Triple!

Sunday while doing errands, we stopped in the Mall.  They had claw machines everywhere and Camden got to do 2 of them (with her money).  The second one we came to had a father and his two young boys who were winning giant balls.  They played three times and had won three times.  He let us in to have a try and Camden went for a huge green ball that was clear and winnable.  As the claw grabbed it and was bringing it back to drop in the win slot, it got hung up on a witch hat with a ball in the head space.  I thought for sure it was going to knock the ball loose that she had in the claw.  NOPE.  Instead it got dragged over the dividing wall and fell into the win slot along with her big green ball.  THREE wins with one play.

And the hat is actually really cute for a Halloween gimmick.

Crawfordsville Farmer's Market

We had not been to the Crawfordsville Farmer's Market in a very long time.  There was also a community event at the new pocket park location (right next to the FM) so we decided to head there on Saturday morning.

There was a great crowd, good booths, and several artists.  

Most of the produce is out of season, so there were lots of baked goods and apples.  There were also cute decorations.

The Harvest Hoopla in the pocket park had lots of booths of local agencies.  We visited each one in order to collect a sticker and turn a sheet in for door prize drawing.  We didn't win anything, but did learn lots about our community and Camden got some goodies at several of the booths.  

We enjoyed the time out together and even went around the corner and had Little Mexico for a girls lunch out.  She jabbered away, we laughed a lot, and both enjoyed the relaxing morning/afternoon with one another.

McCloud Prairie Maze

Saturday afternoon, after Kevin woke up, we wanted to go do something outside on such a beautiful day.  The McCloud Nature Park had a prairie maze that was only 1/2 mile (if you didn't hit too many dead ends) and FREE!

The maze was a turtle.  It was a good chance to Camden to practice her map skills.

She led us through all the twists and turns.

Only a few dead ends!  Oops!

It didn't take much more than 1/2 an hour to enjoy, but the sun was shining bright and we were all sweaty.  There was a slight breeze, but since the prairie grasses were so high, we didn't get the full relief during our little hike.

We made it!

Afterward, we headed over to the bridge for rock throwing and general enjoyment.

We have gone to a few things at this little park.  They really have great programming and everything is always free. 

Lafayette Rite of Passage

We have talked about stopping at a Lafayette Pizza King for the past few years...because Camden wanted/needed to experience the train.

So Sunday evening, after running errands and visiting Grammy, we had dinner at PK.  We placed our order and...

...the CSX train brought us our drinks.  Then we put our quarters in the slots and watched the second half of the Colts game on the little TV in our booth.  Sometimes it's the small things that are fun memories.

Gray Brother's Cafeteria Pies

Anderson Orchard is in Mooresville.  This is also the home of Gray Brother's Cafeteria.  We have never eaten there, but heard all about their pies.  We went to the restaurant and learned they had a whole separate entrance and serving line for to-go orders.  The food actually looked really good...surprised that I might actually want to go there for dinner sometime.  But today, we each got a slice of pie for later that night and a big slice of cheesecake (with fresh strawberries) to share now.

Gotta say, homemade butterscotch pie while watching the Colts is just about perfect (of course, the Colts have to win for that!).

The selection was huge.  I was the only one who went in and selected for everyone.  Camden had blackberry and Kevin had pecan.  All were delicious.  Kevin said it's a good thing only I went in because, based upon my listing of their selection, he said we probably would have come home with 5 or 6 slices if he had to choose.

Anderson Orchard

We did some U-Pick at one of our favorite orchards. I say that, but we haven't been in almost 6 years.  And boy has it grown and changed.  The last time we went there were only a few other pickers and us.  This time, there were hundreds! 

We weaved our way through the other vehicles and decided to check to see if there were still any red raspberries left on the vines.  We found a few worth eating and each got to taste their yumminess.

Then we traveled all over this HUGE orchard to find apples that were ready to pick.  We sampled Gala, Jonathan, Golden Delicious, and Red Delicious.  We added a few of each to our bag.

We then drove around about 2 loops trying to find Grimes Golden.  It is an older variety and considered one of the "parents" of the Golden Delicious.  We finally found them and discovered it was our favorite - very crisp and sweet.  We filled our bag with these beauties.

We left the orchard and headed over to the store.  Lines were long, so we simply bought a gallon of apple cider, but didn't get any concessions.  We also felt we got a good bag from u-pick, so didn't buy any more apples either.

Camden ended the day with some play on the straw mountain and playground, as well as a photo op in the tree sign.

Victories!

Gramma Pat went to Lafayette to see a potential house (and make an offer on it).  Since it was evening by the time she was done, she came to our house for the night.  We had a delicious pork roast that Chef Kevin had prepared and then a rousing game of Sorry Spin.

Camden had the victory in this game...and Gramma Pat had the victory of an accepted offer on a new house for her!

Monday Night Perfection

Camden had her last swim lesson on Monday.  Her coach did a great job!  Her stroke is not pretty and still a combination of doggie paddle and freestyle, but it is getting there.  He also "pushed" her a little and had her swim 6 laps with just a brief rest in between for instruction. 

Then she did about 5 jumps off the high dive, another 5 off the low dive, and 3 turns on the rope swing.  Walking back, she did one more lap back to me.  She should be good and tired!

It is tradition to bring cookies to your coach on the last day of practice.  I had a busy weekend so ended up bring store bought bakery cookies.  They are almost as good as homemade and he was almost as happy to get them as Camden was to give them. 

She and I were going to have dinner out since Kevin was in the woods with Uncle Ric getting ready for hunting season.  She picked Wings Etc.  Just after ordering, I look up and see Joseph walk in.  He is in town for a week of training at the Lafayette CAT plant.  He and three of his coworkers are staying in a Crawfordsville hotel since all the ones in Lafayette are booked for an event at Purdue.  He came over and sat with us for about 20 minutes! 

When he went to tell his coworkers that he was going to visit with us for a bit, Camden said, "I can't believe Joseph is going to sit with us.  I just love that dude."

Glow-in-the-Dark

Fun afternoon at Monster Golf.

Saturday Breakfast

With a itty-bitty bottle of maple syrup for her pancakes.

Party Hopping

Camden had a busy social life this past Saturday - two classmate birthday parties.  Thankfully one was scheduled for the afternoon and one for the evening.

The first one was for a new classmate, Savion.  It was at his house just outside of Crawfordsville.  His family had just moved this year to our school.  There were about 8-10 kids from the class who came.  I was so glad that he had a good turnout.  They played all kind of games, danced, bounced on the trampoline, and ate ice cream cake.  Camden had a ball!

After a quick stop at home to change clothes and cool down, we headed to Lafayette for Jameson's party at Elite Air Trampoline.  Again, about 8 kids were there.  The place was practically empty so they all but had the run of the place.  It was also glow-night which added to the fun.