wonderful autumn!

So, here's what we've been up to:

Visited Curtis Orchard, picked our own apples, made applesauce.

Visited the Great Pumpkin Patch, picked lots of squash, gourds, and pumpkins, admired the extensive displays and were awed by the variety of squash and pumpkins they grow there! Still eating squash.

FEAST OF THE HUNTER'S MOON!!! Saw cannon demonstration, flintlock reliability contest (musket and rifle demonstration), various fife and drum corps re-enactors, a tactical demonstration between two of the military corps, witnessed colonial methods of food preparation and ate the food (lots of it!), watched blacksmiths at work, turned a giant wheel that spun a lathe on which a craftsman made us a little wooden acorn (cute!), watched traditional Native American dance and song, watched traditional Scottish dance and song, traded for different items at the children's trade blanket, learned some classic games from long ago, and more! Did I mention that we ate a lot of food? Pics to come as soon as I figure out our new camera.

Around the World Wednesday at the Spurlock Museum - first week, we learned about Papa New Guinea and drew pictures of face paintings similar to what they do there, and this week we did some Indonesian-style batik painting. Also, visited the Krannert Art Museum today, where we saw some lovely paintings (and some hideous modern art). Samuel wanted to show us something in one of the paintings, and went to point to it, and it wasn't until the last second that we realized he intended to put his finger right on the painting, causing dh and I to simultaneously shriek, "Don't touch the painting!" (Yes, I said not to touch anything as we walked in, but he was quite absorbed in the statues in the entryway and in retrospect, he probably didn't hear a word I said.) The guard who was about 10 feet away kept his eyes on us the rest of the time, yes sirree!

Games: I mentioned that we learned new games at the Feast - we bought one called Fitch, and Shawn and Samuel have been having fun learning the strategies behind this game. We also got the game that goes with the book The Scrambled States of America, and had a lot of fun playing that one, too. With the colder weather, we've been pulling out the family games: Capt'n Clever, Payday, LOTR Risk, Battleship, Uno, and Ziggity are some we've played recently.

Samuel is still blazing through Math-U-See. At this rate (which we may or may not maintain) we'll need the next level by Christmas. He is almost through his reading primer and has done some more poetry for his copywork. I had him do another apple poem, and then a quote about October that I liked, neither of which are in front of me at the moment for me to record. Oh, well.

This autumn has been quite lovely, but I fear it is slipping away too soon - the temperatures are dropping fast! Well, we will enjoy the color while we can!