apple orchard

we went out this morning to eplegarrten to pick a peck of apples. it was a cool crisp day, the sun was shining, and us mangersons, were a little bit hungery;) wow, rows of apples (macintosh, jonagolds, galas, jonees, golden delicious), just waiting for us! we picked our peck, and then some, and left with full bellies and a great memory!

pulling the wagons. and notice that ryder is wearing his packer outfit (he woke up at 6am and put that thing on)

friday frollicks

we have started to take friday afternoons for some much needed family time. we all pick ryder up from school then head out to play, and then go somewhere new for dinner (well, that's kind of for jesse and i, but the kids are quite the foodies). this friday we went to the arboretum and played under a huge maple tree. we packed a thermos of apple cider and a few cups, the camera and the tree had everything else:) it was so FUN!!!

sweetness

ryder had so much fun with this tree, look at this move, so impressive.

first time playing in the leaves.....yay!!!!

daddy and ryder climbing the maple tree, i'm not sure who had more fun:)

fishy face

quinn's first day of school

we found a lovely little preschool for quinn to attend this year, although i can't believe she's big enough to go! the school is called "the meeting house", it's a bike ride away (although everything seems to be) and she'll be going tuesday and thursday afternoons.

our little sassy pants heading out the door. she has her mittens on, a tutu, a snack and her new cd that her school sent her, she's all set:)

hanging with ryder after school, checking out her new picture book of all her classmates. cute, cute, cute!!

contemplation

while visiting the family up in birchwood, us ladies decided we should take the kiddos out on the four wheelers (cause that what you do in the northwoods). so we, meaning my dad, got the machines fired up and ready to roll, and we were off, well then we stalled and my dad had to come and start one of the 4wheelers again, and then we were off, whew! we cruzed down a path for awhile, we were trying to take the kids to one of my fav childhood hang outs, and suddenly had to stop. a huge puddle the size of the pacific was before us and as tempting as it was we decided that we shouldn't drive through it (our risk taking has dropped considerably), so we stopped and hung out and just admired the hugeness:)

quinn's reading material

quinn loves looking through all the real estate pamphlets (she will comment on all the houses, like "oh, this one is pretty nice", or "hmmm, i don't really like this one"), it's dead cute. anyways, she insisted on grabbing a handful while hanging on state street for her ride home, and this is what i saw when i stopped....i guess there must not be anything good on the market these days:)

aunt tessa came for a visit

the hardest thing about leaving san francisco was that we were leaving aunt tessa behind;( she was an integral part of our life in the city and truly made an impact on our children! so, when we heard she was coming to visit, we put her arrival date on the calendar and patiently counted down......pins and needles i tell ya!!!

oh, the three amigos, being silly on state street

can i have some cheese with that?

we had a birthday bbq for tessa (she turns 30 on sunday) and invited a few of her old school pals over. nothing like a summer picnic in the back yard.

contrary to popular belief, tessa can actually ride a bike, and "she rides pretty well" say ryder! we participated in the "ride the drive" while she was here, where we had the opportunity to bike downtown without the car traffic. it was a beautiful day and was such a fun experience. man, i have forgotten how fun life can be while riding a bike.......