Lucas’ Fall Break

Lucas came home on Friday for his fall break from Luther College.  He came home with a cold  but is pushing through it because he doesn’t want to miss out on any fun.  Two kinds of fun are on the agenda.  The first kind involves Drew, Michael, and Lucas’  big plans to play their computer games/video games/ xbox…whatever. Because of said plans, it was “impossible” to pick up the 5 billion cords, controllers, et al on the floor before the cleaning ladies come. Hmmm.

  The other kind of fun on the agenda is family fun.  When he reads this blog he often comments that he wishes he was here.  I wanted an adventure for him.

Since Saturday was going to be a nice day, Alan suggested another family bike ride.   As luck would have it, look what I saw on the way to the bike path.  So much fun in one day!

The killjoys didn’t really want to go but what is Halloween without pumpkins?  Unfortunately, Pumpkin Days was less of an event and more like a pumpkin stand.  They did have a wagon you could ride for $6 a person and be driven to the patch.  The kids didn’t want to participate in riding or picking their own pumpkin so we just picked out our pumpkins that were on the ground next to the metal shed.  The killjoys were right, Pumpkin Days was kind of lame.

But sometimes once you are there and have made the commitment, you  just have to go with it.  And with luck, a lot of times things look better in photos then they really were.

The harsh sunlight made capturing photos difficult.  The kids weren’t in the mood for me to find a nice “fall backdrop” in open shade.  This shot of their rear ends high tailing it to the car will have to suffice as the group shot.

Onward to the bike ride which was fun.

We went from Avon to Albany and back.

We passed by a couple of lakes with docks we could take our bikes down and over the water.

We saw quaint towns beckoning us to visit, visible on the horizon.

We were hungry and as we rode into town.  We hoped to find a café to grab a burger or a piece of pie.

It looked like we had 3 options for food on Main Street. Sidebar, doesn’t this look like it could be Mayberry?  Where is Floyd’s Barber shop???

But on closer look every café was closed from 2-4:30 on Sundays. We had to settle for greasy Dairy Queen.

On the way back, we I  stopped often to take it all in.

I loved the fields of milkweed.  Michael said he hadn’t seen these since he was a kid.  I told him to blow the seeds like dandelions.  It didn’t work but he made a nice flower.  Can you see it?

wild cucumber – it looks like a string of lanterns.

fall berries

and tall grasses soaking up the Autumn sun.

It was heaven for me to be out in the country in the midst of nature’s beauty.   As we biked along, sometimes I would find myself riding beside one of the kids.  I asked each child in turn if they were like me and wished we lived in the country.  Each one said “no way”.   This is an example where the kids may THINK they know what they want but they haven’t figured it out yet.  Trust me.   They really would LOVE to live in the country and some day they will know it….

It was a good day.  It was fun.

I am always glad to have another opportunity to shoot the kids

And they love it too.

Kind of.