Family Picture - Thanksgiving 2016

All 15 of us together for fun at my little sister's house

the day after Thanksgiving.  That was a good time.

Hot Air Balloon Landing

We had some major unexpected happenings this evening.  A hot air balloon dropped in our front yard for a visit.

We saw the balloon off to the west, and they were travelling slowly our way.  We thought they were going to land in the neighbor's open field, but the balloon went back up and made a little jump over some trees and my barn.  We watched them land right in our front yard - right between my willow tree stump and the flowering crab apple tree.

Kids were totally excited to see all this happen.

Since the balloon was between a couple of obstructions, the pilot wanted to scooch over closer to the creek.  He had the 3 kids climb inside the basket, he shot some hot air back in the balloon, and we floated them over about 30 feet.  Here's a picture of the 3 kids floating over - their first balloon ride ever:

 They landed 15 seconds later without incident.  

They tore the balloon down pretty quickly, and kids helped cram the balloon in a big bag.  

It was a super exciting evening for everybody!

Hiking and Camping at Shades State Park

A week ago, during Fall Break, we spent 3 days and camped out 2 nights at Shades State Park.  What a gem of a park.  Kids, and us too, thoroughly enjoyed it.  We enjoyed...

Rock hopping and slipping off slimy logs:

Secret waterfalls:

Scenic overlooks:

And beautiful weather:

We all enjoyed hiking the deep ravines:

#3 Kiddo made a boat out of a piece of bark, and floated

it down every little waterfall to be had.  

Break time at the big boulder.

The ladders were exciting to go up and down.

And a funny tree just fit for 3 kids:

Kiddo #3 didn't mind getting his feet wet, and kept them wet for about 8 hours each of the 3 days.  He was quite the adventurer.