Fall Adventures and a Lunar Eclipse

We’ve been enjoying some beautiful weather this last week . . . enough for a visit to the local dairy for ice cream one evening.

The ice cream was good . . . but the smell in the yard was enough to knock you over!!

 

Last week we went on another campus visit with Bryce – to Eastern Michigan University.  They have a nice program, and we gained some valuable information about Athletic Training and Physical Therapy degrees, but he’s still got his heart set on Michigan State.

After our campus visit, we went to our favorite apple orchard to pick apples and get their excellent donuts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YUM!  The apples are crunchy and delicious . . . and the donuts . . . they were AMAZING, as usual!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to working around the campground, Bryce and Tom, along with my brother, Donnie, cleaned up my Mom’s hard – they trimmed trees and bushes, burned all the branches,

and Bryce mowed her grass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend, Bryce was lucky enough to get tickets to the MSU football game, so he drove out to East Lansing with a friend, and Tom and I hung out with his brother.

The guys watched the football games, and I worked on Bryce’s quilt.

It’s looking pretty good, I think!

On the way home, we got a good glimpse of the full moon leading up to Sunday’s Lunar Eclipse.

It was pretty cloudy on Sunday, but I was hoping for some good pictures of the eclipse.  I managed to get a few small windows of opportunity.

The beginning of the eclipse

Then it clouded up, so my next opportunity was just as the eclipse was almost complete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More clouds, and then I was finally able to get a shot of the red moon – it’s a little blurry, though . . . I was having trouble keeping my camera steady enough for these long exposure shots!

It was pretty cool, and I’m glad the clouds cleared occasionally so we could see it!

Tomorrow my little pumpkin turns 17!  Happy Birthday Bryce!

Fall Colors

It seemed like the trees around here were never going to change color, but then we got a few warmer days . . . and overnight everything changed!

Tom and the boys have been working in the campground to pay our site rental and electric, but mostly just to keep themselves busy during the day. 

They started out raking leaves, then switched to clearing a trail last week, but after all the rain we got this week, there’s a ton of new leaves on the ground!

 

We’ve also been taking care of all of our annual checkups, and Nicolas has gotten a few little issues fixed on his car.

We had a birthday celebration for the 3 cousins with fall birthdays,

and took advantage of a nice day to go to our favorite orchard to pick apples!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful day, and the apples were plentiful!

We picked our standard bushel . . . gala and golden delicious for eating, and northern spy for making pies!

We also bought some of our favorite treats – cider and donuts, and caramel apples for the boys!  YUM!

Last weekend it was time to make our first pie!

We had just gotten our pie put together, and while the oven was pre-heating, it suddenly shut down.  The display went completely blank and we couldn’t do anything to get it to power back up!

We put the pie in the fridge, and took it to my mom’s house the next day to bake it . . . it still turned out really good!

So, Tom had a new project for this week . . . fixing my convection oven!  We had a similar problem with this oven when it was new, and a GE Appliance Tech in Colorado made several service calls to get it fixed.  He was pretty helpful, so Tom gave him a call on Monday morning, and he recommended some things to check.  With his help, Tom had the problem to (hopefully) a few small components. 

 

His next call was to GE, who agreed to overnight the parts to us at no charge, even though we were out of our 1-year warranty.  If that didn’t work, they would get us a brand new oven for $220 --  delivered and installed . . . not a bad deal! 

I was kindof hoping that the parts wouldn’t fix the problem!

 

 

 

As promised, the parts arrived on Tuesday, and after dinner Tom and Nicolas got the oven put back together.

 

It worked!! 

OK, I’m glad I don’t have to be without an oven for a week or longer . . . but a new, clean oven would have been kindof nice . . .

One thing we did replace is our scanner.  We had a color printer/copier/scanner, but several months ago it stopped printing.  I tried replacing the ink, but I still couldn’t get it to print.  The scanner still worked, but it was kindof big to keep around just for scanning, so we bought one of the little portable scanners that just plugs into a USB port.

It’s handy and works pretty well.  My first task is scanning all the photos in albums that I didn’t get to before we went on the road.  With this new little scanner, the process goes really fast!

Although, starting with Nicolas’ baby pictures probably wasn’t the best idea . . . with just over a month until he leaves for boot camp!

We’ve got a little over a month left to stay in Michigan, but most of our fellow-RVers are making their way south by now.  Just a few days ago, we said good-bye to Roger and Joyce . . . and the kids . . .

 

as they make their way toward Texas for the winter.

 

 

 

 

We’re hoping that the weather holds out until we can leave for Florida . . .  we’ve had some cool nights, but nothing too bad so far, and not even an overnight freeze yet, either.

We’re pushing our luck by staying into November . . . but we’re pretty tough . . . we’ll handle any weather that comes our way!

Enjoying Autumn in Michigan

We’ve been enjoying some beautiful fall weather here in Michigan – daytime highs have been in the high 60s and low 70s, and overnight lows in the 50s, with just a few nights in the high 40s.  It’s hard to believe we’ve been here a month already – time certainly flies when you are busy!

We’re going to extend for another month here at the campground, and hopefully the nice fall weather will continue through October.  It’s supposed to be 80 degrees tomorrow, so that’s a good start to the month!

 

We’ve been busy taking care of business -- doctor appointments, dentist appointments, financial planner meetings – and fun, too – getting together with friends for football games, dinners with family, Driver’s Ed for Bryce – and helping my mom and Tom’s parents get their yards cleaned up before winter.

We’ve had a few campfires,

spent an afternoon at our favorite apple orchard,

and enjoyed some beautiful sunsets!

Yesterday was Bryce’s 15th birthday,

and we had a party at my mom’s house.  I was busy cooking all week – cake, cookies, spaghetti & meatballs . . .

and we had a pretty good feast!

After changing the oil in Grandma’s car, Bryce and Nicolas helped her get started on the new puzzle we brought her . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

while I cooked dinner and worked on my laundry.

Jaxon found the cake in the kitchen and just took a little taste . . .

he liked the meatballs, too, though!

 

Soon enough, we all got to have a taste of the cake!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bryce enjoyed his birthday celebration with the family, especially spending the day with Grandma!

Back at the campground, the leaves are just starting to change, and we’re hoping that winter weather takes its time showing up, too!