Apple Picking

We have been looking forward to apple picking this season (apple sauce and apple jelly and apple pies) and were so pleased to find a beautiful apple orchard in northeast Ohio - especially on this gorgeous first weekend of Autumn.

The whole family ventured to the top of the hill at Rittman Orchards, wearing our masks and social distancing, and filled 5 half-bushel bags (nearly 125 pounds of apples!): Cortland, Jonagold, and Red Delicious.  With our many hands and such fruit laden trees, it only took our crew 30 minutes to gather 2-1/2 bushels of apples.  

We'll be busy this week making lots of apple treats!  

(*We were short one picker - Hendrick was working during this outing.  We're thankful he could join us for a visit to the zoo the day before.)

 

XC 2020 - MS Green Quad Invitational

 

Our middle school Cross Country runners are now 5 races into their 7-race/ 11-week season . . . only 3 more weeks of regular season running and two more races to go!    

 

This has been a wonderful experience for our 7th grade runners!

With both high school and middle school cross country, we've been running along the sidelines cheering on our runners at multiple races each weekend - these are typically all held on the same course . . .

This weekend, Tesfaye ran at the Malone Invitational with the high school early Saturday, while Burke, Maegli and Hiwot ran an hour later at the Green Quad Invitational.  Thankfully these event locations were close enough for us to be able to cheer on Tesfaye and then travel to cheer on our middle school runners.  

 

We are usually able to move around the course to cheer on our runners at several points throughout their race - it's a sport of active participation (we sprint from one spot to the next!).  This Green course was an interesting one to watch, and tough for our runners to run - we were only able to see the start and the finish.  The bulk of the 2-mile course was a single loop of wooded trails.  The runners were on their own running in the woods while the spectators waited along the finish chute for the racers to emerge from the trail.  

We watched the girls race start . . . and then 16 minutes later, saw our first girl (the 13th Eagle) emerge: Maegli!!!

Maegli, our steady runner, finished this tough race with a time of 16:52 - only 10 seconds off her personal best, quite an accomplishment on this course!!!

 

Hiwot came out of the woods soon after (the 15th Eagle) and passed three runners on the uphill finish, crossing the line in 18:05.  While she was disappointed with her time, we were so proud of her pushing through injury and sore legs to finish this race strong. We have two very tough girls!!!

 

In the boys race, Burke began his race with a loose shoelace - oops!  

 

Incredibly, he managed to keep the spike on through the wooded course, dodging tree stumps.  We had no idea about the mega-shoe-battle Burke was facing, until he emerged from the trail 14 minutes later . . .

 

In his finish sprint, the spike fell off - Burke finished his race with one shoe off and one shoe on, Mike yelling to him: "You don't need shoes to run!"  Burke crossed the line (the 14th Eagle) in 14:26, just 31 seconds off his PR and while only wearing one shoe!  

It was an exciting race day!

Way to go Eagles!

We're so proud of our runners :) 

4 Months

Our beautiful babe is 4 months old!

Alarie is our sweet, our joy, and our gift.  We love this little one!

Alarie at 4 months:

chatty

drool baby

gruff giggles

kicky legs

(flops her "mermaid tail" in her swaddler)

so strong

sparkly eyes

strong "superman"

blows raspberries

wears 3-6 month clothes

takes six 5 oz. bottles a day

sleeps 6-7 hours a night :)

loves to be held upright

loves her paci

(can't keep her paci in)

lights up when talked to

gets excited!

losing hair on the back of her head

snores

 holds on

grabs and blankets and fingers

smiles when she sees faces

stands when held 

looks up at the sky during stroller walks

sleeps during mass

Alarie is such a gift to us all.

Each smile, coo and giggle, finger grab and snuggle bring so much joy to our household.  Her siblings all marvel at her and can't get enough of her - Alarie is so loved (and gets so much attention and snuggles from many!). 

Alarie Adeola - it's hard to believe she's already 4 months old.   I love hearing from her siblings:

"Can't she just stop growing?"
"She looks so big today!"
"Baby Alarie is so cute."
"She's so beautiful it hurts."
"She makes me so happy."
"I didn't know having a baby would be this great."
"I want to give baby Alarie a good night hug."
"She wants me to hold her."
"Baby Alarie likes me."

 We all wish time would slow down so we can fully enjoy her at this precious baby stage.  :)

Mohican State Park

Labor Day Weekend, we ventured out to Mohican State Park for a family hike.

The central Ohio State Park encompasses National Forest land near the Pleasant Hill Lake and Dam.  The Clear Fork of the Mohican River flows through the park with it's impressive 300 ft. deep Clear Fork Gorge.  We hiked a 2.2 mile loop trail from the Pleasant Hill Dam to the Little Lyons Falls, the Big Lyons Falls, and then along the Mohican River.  The falls were dry this weekend, but the trail was wonderful and offered a challenging hike for our littles - Fun for us us all!

*John Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed, frequented this area in the 1800's.  His name and date were carved in the wall of Big Lyons Falls and had been an attraction for years.  The carvings have since worn away. 
 
(We were partly inspired to visit this park by our current family read-aloud: Last of the Mohicans - which was actually set in upstate New York.  This lands of this state park in Ohio were the former hunting grounds of the Deleware Indians.