Fall Bucket List
1. Carve jack-o-lanterns with the grand kids
2. Go for a drive up the canyon with the hubs, take a picnic and gather colorful leaves
3. Plan Harvest Fest... an annual event with the family to celebrate the end of harvest
4. Make scarecrows with the kids and grand kids
5. Birthday lunch with a favorite sister to celebrate both our birthdays (one week apart)
6. Create a Homestead Christmas Shutterfly book
7. Plan this year's three-day Homestead Inn Christmas at Midway
8. Decorate Home for Fall Holidays
9. Visit Mom and Dad's grave
10. Cook up Halloween treats, a new Autumn dish, and make desserts that include pumpkin and apples... yummm!
Beautiful Fall Leaves... Sardine Canyon
Harvest Fest
We usually center Harvest Fest around a theme. One year we did Pirates. The kids had to follow a treasure map. When they got to the bottle of (root)beer. They had to sing 20 bottles of beer on the wall, while dancing around the tree. At the end of the hunt, they had to dig up a treasure box filled with coins, necklaces, and other pirate treasures. It was a very fun year. We also do a Spooky Hollow Forest walk through the orchard where they follow clues from a story to collect prizes as they encounter graveyards and bones, bats and ghosts, and a witch at the end. They have to grab their last prize from the witch's hut and run to the tractor and trailer that is filled with straw bales. Grandpa then takes them on a hay ride back to the barn. Harvest Fest is one of the big things I look forward to in the Fall.
Fall is my favorite season. I love to decorate the house, porch, and yard with gourds, pumpkins, leaves, and candles. A daughter, who is very creative with florals, made me the beautiful Fall wreath for my door. The witch in the center is my daughter-in-law who played the witch at the end of the Spooky Hollow Forest walk.
Homestead Inn Christmas
This is a big event that we do every five years. We take the family to the Homestead Resort in Midway for three days, just before Christmas. We ice skate, ride the Polar Express, tube, sleigh ride, play games, play in the snow, and exchange gifts around the Christmas tree. On Sunday, before going home, everyone dresses in their best and we go to Sunday Brunch together. I am looking forward to this year's family Christmas at the Homestead and can't wait to finalize the plans.
As you can tell, all my favorite things center around family!
Writing prompt #5: Fall is here! List your 10 favorite things about this Fall
Harvest fest sounds so fun! We did a pirate day like that this summer -- the kids loved digging for treasure!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post and your pictures - especially the trees in Sardine Canyon - so colorful!
ReplyDeleteYour pirate themed Harvest fest sounds like a lot of fun for the kids.
Wow. Your daughter is very creative. I love that wreath. And I've always though about making a scarecrow man with the kids to sit on our porch. I should do that this year.
ReplyDeleteIts like you can read my mind. Going through your list I was thinking how I hoped you would write sometime to explain about Harvest Fest and Homestead Inn and there it was! The photos are great too. I am with you all the way. The very best things are the ones we experience with family.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great list! We never had traditions for Fall, but I love your ideas! How fun to do a treasure hunt! Some day I'd love to go to New England and spend a few days driving around taking photos. I liked the idea of a Bucket List.
ReplyDeleteGoing to New England in the Fall is definitely on my long-term bucket list!
Deletewell I can't wait for #5! that's quite a list--but you are ambitious!
ReplyDelete