Erie Orchards

In an attempt to not stay inside at home again all weekend (last weekend we all went a little stir-crazy) and to discover more the "greater" Toledo area has to offer (it was just over the border, I swear), the boys and I went to Erie Orchards for the first time today. It was awesome! Granted, it was a little further than we like to go, but I think it was worth it. They were having a little harvest festival with some really cute attractions (a bounce house, crafts, pony rides) and some slightly random booths (one was selling just Twilight paraphernalia).

As soon as we got there, Colin ran straight for the pumpkins. He thought the little ones were so cute - just his size. We then went inside the store to check out their apples, donuts, and cider. Lo and behold, Erie had a window inside the store specifically for watching the juice-man work his magical machines. Colin was super excited. Unfortunately, the juice-man never made an official appearance. Luckily we were able to pry Colin away with cider and donuts. I would like to add at this point, that between the three orchards we've been to this year, I think Erie's donuts are as good as MacQueens's (although they only had two varieties to choose from whereas MacQueen's has at least a dozen) and their cider is as good as Plymouth's. So, the best of both worlds just happens to be in the middle of both worlds.

After noshing on our donuts and cider and running from the bees, we walked around the little festival area. They had a tractor and a little wooden car set up that the kids could sit on. Colin called the car a train because it had a bell. After sitting on the car for a good 10 minutes, we convinced Colin to go into the children's play area. It was just a little area covered in hay, but apparently that equal a really good time. Colin was a bit tentative at first, but after awhile he really started to enjoy diving into the hay and throwing it all around. In fact, even though we practically had to bribe him to go in, we had to carry him out when it was time to go home.

I really enjoyed what Erie Orchards had to offer. There were a lot of activities that the kids could enjoy even without the festival, including a little petting zoo, the play area, picture props, and a hay ride. Maybe next year, we'll actually venture into the orchard and pick our own apples. We'll definitely be able to spend more time there once Eli's not napping as often. Speaking of Eli, he also had a good time, riding around in the bjorn, as per usual, and people watching. It will be fun next year when he can run around too.

More Halloween Frights

Apparently I married a comedian.


Still makes me jump, every time.

Halloween Cookie Decorating Playdate

I love October! There are so many fun Halloween-related things to do. Today we had 5 of Colin's TPG friends over for a Halloween cookie decorating playdate. It was fun watching which cookie shape each kid picked and which colors they wanted to use as frosting. It was also fun to see how some kids (like Colin) wanted to just eat the toppings straight-up, while others wanted to actually decorate their cookies with them. Eli had a great time just sitting in the baby bjorn and watching all the big kids do their thing.

You know it's October in the Ring household...

...when this guy starts popping up in the cupboards.


Thanks for the scare this morning, sweetie! ;P

Eli Sitting Up - A New Milestone

Eli has hit a new milestone! He can sit up on his own for a short period of time. I was starting to think that the extra large diapers and the half diaper across his tummy were going to hinder him from reaching some of these early milestones (he still has yet to roll from back to front, although I think he's getting close), but I guess I was wrong. Go Eli!

Down he goes!

2009 Race for the Cure

This morning, we headed to downtown Toledo so I could run in the 2009 Northwest Ohio Race for the Cure. All my boys came to cheer me on and it was so encouraging to have them there. It's been almost 2 years since I last ran in a race and this was a great one to get back into it. Even though I can't really stand big crowds, it's impossible to not get energized and excited when you're surrounded by Race for the Cure participants. I ran with my friend, Jen, and we had a great time swerving in and out of the crowd. I'm still amazed at how dense the pack remained throughout the entire race. It's unbelievable how many people have been affected by breast cancer. I love the passion for the cause.

ETA: My official time was 27 minutes, 53 seconds. My pace was 8 minutes, 59 seconds/mile. Sub 9-minute miles! (Hey - I'll take it.) :)

Jen and I before the race.

The boys before the race.

The boys and I before the race.

Jen and I waiting in the crowd as the last 5 minutes ticked by before the race.

Finishing strong - the last 1/10 mile.

Not sure what our official time was yet, but we know we hit our goal of under 30 minutes.

A Visit to Grammy and Poppy's and a Side Trip to Plymouth Orchards

On Saturday, the boys and I headed up to Ann Arbor to visit Grammy and Poppy. Colin was very excited and woke up around 6 AM, and immediately wanted to leave. Much to his chagrin, he had to wait for the rest of us to get ready. Once we were finally on the road he showed us that he has officially started the dreaded "Are we there yet?" mantra. His version, however, goes something like "Me see Poppy's house? Mama see Poppy's house?" It was cute the first 5 times.

While we were in the area, we also made an impromptu trip to Plymouth Orchards and got the requisite pictures of the kids posing as the worm in the apple. Now, Chris and I had just been discussing how we felt that as much as we love MacQueen's Orchard, we wished it was a little more like Plymouth's because Plymouth's has more for the kids to do such as the big cutouts to stand behind for pictures and the farm animals. Apparently, we were mistaken. According to Colin, Juice-Man trumps all. The kid was so disappointed that he couldn't see Juice-Man and he kept trying to dodge in every open door he saw to try and find someone making juice. We tried to explain that we only see Juice-Man at our orchard at home, and we tried to distract with the animals, but he wanted nothing to do with it. Thankfully, he still enjoyed his donut and cider. Which brings me to an observation I made about the two orchards. I've decided that Plymouth definitely has the better cider, but MacQueen's donuts win, hands-down. Yum!