Applejack Festival 2012 - Kimmel Orchard

 I have always wanted to go to the Applejack Festival in Nebraska City. I was supposed to work, but numbers were low and I got put on call. So, unlike a good nurse, we packed up and headed down to our first stop - Kimmel Orchard.

 I didn't realize it was part of UNL. I thought this was so fun!  We bought our bags and went out into the orchard to pick!

 We went down the first row - Jonagold. These were my favorite of what we tried.

 There were so many apples on the ground under every tree! What a waste!!!

 Hoff showed the girls that they could eat the apples. I took a few bites from theirs, but between the three of them, I think they ate another whole bag full.

 Every apple Evie picked then, she thought she had to eat it - we had a few apples in the bag with a bite in them :)

 It was nice and cool out and even a little misty - our pants got wet!

 Aren't these apples just perfectly perfect! - This was the second variety we picked. We didn't see a sign, but I'm guessing red delicious. They were super sweet!

 Got a family picture squeezed in!

 Evie took this picture.

 Then, we listened to a guy give a demonstration on bee keeping and the different stages of the hive. Pretty interesting!

 The whole time picking apples, the girls could not shut up about riding the ponies we had seen before entering the orchard. 

 I've never seen two happier girls - they love to ride ponies. They also said this was their favorite part of the day.

Then, we went into the store and looked at all the canned goods that were for sale. The girls both got caramel apples! They had everything there from sauerkraut to black walnut syrup to corn cob jelly! It was a very enjoyable time and we will do it again.

Harvest 2012

 Riding in the combine with Papa!

 Evie hopped right up on Papa's lap and started driving the combine!

 She actually did pretty good!

 Look at that concentration.

 Her hair matches the corn.

 Gracie and Papa combining.

 She had her eye on this ear of corn the whole time we were combining. It was hanging out on the corn head.

 Gracie playing with Pip.

 Papa, Gracie, Lane, and Kade drawing with chalk.

 Gracie talking with Grandpa Lund.

Evie and Grandma Lund having a talk!

Husker Volleyball

 The girls attended their first Husker volleyball game vs. St. Louis.

 I think Evie was the most excited.  She loved all the clapping.

 They both loved Little Red.  Gracie got to give him a five.  Evie thought he was cool unless we had to walk by him - then she was scared to death and tried to run away.

 We watched the band warming up for the game.  Evie had to show off some of her gymnastic like moves!

The coliseum was packed and besides the fifty million trips to the bathroom, it was a great time!

Wild Plums!

 We have wild plum bushes down the south side of our driveway and recently, they were ready to be picked!

 It was almost like an Easter egg hunt - some in the trees, some on the ground.

 We all had fun picking them.

 Gracie helped me put them in the bucket.

 Little bit bigger than a grape. They do have a pretty color.

 Even Oscar came out to help!

 UUUGGggggghhhh! They bucket was starting to get heavy with all our plums!

 Evie took this picture - we got about a 1/3 of a 5 gallon bucket.

 And then after some research and phone calls.... I attempted to make jelly.

And it turned out great! I ended up with 30 jars!

Preschool 2012

 Gracie started preschool on August 17th and she was very excited to get back and see all her friends and teachers.

 This is Gracie's teacher Miss Martin.

She found her good friend Andrew. They grew up together at daycare and now are in preschool together!  She has 21 kids in her class and only 7 of them are girls.  They had to divide the class up into two groups - cats and dogs. Gracie is a dog - she's not too happy about that - she would've rather been a cat.