Papa's Pumpkin Patch

We found a great pumpkin patch along the Missouri River just north of Bismarck. It was so pretty and fall-ish, fall is just the best season ever! The kids had fun and we got some big pumpkins, some smaller green and white and gold pumpkins, and some indian corn for the front of the house. They had huge hay bale forts and castles and mazes, it was really fun!

Monday, part 2

When we got home from the museum Rich woke up so we decided to head down to a lookout by the Missouri River that looks like a rickety steamboat. There was a path you could walk down to the river on, so we went down to take a look. There was a huge old tree/piece of driftwood sitting along the big rocks that made for a great photography prop! We'll have to go back with all 4 kids (Matt was still at the movie) this fall. It was a beautiful day today...high of 60 and lots of sun. After dinner we walked with the dogs up to the park, great day all around!

North Dakota Heritage Center

Grace, Ben and I went the the Heritage Center museum today since they didn't have school. Matt went to a movie and Tyler went to Best Buy so I needed something to do with the little kids. It's a nice museum, and the best part is that it's free! I brought my camera but realized that I forgot to put the memory card in, so I had to take a couple of crummy cell phone pics instead. I have determined that I'm not a very good cell phone photographer, since I cut off both of the statue's heads in these pictures. I got such a kick out of my Iowa kids...there were several statues like the one above that were made of a yellowish cement around the museum. Ben asked if they were made of butter :). Only true Iowa kids would think they were made of butter!

What a great game!

Just had to add an Iowa-Penn State picture I lifted from the internet :). What a great game that was...we had a very excited Kinney household! I can't believe the little kids slept through all the screaming and yelling!

Fall decorations

We put our light up pumpkins on the front steps today. It was HOT (87...I consider that hot for late September!) so we weren't outside a lot...it's supposed to cool down tomorrow. I took the kids to Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs today while Rich slept. He's working midnights this week and needed his sleep to rest up for the big Iowa-Penn St game tonight. So far that game isn't going well, unfortunately! Tomorrow I think we'll go to the mall for a bit and maybe go to the ND Heritage Center (museum) Monday...the kids don't have school Monday for a teacher day.

By the sound of Tyler throwing a temper tantrum, I don't think Iowa is winning yet. I think he's inherited his father's spirited football demeanor :).

My little prodigy fashionista

Grace fashioned this turtleneck for her Barbie out of a baby sock. Aww, she has a definite future on Project Runway, I can see it now!

Brrr!

Welcome to North Dakota! Matt had an all morning JV tennis tournament today over in Mandan, and it was SO cold! It was in the mid 50's, but the wind was blowing pretty good and it was cloudy and misty. Not a lot of fun to play tennis in, or be a spectator for, for that matter! He lost all 3 of his matches, 6-0, 6-0 and 6-3. He did get out of school for the day, so that made it all worth it ;).

The weekend in Daglum

We drove over to Grandpa Jim's Saturday morning to watch the Iowa game and relax for the weekend. It's been pretty hot up here...in the upper 80's mostly. It is finally supposed to cool off next week. It gets so nice in the evenings though! We took our usual drive around the country Sat. evening after the game, and it's beautiful with all the wheat out of the fields. Everything is golden. The wheat crop was so good this year that farmer's have to put the harvested wheat in their fields or yards because the grain bins are too full. Doug had a huge pile of wheat in his front yard....when we pulled up the deer were nibbling on it. The dogs had a great time running around too, with the wheat out of the fields they have lots of running room!

Roger Federer

Matt has really been enjoying tennis. He's gotten a lot better in the past few weeks and has started playing matches. He has won 2 of his singles matches so far, and one doubles match. These pics are from his first match against Dickinson. It was at Dickinson, so Grandpa Jim met us there and got to watch him play (when Grace wasn't dragging him all over the grass and to the park :) ).

Yes, we have moved in!

We moved in last Wednesday, and have finally been able to see the floor! A lot of the boxes are unpacked, but there are still messy piles laying all over the place. I took a few random pictures...please disregard the mess. I will be painting the big red wall in the living room, probably a green like my kitchen in Ankeny. We really like our house! It's cozy and warm and is set back from the street just enough to be a little private. Ben has 3 friends on our street, and Grace has a friend who is in Ben's grade 2 houses down. Matt is loving tennis and has made lots of friends, and Tyler is starting to like his classes and school too. Phew! Once we are totally settled it will be great!

The Countdown Is On!

Less than 2 days until The Candlewood Suites are HISTORY!!!! Woohoo! We are all more than ready to blow this joint. We close on our house at 8:30 am Wednesday morning. The moving van should be there when we get done. This has been a *really* long weekend in the old Candlewood...we are driving each other crazy. The poor dogs are going nuts too. The one good thing about this place is the pool...the kids have been swimming at least twice a day every day. The best $1.76 I've ever spent is on these swim masks & snorkels. They were 90% off at the local drug store, so $1.76 for the pair! They had a lot of fun with them.