Nature School: Falling Leaves

The week after Fisher's birthday we took off over the pass to check out the leaves.  We took a picnic and made a nature school day of it.  James spent much of our little walk talking to Fisher about hunting.  They talked about the black marks on the aspen trunks and what made those marks.  (The elk did.)  They talked about several other ways to spot the signs the elk were close by.  We looked and looked for elk but didn't see any during the walk.  (though a certain enthusiastic 3 year old may have had something to do with that.)

Our picnic was filled with "camp robber" birds that kept trying to steal my sandwich.  One even succeeded in getting the top piece of bread.  The children (James included) thought that was hilariously fun and proceeded to "feed the birds" lots of peanuts.   Those birds would actually land in the kids hands and eat up the nuts then fly off.  James put some food on top of his head to see if they'd land on it.  They did.  I missed the picture.

We went to the nature center in Mueller State Park and they had this fantastic little children's trail.  We went around twice we liked it so much. 

It was a such beautiful fall day. 
JKFP

A day in the life.

Fun times while Daddy was home....


At the pool!

Diving for quarters.

I'm so proud of Fisher.  He would not have done this
six months ago!

Making friends.

Ice cream with new friends.

The fence got finished!

James turned it into a math lesson.  Carry these to the back
 and stack them in sets of ten.

Proper attire for fence building...why yes.

Fence building 101.

Also goes along with nail gun 101.

Assistants everywhere!

Our fence is FINISHED!!

The Balloon Classic! 

Fisher's favorite balloon.

I wonder who really liked this one....

Touching down in the water.

Flame.

This is one of our favorite mornings in this town.

Something to see in every direction.

A Knight and Princess party!

Lady Piper and Sir Fisher

Lady Piper jousting.

Sir Fisher's turn.

Playing "Defend the Castle"

I love that you can see all three of them in this one!

Fishing days!

He can't get down there fast enough!

Nice view huh?

This one is pretty cute too.

Reading about the spotted sandpiper.
"Mommy, we have the same name!"

Maybe my current favorite of this little thing.

More pretty.

Walking around trying to find the old beaver ponds.

I LOVE THIS!

Day of fun with cousins!

From the park we had an excellent view of the helicopter
dropping mulch on the burn scar.  All that mountain area there is
burned except the far right.

 

I can't believe how grown she's getting.

The boys.

James, Piper, DJ, and Eric

Jana, Fisher, Piper, James, DJ, and Eric

Pipey Lou

 

 

Eric and Matthew.

 

That's some big time fun.

 

JKFP & Bob

 

 



 

 

The Best Day Ever...

I never did share all of our Italy trip so I figured I'd better catch up before we head out again. 

After 3 days of me relaxing (and James working) we took a quick 24 hour trip to a little island off the coast called Capri.  It's a very charming destination filled with delicious restaurants, crazy cab drivers, lots of fancy shopping, and beauty around every turn in the road. 

Our first view of Capri from the marina.

We stayed at the Hotel Bellavista and it was fantastic.  Quiet.  Amazing views.  Extremely friendly staff.  I would definitely recommend it.  (They didn't have a pool or full restaurant but their other qualities more than made up for it.  And they have deals with pools and restaurants in the area if that's important to you.)

Our view from the hotel balcony.
View 1

Second view from the balcony.

Across the street and up the hill from our hotel

The hotel gardens.

View from the breakfast room.

We decided for the full Capri experience we should charter a little boat for a tour around the island.  This place is famous for the Blue Grotto.  Unfortunately for us, the seas were too rough to go on that side of the island.  We had an amazing tour all the same.  It was so relaxing and gorgeous.

The Marina

You can NOT believe the color of the water.  It's unreal.

Just LOOK!

A rather fancy yacht.

 Another even fancier yacht.

Ruins too.

Beauty everywhere you look.

Even the little walls by the road.

The corners of shops.

 

Making sandals.

 

Another view of the main marina.

Just perfect, beautiful buildings everywhere.

We can't forget Mt. Vesuvius.

Delicious sunset dinner.

James and I still refer to this as "the best day ever".  While Pompeii was the coolest thing we'd ever done, Capri was the most romantic.  It made for a great second honeymoon even if it was just 24 hours.

I've still got at least one more (maybe two) post about the Italy trip and lots to catch you up on while James was home.  Sniff. 

JKFP