Karma made it back to Virginia safely and actually a little ahead of time. We were all sad to see her go, but glad that she was able to visit for a bit. My girls loved playing with Ka-ma and I know Frank and Diane were thrilled to see her.

We're still keeping busy with apples. Frank headed to the auction today and I went to the Deforest farmer's market. I am a bit disappointed to report that the turnout to the market has been decreasing steadily as we get later in the season. I hope you all decide to show up next week, at 5:00 for Diane's cider demonstration. It should be a fun, interesting time. With this cold weather arriving don't forget how wonderful a mug of hot cider is or how tasty a warm apple crisp can be.

You may get to see my girls at the store. My siter's daughter is currently having her first baby (Congrats Nicole!) and I'm still trying to figure a few things out. My mom will be here later in the day and my friend, Julie, from Creek Bed Farm http://www.creekbedfarm.com/ agreed to watch the girls for a few hours until my mom got here. I think the girls will be with us for the first tour of the day though, so if you stop by you may get lucky and get to meet/see them.

Alright. Sorry this is a boring post...I'm tired. Hope to see you at the store!

Late Thursday night, my sister-in-law, Karma, flew into Milwaukee from Virginia. She rented a car and headed over to our house, arriving around 10. We had previously decided she would spend the night here and surprise her parents in the morning...they had no idea that she had planned to spend the weekend. Months ago she had called me and asked me which weekend was the busiest that she would be able to help with. I told her the last weekend in September...which is proving to be true again next year. She decided to take a trip and watch the girls for me during this weekend. Now, I LOVE all the sitters that I have watching the girls during apple season but it is really nice to just have one for them. Yesterday, Karma just came to our house to play with the girls...that was the first time they spent the whole day at home in a very long time.

Anyway, back to the surprise. Friday morning we all got up. Jared went over first to help with sorting. Then the girls and I headed over. I went into the sorting room and told them the girls wanted to say 'hi' to grandma and grandpa before they went to the sitters (they like to fairly often). Of course, they come rushing out...can't ignore the grandchildren. About a minute later a car pulled in (Karma) and I was like, "Man, we already have a customer." Diane glanced at the vehicle, then looked back at Cedi. Then she looks again and yells, "Frank, get over here!" They were both incredibly surprised and ecstatic. Karma coming home was just what everyone needed to get through this busy time.

I do have to note that I am TERRIBLE with secrets and I managed to keep this one for months! Very proud of myself.

Make sure to stop out at the orchard soon! We have LOTS and LOTS of apple varieties out. The raspberries are delicious and the pick your own pumpkin patch is ready to go! See you soon!

Hello All! I keep telling Diane that we go on these trips just so I have more to right on this blog. This past weekend Jared's cousin Katrina got married in Prairie Du Chen (spelling?), WI, so Frank, Diane and Karma took one van, Jared, the girls and I took another. The wedding was beautiful...a bit warm, but beautiful. Frank and Diane had a hotel room for the night, Jared, the girls and I had decided we would just drive home since sleeping in a hotel room with small children is never really the most fun thing, and Karma was up in the air about what she would do. Well, after a fun night of dancing (Cedi was ADORABLE) we finally decided to hit the road around 8 and Karma came with us. We decided we would see how quick HWY 60 was were off. About 45 minutes along, a deer ran in front of the van and we hit it head on. Everyone was fine...the girls slept right through it, the van was not. We lost all of our radiator fluid at least...it was dark and difficult to tell. Luckily, Karma was a AAA member and we knew who to call. Unfortunately, there was absolutely NO cell service anywhere. No one was stopping to help either. So, we turned the heat on high, and slowly moved ahead. We stopped again a little way up where we had thought we'd found some service, but no luck. A young gentleman did stop this time and tried to help but his cell didn't work either. He did inform us that there was a gas station just up the way about 3 miles.

We decided to go for it and we made it there just before it closed. I called the county sheriff's to report the incident and they sent a deputy out. Again, we had NO cell service, the gas station had closed and the pay phone was out of order. I wandered around the gas station parking lot for the next hour trying to get some service. I was attacked by a giant moth (don't worry, I was okay) and saw a cute stray cat during the process. Finally the trouper offered to take me in his squad car up to some higher ground. A few minutes away we found service and I tried AAA. I got through. Then they put me on hold and of course I lost the service. We drove around some more until I finally got some service just down the road from the gas station. It turns out AAA would only cover 5 miles of towing and we had no way to go anywhere since there were no hotels around, no cabs, and we had two small children who have to ride in car seats. I called Jared's uncle Dave and he said he would come to get us and we would deal with the van the next day.

When I got back to the car to report the news to the fellow car mates, we decided it would be best just to sleep in the van until Frank and Diane were well enough to pick us up. Jared ran around and finally found reception while standing on the roof of the BP and canceled our ride with Dave (thanks anyway Dave...we appreciate what you would have done for us!). We had no blankets in the van except for a baby quilt and some receiving blankets. Jared and I were still all dressed up from the wedding. We created some makeshift sleeping arrangements and settled in for the night. When we finally got Capri settled Cedi woke up. She wandered around the van playing with random buttons until Karma finally got her to sleep by reading her the book 'Horns to Toes' at 2am. If we thought sleeping in a hotel would them was going to be tough...it was nothing compared to all of us sleeping in a minivan! We fitfully slept for a few hours until we decided it would be okay to call Frank and Diane at 4:40 in the morning. They came right away and we are all safely home.

As always, we had to have some excitement on our little trip.

Can't wait to see you all in a few weeks for apple season!

Take care!