just makes me laugh that Ally made a sign to tell Becky NO CHEATING – guess she knows Becky’s competitive spirit well!

Guat Girls September–Apple Picking

This month only 3 girls could make it apple picking, Ally, Alice and Gabi. But boy did we have fun! First we took a hay ride over to the pear orchard.

The girls loved climbing up the ladder to pick pears way up high in the trees.

Mother daughter shots!

At one point Alice had 4 apples going at the same time! Cheryl was a good sport and kept holding them all.

After apple picking we headed to the farm store. The girls checked out the bee hive exhibit and then enjoyed cider donuts, a caramel apple and choosing pumpkins to bring home.

It was a great day!