Life and Times of the Walkers: Happenings 09/30-10/06

(This letter is late and you may receive 2 or 3 letters this week because I have been late adding my 2 cents! )The school districts here have a full week break in the Fall, which begins on the 8th. Murray State has a one day Fall break, which was on Friday. So, JJ planned a day trip for Friday and it turned out to be a lot of fun. First, we drove about 1.5 hours east of here to a family farm north of Hopkinsville. They had hay rides, a petting zoo, pumpkins, and an apple orchard. But when we got there, they would only give hay rides to school groups, and there was a huge school group there -- over 100 kids. It was quite overwhelming for us because it wasn't that big. But we did hang out at the petting zoo for a bit and bought some apples and pumpkins from their store. We were hoping to pick some apples, but they had a late spring freeze that limited the crop this year. But it was fun anyway. (Claire was very disappointed about the hayride and picking apples, she kept asking for the next two weeks everywhere we went, "Is this where we are going to pick apples?" or "When do we get to go on a hay ride?" I am learning as a mother not to mention things she will get excited about until I am sure they are going to happen! When the people were showing the kids the pigs, they chased them around and grabbed them and made the pig squeal and wiggle, which made the kids a little freaked out so they were screaming and between the pigs squealing kids screaming it was a bit much for me let alone Claire. She did enjoy the swings, corn pit (like a sand box, but filled with corn instead) and petting the other animals plus we got some yummy apple butter, frog jam (haven't tried it yet) and apple cider, so it was worth it)

We then drove some backroads north to Princeton, where we had lunch at a café downtown and then toured an old, restored home called the Adsmore House. We were taken on a guided tour and it was a really neat place. The tour was kind of funny because the guide acted like it was a day back in 1890 or something, which was kind of weird. Claire was a little excitable, but made it through pretty well. (I had been wanting to go see this house and it was really beautiful. I told Paul I would love to live in an old house like that but I would want it already restored and fixed up like this one was before I moved into it. Well there are lots of old houses, but since I am not up to doing the work right now and don't want or wouldn't be able to pay for a restored house, this fantasy most likely won't happen any time soon.)

After touring the house, we drove north some more to Marion, where there is a large Amish population. JJ had a map in a brochure and half the roads were gravel roads, but we followed a lot of them. (I am quite the navigator. Paul occasionally complains about my routes, - hard to believe, but true - but this day, they were very scenic and he didn't mind much.) The area is really hilly and the farms are situated in the valleys between the hills so it was really pretty. We were driving around about the time that school apparently let out, because lots of Amish kids were walking home from school – all barefoot and smiling. (Also all carrying little igloo type coolers which I thought was kind of funny) We passed a few kids going the same way as us on a dirt road and they were laughing mischeiviously as we passed, probably because 100 yards down the road it was blocked by a big creek. (Later as I was looking at my map, I noticed the little star next to the road which when looking at the key indicated it was a creek crossing the road. If I had noticed this earlier, we may not have gone this way and missed out on the fun that was to come.) We stopped before the creek and then I got out to take a look and the kids caught up
with us and told me that we could make it because it wasn't very deep. As JJ said, wouldn't we be smart taking driving advice from Amish kids? The banks of the creek were high and the road cut into the banks, and there was a foot bridge that the kids walked across. They waited on the other side to watch us cross, and when we backed up instead, they made fun of us, giving us the chicken call. So much for nice Amish:) We thought that was pretty funny. Now this foot bridge was straight out of an Indiana Jones movie, held by cables between trees with old wood slats with gaps and cracks. After the kids went on, I took Claire up to the bridge to go across, and it was a little scary,
swinging back and forth 20 feet above the water. I only went partway with Claire and then took her back to the beginning and then went all the way across and back, and then JJ did the same. I made sure to hang on to the cables because everything else looked as if it could fall at any time.

After playing on the foot bridge, we turned around and made our way to our goal -- a bakery and greenhouse. We made it just before they closed, so we were able to buy some homemade bread. (The bread was delicious! I would like to try some of their pies and desserts also, so maybe we will have to take a trip back to pick some up for Thanksgiving or something. They also had a greenhouse that I would like to check out in the spring. There were all kinds of goods for sale at these peoples homes (more bakeries, veggies, horse shoeing, cabinet making, etc. It was fun to drive through there and the people we saw were very friendly. Paul was very curious as to why their buggies didn't have side windows, I'm not sure they don't because the ones we saw didn't have their tops on them at all but Paul saw that the picture on the road sign didn't, so we will have to investigate. I thought that was a pretty funny thing to be curious about though. We also saw "junk buggies". In some of the yards there were buggies that were old and not functionable anymore, just like you see cars in some yards that belong in a junk yard. I wonder if they have junk yards for buggies around.) We then drove home, getting back
around 7:30.

On Saturday morning, I took our neighbor, Doug, to the driving range because he said he had never played golf and wanted to try it. We had fun and he hit some good shots for his first time. After I got back I watched conference with Rachel while JJ and Claire went to a birthday party. (We went to a party at the gymnastics place here and Claire LOVED it! - so did I. The smell, the equipment, everything brought back so many memories, I was itching to play too. - She had so much fun and I thought "Finally I have the answer to our potty training problems! If you go potty on the toilet, you get to go to gymnastics." Well, I guess nothing is that fun or exciting to override the convenience of going in your pants. I also learned that your body changes a lot after having a baby- I knew this before, just not in this way. I went to bounce on the trampoline with Claire and almost wet my pants.) We all watched (this term is used very loosely since with the girls I catch about 10 seconds at a time) the second session, and then in the evening I went to a pizza dinner prelude to the priesthood session and then came home.

Sunday we watched both sessions of conference at home, but it is quite hard to pay attention to everything with both girls wanting to play or wanting attention. I enjoyed the talks, though, and was impressed by the things that were talked about. (I am just very grateful they come out in print and on the computer since I don't get much from the television)

Earlier in the week, I had my first USTA tennis league match on Wednesday, and our Murray team went to Mayfield, 25 miles away, to play their team. The league is a men's combo league, which means they match doubles partners unequally -- a higher rating with a lower rating. My partner and I won our close match, and I enjoyed playing. Our team captain told me to self-rate low, so I think I am rated lower than I should be, but I still make a lot of mistakes, most of the time because I try to do something besides just get the ball over the net. Sometimes it can be kind of slow, but it is fun to play a real match.

Well, that's it for this week. We love you!

Claire on the haystack.