More Fall Fun

We've done a few other Fall Activities that I thought deserved remembering.

First was the Straw Maze. This was our first ever experience at a Straw Maze. It was a Girl Scout Family Activity (Sadie is in Daisies) so we took the opportunity to try something new.

We were all surprised at how tall the walls were and how tricky the maze was. You could honestly have been lost in here for hours and hours...maybe even days. No joke! We had to ask for help from the workers who stand on top of the walls -- on more than one occasion. The Straw Maze had really cool "underground" parts where it was covered with boards and felt like a cave. It was pretty cool. The kids had a blast!!

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Next up was another Daisy Scout Activity. They had a Mother-Daughter hike over Harvest Break. It was a lot of fun. We hiked the Cress Creek Trail just south of Rexburg. The weather was perfect for hiking and the views were spectacular.

 

Sadie is 2nd from the left in the brown jacket

 

This was the bathroom at the trailhead.

Can you read the sign: FACILITIES ARE CLOSED DUE TO GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Lovely. Luckily no one needed to use the restroom and luckily the trail was still open.

I won't make any political comments...but it was annoying. 

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I think this might have been my favorite part of Harvest Break. The READ-A-THON. Each year the Elementary School holds a Read-a-Thon over the fall break. It is a fundraiser...but just as important it is a time to encourage reading. There are prizes given out for the top reader in each grade & each class. There is also an ice cream party for the class with the most minutes read in each grade. In the past, my kids have made an effort to read a bit more than normal...but nothing too out of the ordinary. This year Colby set his sights high. He wanted to get 1000 minutes (last year he managed 300). Sadly, our trip to Utah didn't provide him with much reading time (or he chose not to read over playing with cousins) and my kids aren't really car readers. Sigh, they didn't inherit my "I love to read in the car" gene. So he had a lot of ground to make up. To help out the kids we decided to have Reading Parties every night after dinner. It was BYOBBP (Bring Your Own Book, Blanket, and Pillow) TWBP (Treats Will Be Provided). We had such a good time! Mostly the kids just read independently. I got a big stack of new books from the library and they read all their old favorites too. Even the big kids...well mostly Renae...got involved. I read aloud to the family a little each night as well. It really was a ton of fun and I liked how our home felt on those evening. I know we don't need a Read-a-Thon to make this happen...we really should do it more often. In fact, we have nothing on the agenda for tonight...I'll think I'll arrange a Reading Party.