CAT | General
This would be a good one!
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Step 1: Observe as Audrey drops the singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer toy on the kitchen floor and watch his head fall off!
Step 2 (optional): Laugh hysterically while the kids are grieving the loss.
I finally had a few hours to get the blog moved over to WordPress, my preferred blog platform. We had been using another tool which started to make updating the blog a pain and eventually stopped posting new content altogether. I was able to bring all of the old posts over, but if you bookmarked any pages on the old site, they won’t work any longer.
We look forward to posting more about what we’ve been up to in the last few weeks.
Gary, Kate, and the clan (Grant, Norah, Audrey)
Kate was at a wedding all day on the Saturday before last so I took the kiddos out to the store to purchase 50+ lbs of apples at $0.39/lb to make applesauce. After our apple stop, we drove over to one of nine local alpaca farms for National Alpaca Farm Days. One weekend each year, many of the nations’ alpaca farms open up and welcome visitors in to see what the Alpaca Lifestyle is all about.
To be honest, the kids weren’t all that interested in learning the intricacies of raising alpacas. They just wanted to see them up close and feel how soft they are. Grant also wanted to watch them drink from a faucet in the corral but that didn’t happen (maybe next time buddy).
When we drove up (through a field – the kids loved that!) and got out of the van, Grant took one whiff of the air and declared that “this smells HORRIBLE!” Luckily, we got past the light odor quickly and headed over to the barn area.
We had a good time learning a bit about alpacas and seeing what they eat and how they behave.
An alpaca in mid chew. Alpacas have horrible manners! Grant demonstrating how the alpacas scratch themselves with their hooves. 
Up close and personal. This alpaca was quite docile.
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On to the kiddie ride area, always a hit.
First, we hit the cars where Norah had fun “driving” the purple one. Then it was on the their favorite ride, the motorcycles. Usually Grant and Norah are just laughing hysterically while the ride is in motion. However, this time the ride jolted as it started and Norah and a few other children got rather freaked out. After a minute or so, the ride operator had to stop and let them off before continuing the rest of the ride. All was well once Norah settled down. We watched Grant finish his ride and then shared an elephant ear before heading home.
Norah and her purple car. Grant and Norah on the motorcycle. 
Grant zooming by! 
Norah in distress. She was rescued shortly after this was taken.
Norah and Kate 
Grant is getting a good whiff of the elephant ear. Checking out the size of the tractor tires. 
Grant, Norah, and Daddy.
Kate grew up going to the Sandwich Fair, the oldest continuous county fair in the USA and the largest in Illinois. We dropped Audrey off at Grammy’s and took the older kids one afternoon a few weeks ago. Here are some of the things we did and saw.
Sign above the entrance. 
Norah fell asleep on the way down to the fair. Cute! Grant looking @ some of the animals in the 4-H tent. 
Very RED tongues after a cherry italian ice. 
Airbrushed TV trays (christmas gifts anyone? 
and what Grant called a “really big bathtub”! 
Of course we had to ride the train! 
Playing the duck game.
More tomorrow in Part 2.
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I was outside with Grant and Norah the other day when we saw a large grasshopper. Never one to miss a photo op, I grabbed the DSLR and my 100mm macro lens. These are the result.
I think they turned out well.
If you click on the pictures, you can get up close and personal with our grasshopper friend
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Norah, “checking her email”
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