Fall Break Staycation

Last week was our fall break and we enjoyed a fun week at home with our cousins from Florida. The weather was perfect. We've even seen a little rain which is long overdue.

FAMILY TIME. Jim, Dianna, Alex, and Chris arrived Monday evening and spent the week with us, leaving Friday morning. This time they brought Uncle Bob and Aunt Linda with them (they stayed at Aunt Mar and Mom's house). It's been an extra treat to have them here this time.

We didn't overload this visit with a lot of things to do, leaving the boys (and Jenna) a lot of free time to play together. They've had Nerf gun battles in the yard, romped through the woods, and played games in the house. We've eaten supper over at Aunt Mar's each night with the exception of Tuesday night when we went to the Catfish House.

SPELUNKING. We drove up to Bowling Green on Tuesday to tour Lost River Cave (http://www.lostrivercave.com/). This is the only cave boat tour in Kentucky. The cave was a main attraction in Bowling Green before I-65 claimed most of the traffic through the area. The cave can still be rented for parties and such. I mention this because the cave reminded me of what Cross Plains' own Yates Cave used to be many years ago. This was a really fun little day trip.

GOODBYE, PEANUT. I must pause here to say goodbye to our beloved cat. From what we can gather Peanut was following the boys as they played in the hayfield beside the house. This was the first time Peanut explored much outside the yard so when he got to the stock barn in the hayfield he naturally went in to check things out. The best we can tell Peanut met the stray cat that lives in that barn, and being young and inexperienced lost a territorial fight. We buried him the next day.

WALNUTS. Dianna mentioned that they brought home a lot of walnuts from last year's vacation and that she'd like to gather more this year if she could. Wednesday morning we gathered walnuts, filling the bed of my truck about six inches deep. Dianna and I spent that afternoon hulling the walnuts and our hands are now stained black.

PAINTING AND ANTIQUING. While Dianna and I were into walnuts Jim and Jenna took Uncle Bob and Aunt Linda to an antique mall in Springfield. I think they had fun shopping. I know Jim came home with several interesting treasures.

Vicki went in to work where she and some volunteers started repainting the room used for children's activities to make it more fun looking. They are painting a large mural around the walls of the room.

FUN ON THE FARM. Thursday we spent a good portion of the day at Honeysuckle Hill Farm in Coopertown (http://www.honeysucklehillfarm.com/). Vicki and our boys had been there a few times on field trips, but I had never been and had no idea they had so much for kids to do there. They have animals to pet, corn to play in (like a huge sandbox), pedal tractors to ride, pig races to watch, and an inflated truck tarp to bounce on. We had a lot of fun doing these things, but the big attraction was the six acre corn maze we explored. The maze was laid out to celebrate the Centennial of Boy Scouting, and had several stations for solving a murder mystery.

LIFE AFTER COMPANY. As I mentioned above, the Cotters left Friday morning. We were all sad to see them go. Nate was in tears. This weekend has been uneventful except for a birthday party the boys were invited to Saturday afternoon. Ala in all in all we've had a great fall break. We aren't ready to go back to school or work tomorrow.

Joe