Beginning of Fall

The start of fall is here. You can't really tell by the weather yet, but you can by the activities! We have had some nice cool fall-like days and they've been great! I'm looking forward to when this is the case every day! To me, there is nothing better than a nice cool fall day. But there have been other things that tell us fall has arrived.

Austin has started school. This will be his third year teaching already! It's crazy how fast time flies! Austin was definitely ready for school to start this year. The week before school started  he was at the high school or the middle school until 10pm or later getting things and his classroom ready! I admire his commitment and the focus he had those days, but at the same time I was ready for him to be home when I was getting ready for bed! :) This year, while the final numbers are still being determined as students finalize their schedules, it looks like Austin will have his biggest choir yet. It's amazing to see the choir grow under Austin's leadership. If you haven't done so already, head over to Facebook and "like" the Riverside Vocal Music page. That way you can keep up-to-date on everything that is happening at Riverside.

Another thing that tells me fall is just around the corner is my work schedule. It's quickly filling up with college fairs and before I know it, I'll be scheduling my high school visits as well. This will be my second year of fall travel season and I guess we'll see if it will be as busy as last year. My guess is yes. :)

A couple of things that we've been able to do to enjoy the last of summer... A couple weeks ago we were back in Macendonia for Donia Day, the town celebration. Austin was a judge for the parade. It was a fun day and we got to see a lot of people from "Annie" that we hadn't seen in a while, so that was really great. We also saw probably the coolest thing I've ever seen during a parade. The John Deere Implement just down the road had a pretty sweet surprise for all the kids. They had one of their tractors pulling a grain auger and the arm swung out over the streets and from it dropped hundreds of Tootsie Rolls! It was pretty amazing! And the kids loved it! 

This past weekend we went up to Minnesota to spend some time with my family. Originally we had planned on going to the Minnesota State Fair. But then we found out that weekend was going to be the time to harvest grapes at my uncle's vineyard. Well that is just simply something we can't miss, so we ended up helping out with that instead. It always promises to be a good time.

We normally spend the morning picking grapes and then celebrate the end of the harvest with a big potluck and lots of drinks to go around! This year was no different! Now, as you may already know, this summer has been particularly dry with not a lot of rain. Well Saturday, this was not the case. The one day pretty much all summer it decides to rain is the day we're out harvesting grapes. Well it made things interesting at the very least. It was pretty cold and very wet, but we managed. 

Harvesting in the rain!

By the end of the day we were very tired, wet and muddy. But the harvest was a success! I also got second place in the "Perfect Bunch" contest! I was really aiming for first because that prize was a giant wine glass that fits an entire bottle of wine! But second place wasn't bad! 

My second place bunch!

Overall it was a great, but very tiring, weekend! Both Meg and Dan were home as well. It's always great to see them before the busy fall begins!

This next weekend we're heading to see the other side of the family in Tipton! We're having a big party and I think it's going to be a great way to wrap up the summer! It'll be really great to see this side of the family as well since it's been a while!