Christmas skates

It's not too often that Nate pulls off a surprise, but he surprised us on Christmas. All three of us had new ice skates under the tree! YAY! We went out on Christmas afternoon to try them out. There's an ice rink right by Gramma and Grampa's house. (The same place Walter showed off his bike-riding skills last summer.) I was surprised how easy it was for me to remember what to do. It's been many years since the last time I skated. Walter spent as much time on his butt as he did on his feet, but he had fun. He said, "I think I'm getting the hang of stopping. You just fall down!" That's one way to do it. I can't wait to go again.

Christmas skates from Stephanie Billmeyer on Vimeo.

The Santa visit and other "things to do"

I started the month with good blogging intentions. I really did. And I got exactly this far:

That is day one of Walter's advent calendar. I filled each pouch with a Hershey's Kiss and a "thing to do." I was planning to post a few of our activities, but here it is, day 16...
The lack of posts is simply because I've been having fun doing rather than documenting. And we've been doing all sorts of good Christmas-y stuff. Making paper snowflakes, stringing popcorn, decorating cookies, shopping for gifts, making donations, looking at lights, and so much more. Day 14 was "Visit Santa." I couldn't let that one go undocumented. 


Walter made some verbal requests, then stopped to write it all down as well. Best to cover all the bases.


I know the holiday season is already full of "things to do," but we've really been enjoying having a little something each day to do together that puts us in the Christmas spirit. I hope you've been able to enjoy some holiday "things to do" as well. 

Leaves

Sheesh. It's like I blink and three weeks have gone by. How does that happen? Where does the time go? We've been busy with some house projects that I hope to show on here one of these days. And, of course, school and work and a variety of other things are keeping us occupied. I took a few minutes to snap some photos of Walter and his cousins playing in the leaves the other night. It was a good little creative boost - just 10 minutes with the camera. I've got to get back into the habit of taking it out more often.

Halloween 2013

For a few years now I've made, or at least pieced together, Walter's Halloween costumes. And it's been a really fun thing to do. But when he told me he wanted to be Optimus Prime, I backed out of the costume-making business. Because, for starters, who/what is Optimus Prime???

It's a Transformer. I'm so out of touch. 

And secondly, once I figured out who (or is it what?) Optimus Prime is, there was no way I was attempting to create that costume. So we went shopping. Easy peasy. 

Here's Optimus. (We're on a first-name basis now.) 

He's smiling under that mask, I swear. 

It was a rainy night so Optimus wore his raincoat to go trick-or-treating. He's such a good little Transformer. 

Happy Halloween!

The Great River Road Trip

Walter had a couple of days off school. I took a couple of days off work. And the three of us headed over to the Mississippi River to drive the Wisconsin leg of the Great River Road. We started in Dubuque and made our way up  to the Twin Cities, stopping at whatever looked like fun along the way.

Our first stop was the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. They have turtles on top of turtles. (On top of turtles.)

We stopped at several spots that promised great views and were never disappointed.



We hiked at Nelson Dewey State Park and Wyalusing State Park.





These two took some time deciding if the cave was worth exploring before bravely crawling in.

A chilly picnic stop at Lock and Dam #9.

We hiked along the 7 bridges trail, but only made it to bridge 5.




Can you spot the frog? I don't know how Nate happened to see it.

We made a quick stop at Lark Toys - one of the largest toy stores in the country.

We picked up some Interstate Highway Bingo to add to our travel entertainment. I remember playing it as a kid, and it's just as fun now. I only did a little knitting. The roads were too curvy for me. Still a sleeve and a half to go...

And a stop at the National Eagle Center - a surprisingly awesome place to visit. We saw eagles up close and learned some amazing eagle facts. Did you know that an eagle shoots it's poop 6 ft? Now you know.

It was a great little trip and we found a few places we'll probably revisit in the summertime.

In case you didn't get enough here, there are some more photos on Flickr. 

Fall photo walk

After school, a snack, homework, and a little TV time, Walter and I snuck off across the street for a little pre-dinner adventure. The maples have their fall colors on so we did some exploring and picture taking. We collected leaves and walked through the tunnels of branches – a "secret hideout" as Walter saw it. He loved taking photos and discovering what his camera would do if he pointed it at the sun or pushed different buttons. I love watching him experiment with the camera. Here are a couple of photos from him:

And a few from me:

He liked the cool feel of the bark on his cheek. We took photos to help him remember the feeling. :)

A farm report

Well, not really a "farm" report, but a little update on the goings on around here. 

Walter is loving kindergarten. He runs out to me after school with a big smile on his face and tells me he's "exhausted." And then continues to skip to the car and jabber on about this and that, filling me in on his day. I love picking him up from school. I love his energy. 

He's got soccer and swimming keeping him busy two nights a week, and those activities have given me a little extra knitting time. Knitting during chilly soccer nights is a great way to keep my lap warm. I've been working on a sweater and it's been slow going, but I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere. Just a couple of sleeves and a waistband to go!

The honey has been harvested and the bees have been put away for the winter. The harvest was smaller this year, only about 7.5 gallons, compared to last year's 10 gallons. Ramona was weak all summer long so we didn't take any honey from her. Both hives have plenty of honey left to keep them going through the winter. We'll see if they are strong enough to make it. Time will tell.

Molly is the same old Molly. Her hair has grown back from her summer cut and she's dropping tumbleweeds of fur all over the house again. 

The chickens are doing well. Black Licorice is finally off the nest – done being broody for now. We've got some molting and our egg production has been down a bit, but we hear that is all normal fall chicken activity. Susan, the owner of Cluck, the chicken store down the road, has been a great resource to us. We often go to her with our chicken questions and concerns. And she's taken a liking to Walter. She even let him name the new chicks she's been keeping at the store. "Friendly" and "Dorothy Vader" are pictured below. If you're in the area, visit Cluck! It's a really cute store selling all sorts of chicken supplies and chicken art, including some fun metal pieces made by the Billmeyer artists, Jim and Nate. 

We've already done a little pumpkin picking and carving, and since this pumpkin is already covered in mold, we plan to do some more this weekend too. Did you know that chickens love pumpkin guts? 

In the home improvement category, we can finally check the driveway off the list. Brand new asphalt makes for a fabulous biking surface. Nate's on the hunt for a new basketball hoop now that we have space and a flat surface.

And, I saved the most exciting news for last – Nate has qualified to run the Boston Marathon! Whoop! Whoop! Nate ran the St. George Marathon in Utah on Oct. 5 and finished with a time of 3:07:14. (To qualify for Boston he needed to finish in under 3:10.) He's been training hard for the last, um… well, a really long time, and managed to take 20 (TWENTY!) minutes off his previous marathon time. That's a LOT of hard work. We're excited to head to Boston in 2015. 

(Thanks for the photo, Jim!)

That's the news from our homestead. How's the fall been treating you?