I spy...

With a traveling husband and three out of four kids involved in numerous church activities, it's been difficult lately to keep all of my family members all in one place. So when one of our local homeschool groups offered us the opportunity to participate in a Family Scavenger Hunt, I realized it would be best to complete it in shifts so everyone in the family had a chance to be involved.

Last weekend, Mark was away in Europe, and a scavenger hunt adventure afforded us the perfect way to make the time without him pass more quickly. Our adventures took us to Hubbard Park and Castle Craig.

So, yeah, we've been here before (and, coincidentally, on another weekend during which Mark was absent), but the beauty of fall gave us a different experience this time.

It was a beautiful view and a lovely drive up and down the hill upon which Castle Craig sits.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a bit of time on the playground at Hubbard Park.

Oh, and there was a potty stop too.

If you know me, you know I have portopottiphobia and will hold it 'til I burst rather than stepping foot in one of these; however, my son doesn't seem to have a problem with it. I caught the horrid things in black and white; it seems to give them a more sophisticated air, don't you think?

* * * * * * * * * *

This week was a busy one of running one kid here and picking another kid up there. But Mark was home. So, though we were down one kid by the time Saturday afternoon rolled around, we decided to continue the Family Scavenger Hunt.

First, we drove through a small town called Collinsville. A couple of weeks after we moved to the Arctic, I called Mark and told him that I had just driven through the prettiest, most charming little town. You can see why:

Next, we stopped by one of my favorite farms, Tulmeadow Farms. They offer veggies, grass-fed meats, and Amish popcorn. They also have delicious ice cream. But in light of our recent sugar-free lifestyle change, we skipped the ice cream today, and I picked up some popcorn. We're going through the
popcorn quickly!

Today Tulmeadow not only had popcorn, but also quite an assortment of pumpkins.

The next stop on our adventure was Stratton Brook Park.

Stratton Brook is one our favorite places. During the summer, we visit weekly with homeschool friends to enjoy the beach and the lake (which is more of a pond) and to play frisbee.

I've mentioned this before...I love all of the farms in Connecticut! Our last stop was another farm. Flamig Farm is a popular place with its petting zoo and farm store.

We did not enjoy the petting zoo today; however, we did meet some adorable, fuzzy little chicks.

And we appreciated some of the other charm as well:

And then it was back to home sweet home where we've added some charm of our own:

We went a little overboard on Halloween decorations this year...since we're going light on the sweets, we over-compensated by letting the kids go crazy on our front porch. Happy Halloween!

Karabin Farms (or Fall Comes to the Arctic)

I love fall up here in the Artic. This year, though, fall has kinda been lost on me; I've been holed up in the kitchen so that I haven't noticed the beautiful changing colors of the New England leaves or the cool crispness of the evenings. Today's outing, however, opened my eyes.

It was a gorgeous day, a perfect day for going on a pumpkin hunt. I found this treasure of a farm by doing a simple online search for pumpkin patches in the area. It's not much of a secret, though, because we definitely didn't have the place to ourselves. Still a great time, though!

We spent a little time selecting just the right pumpkins.

Some pumpkins didn't quite make the cut:

We went on a hayride, and while we were waiting in line, we were entertained by a man on his fiddle and a woman on a triangle.

And I thought all the rednecks were down south. Just kidding; the entertainment added a lot to the ambience.

Yep, it was a great day. 

I'm happy it's fall again...even if that means winter isn't so far behind. 

The Big E

We came, we saw, we conquered. Or, rather, we ventured in with the masses, spent way too much money on very mediocre fair food, had some fun anyway. It's difficult, though, not to compare our visit to the Big E today with our first visit two years ago. The Big E was, in fact, our very first outing here in the Arctic after our arrival on 9/11/10. That first visit took place on a rainy day, so few people went. Today was a beautiful day, so EVERYBODY went.

It took us about 45 minutes to make it off the highway and to the entrance of the Big E. Thankfully, we scored half-price parking at a private lot off the property of the Eastern States Exposition. A little further to walk, but I'll take a walk to save five bucks.

The Big E is a county fair on steroids, and it is held annually in Springfield, MA. The "fair" features a mini amusement park (for the price of about $3/ride - I said no to that since we have spent the summer at our local amusement park), lots of booths with locals selling their wares, and way too much greasy fair food.

One of the main purposes of the fair is celebrate agriculture. There are sheep:

And there are cows, chicks, and ducks. There are also pigs, my favorite:

Is that brown and black spotted one not the cutest thing EVER (besides my children)? And I make that judgment call after seeing nothing but his cute little hiney. If no one had been looking, I would have scooped him up and put him in my pocket.

And doesn't this mama look fully and completely content?

And she's got eight children (that I can see anyway)! Oh to have that smile on my face all the time with just my four!

There were several horse shows, and the very elegant Clydesdale horses were on display as well.

My favorite show at the Big E is the Border Collie Demonstration. This is Peg:

The demo took place in a small arena, too small for a bunch of sheep, so the trainer uncaged what she called "mini-sheep":

Aren't these fun looking ducks?

Peg quickly went to work herding the ducks and obeying her trainer's commands.

Peg forced them over a bridge:

And even under the bridge, though that feat took a little more coaxing on Peg's part.

Audrey enjoyed watching from the sidelines:

After the dog show, we went over the big top for the circus that is part of admission to the Big E. Even though we got there 30 minutes early, we still got terrible seats and therefore saw the back of most of the performers (as well as a big post that stood right in my line of sight), but we were entertained by many of the acts anyway.

After the circus, the three younger kids enjoyed a ride down a huge slide:

One of the things the Big E is best known for are its replicas of each New England state's state house.

Inside each building, visitors get a tour of many of the customs of each state: visitor guides, crafts, state museums, food...all of these things are available and unique to each state. The kids already knew they wanted to go to Vermont to get some maple syrup cotton candy. After that purchase, we decided to visit Connecticut and the Lego exhibit. Since the American Lego headquarters are in Connecticut, they are well represented at the Big E. The three younger kids made a Lego tile for display. Alex, my socialite, meanwhile ran into some friends with whom she chatted while the others built.

 



We were ready to leave after visiting the states, but on our way out we came across more friends as well as a sea lion show. So we stuck around to chat and to witness the sea lions doing the conga.

The funniest thing to me was that the sea lions all clapped whenever one of them would perform a trick.

So not bad for a free day (we get free tickets through one of the homeschool groups). Next time, though, I will remember to take my Tylenol. Thankfully, the Big E also has an apothecary, so I was able to purchase some Advil to take away my headache.

Like I said: we came, we saw, we conquered.