Tag Archives: apple hill

September 30, 2018

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We had a busy end to the month of September, beginning with Brutus’ 2nd birthday on the 25th. This boy is still very much puppy. Regularly seeking attention by bringing things to us like tissues, paper towels, Finn’s tennis shoes, or other toys he knows are not for him. He is so playful whether with Lily or me. Anytime I get down on the floor he thinks I’m there for him to be able to bulldoze me, so we push and shove and play for a bit. It doesn’t take much before he’s so riled up running around in circles like a crazy thing that he becomes somewhat of a hazard, ha! We love him lots 🙂 This week was also picture day at school on Friday. Our handsome boy picked out what he wanted to wear, choosing his blue button down. I had the day off on Friday and enjoyed being home to get him on the bus and off to school. It was a beautiful fall morning and I was able to capture a couple of pics of our front yard. Reid and Griffin rode around on Joe for a short bit before the bus came. Reid’s expression is one of many I find cute.  Finn’s first school field trip was this week also. The kids rode the bus to Stratford Ecological Center and they learned all about nature, gardening, different animals, they made cider, and we went on a nice walk through the woods to the stream. The kids got to get their hands in the dirt, feed chickens, see how chickens lay eggs and the eggs are collected, and so many other things. My friend Claire and I were in the same group with our kids so we were able to hang out during the trip. It was a fun morning.


Griffin completed section four of his first sight word booklet this week, go Finn! He came home with a certificate for free custard at Culver’s. Bet it won’t be long before we make it there to redeem it.  While Finn was in school Reid and I went to Liberty Park to enjoy a perfect fall day. The skies were blue and the temperature was perfect outside. He enjoyed being silly and running from me, exploring a few of the play areas they had there, and riding on the swings. He rode a teeter totter too and I’m pretty sure that’s where he got a tiny chip in his left front tooth when he took a slight tumble to the ground. He makes so many faces and expressions. He’s a silly boy, not really talking yet, but understanding and listening to all you ask him to do (unless he’s being stubborn!).  Saturday night we had a progressive dinner with our neighborhood crew, this time our theme was Football Fan Food. The OSU-Penn State game was on at 8, so everyone was dressed in OSU gear and we watched the nail-biter of a game at Brian and Lisa’s. Good thing, as there was lots of screaming going on! Reid happily slept in his bed at our house and we are able to see him via our video monitor while we were next door.  Sunday after church we headed up to Mansfield to go apple picking with Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein at Apple Hill. We love that the orchard is close to their house and even when busy isn’t congested at all :). It doesn’t take long to fill our bags with tasty treats. We all taste-tested different kinds of apples and ended up picking an assortment for our bag. We’ve been enjoying them at home – they have all been really good! This year Griffin and Reid tag teamed picking apples from Grandpa and Kevin’s shoulders at the same time. And as always, we always go for the highest Finn can reach! This year he was a bit apprehensive (it was really high up there!) but he was a trooper and was so happy when he picked that apple.  These boys were beat after a long and busy weekend. They both were asleep in the car once we hit the road back home. Bedtime was a breeze!And here is Mr. Reid with some of his funny face babble talk. I would have kept taking more video, but my phone ran out of memory so it cut off the filming! He’s a funny boy.

 

September 27, 2015

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DSC_0219It’s been another fun week for the Armstrong family. Finn had his first visit to the Dentist this week and he was a-w-e-s-o-m-e! We went to Haring Pediatric Dental (turns out Dr Haring is from Mansfield!) in Dublin. They recently moved in to their new office space and it is really cool. Their logo is a turtle and the entire office is themed with turtles and nautical things. They have the neatest “waiting room” for the kids. For the exam, Lynette, the Hygienist, gave Finn a pair of cool spider man sunglasses to wear. She explained each of the instruments before she used it and he got to choose his flavor of fluoride (watermelon, of course). She told him anytime he wanted a “drink” to let her know and she would give him one out of the water gun. Sure thing, he asked twice for water, ha! She assured me that we did not have what she considered a “normal” visit for a 2-year old as she kept praising how great of a patient he was. She asked if we had been practicing, which we hadn’t, other than a couple quick photos in the car right before hand. He checked out great, though he has two spots (one on each lower eye-tooth) where there was an interruption in the formation of the enamel and it appears as round spots on the front of his teeth near the gums. She said most likely it won’t be a problem, but can make cavities more likely there. At the end of his appointment he was watching her work on the computer and she asked if he wanted to help, so she put him right on her lap and told him what she was writing up.  I told her his favorite part of the keyboard is to press the “zero”, but he didn’t ask her to do it!. IMG_20150922_084345459 IMG_20150922_084517232 IMG_20150922_085039173_HDR IMG_20150922_085214280 IMG_20150922_085309044_HDR IMG_20150922_085826717_HDR IMG_20150922_090643054 IMG_20150922_090747213 IMG_20150922_090858873 IMG_20150922_091003569_HDR IMG_20150922_091421610 IMG_20150922_091634728 IMG_20150922_092208080Friday evening was the Preschool’s Fall Fest at NPCA. There were hot dogs, ice cream, and many games for the kids to play. After completing each game they won a prize for their bag. Finn’s favorite was the whistle that he chose after tossed a ring around a pumpkin – which was the Guppy class (his pre-school class, hence the fish theme) activity for the night. IMG_20150925_193105075 IMG_20150925_193140875 IMG_20150925_191331421_HDR IMG_20150925_194549663 IMG_20150925_195139873 IMG_20150927_202642780Saturday we had an afternoon adventure to Mansfield to pick apples with Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein. We went to Apple Hill Orchard and got to see roosters, a goat and sheep, we took a long wagon ride around the farm, and we picked lots of yummy apples.  And while we finished picking apples, Kevin went across the street to their store and picked up a dozen WARM apple donuts and apple cider (the aroma of them fresh baking the donuts percolated through the entire apple field where we were picking, so of course we had to buy some before we left!). We picked Honeycrisp, Jonathan, a golden variety and an unknown (to us) red apple. They are delish. And Finn loves to be hoisted into the air to pick the highest apples possible. Kevin, Dad, and I all took turns – but daddy wins the prize for the highest!DSC_0172 DSC_0175 DSC_0176 DSC_0179 DSC_0180 IMG_20150927_221623 DSC_0184 DSC_0187 DSC_0189 DSC_0197 DSC_0198 DSC_0201 DSC_0204 DSC_0207 DSC_0209 DSC_0210 DSC_0215 DSC_0219 DSC_0223 DSC_0232 DSC_0237 DSC_0242 DSC_0244 DSC_0248 DSC_0249 DSC_0254 DSC_0260 DSC_0266 DSC_0280 DSC_0284 IMG_20150926_183823852In other things, I hadn’t checked in on the garden for any harvest lately and once I did – check this out! Our one ginormous zucchini. It is as tall as Finn’s waist!IMG_20150927_150511912 IMG_20150927_150633515And here is a favorite of mine from Saturday morning, Finn woke up after 9 am and was a super happy boy! He likes to be worn as a hat!IMG_20150927_091730704

October 19, 2014

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DSC_0145We’ve been having so much fun this fall I’m a bit behind in getting this post online!

We have a little blue Cookie Monster this year! Finn really loves his costume. I got home the day it had arrived and when I walked in the door Kevin had him dressed up. He had the hugest smile on his face and was holding a cookie in his hand, which he quickly began eating in Cookie Monster fashion. He is quite the entertainer these days. We went to the Spooktakular at the Rec Center on Thursday where we ran in to our cousins and several of our friends. It was a beautiful night and we were able to walk through the haunted woods, the hay bale maze, and go trick or treating. DSC_0034DSC_0035 DSC_0058 DSC_0053 DSC_0055 DSC_0062 DSC_0049 DSC_0052 DSC_0073 DSC_0080 DSC_0087 DSC_0084 IMG_20141016_205157640 IMG_20141016_205423568_HDRAfter church on Sunday we headed to Mansfield for an afternoon of fun with Grandma and Grandpa Beilstein. We had a full slate of activites, first at Apple Hill Orchard where we intended to pick apples. However, when we arrived the sign said u-pick was finished for the season!  Luckily their store was still full of apples, so we “picked” ours indoors instead and then wandered around the orchard. The trees were beautiful and the orchard is in the pretty rolling hills of Richland County. Kevin and I would love to have about 5 or 10 acres on a setting just like this 🙂DSC_0097 DSC_0095 DSC_0101 DSC_0098 DSC_0102 DSC_0109 DSC_0111 DSC_0113 DSC_0116 DSC_0117 DSC_0120 DSC_0123 DSC_0124 DSC_0127 DSC_0130 DSC_0132 DSC_0099 DSC_0115Next up was Wayne’s Country Market where Finn and I cruised through the hay-bale maze. There were fun tunnels which were a hit, and also a straw horse. DSC_0150 DSC_0151 DSC_0152 DSC_0156 DSC_0157 DSC_0162 DSC_0166Then we hung out at Grandma and Grandpa’s house before heading to the Pumpkin Glow at Kingwood Center. Finn loved running down the hill to the neighbors driveway where he was captured by Grandpa a couple of times. We also checked out the possum that Grandpa caught in their backyard live-trap, but I didn’t capture a photo of it. We headed to the Glow before dusk, which was perfect timing, as when we were leaving and it was dark the line at the beginning was HUGE! Though I did run in to a high school friend and his family who I don’t think I’ve seen in probably 15 years, so that was fun. There were hundreds of carved pumpkins, food trucks, and lighted balloons and glow necklaces for kids. It was really well attended! And when we arrived home, Lily and Cameron were quite happy to see us (after 12 hours of being home alone) and they were super awesome not having a potty break the entire time!!DSC_0170 DSC_0172 DSC_0174 DSC_0182DSC_0276DSC_0183DSC_0191DSC_0194DSC_0199DSC_0239DSC_0224DSC_0220DSC_0229DSC_0237IMG_20141019_212057DSC_0225DSC_0249DSC_0245DSC_0250DSC_0255DSC_0251DSC_0253DSC_0256DSC_0272DSC_0277DSC_0281And here are a few others from the week. Finn loves going for a “ride” on the tractor with Kevin (and thanks to Google for the “auto-awesome” photo it put together for me of Finn and Kevin going through the back yard). He loves to play with Lily and one morning after Lily was going nuts in her bed, then left, Griffin went and sat where she was. Finn and Graham had fun on the rocks at church, he tries to move them and likes climbing on them. And doing some nature painting with Debbie. IMG_20141017_124536076-PANOIMG_20141017_124940937_HDRIMG_20141019_082213669IMG_20141019_083307791_HDRIMG_20141019_115958993IMG_20141019_120020190_HDRIMG_20141019_120138812  IMG_20141019_120528173photo

Construction project from this week was to re-build the doors on the shed, first so they would actually close, and second so the tractor would fit! Kevin and Brett had to widen the door frame several inches and then re-build the doors so that the mower would fit through. Can’t even tell anything was done, can you? These are professionals 🙂  Work on the garage included putting up shelving and installing cabinets. Photos on that will be coming soon.

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