Apples!

On Friday we made our yearly trip to Carter's Mt. - a pick your own apple orchard. It's a lot of fun for the kids. I have a hard time with it. The apples trees are SO OLD it's awful. The trees don't look like they have been pruned in years and the fruit hasn't been thinned much if at all. We got there for the tail end of the gala harvest and the largest apples I could find weren't much
bigger than golf balls. They do taste good though and the kids had fun picking, and they have a
pumpkin patch. The other highlight for Mike is that we get to go into Charlottesville and eat
at his favorite pizza place - I had a tomato/avacado slice of pizza, and as weird as that sounds - it was SO good! Worth going back for more!
Here's our pictures from that morning:












Look at what Mike got at Carter's Mt!

Pregnancy Update

Another pregnancy update - I will probably only do 1 more before the baby comes, yeah!
I finally have a scheduled induction date. If all goes well the baby will be here on Tuesday, October 14th. That's 4 weeks from tomorrow. The midwife who delivered my first three babies has retired and the midwife I'm seeing now is fine, but just not the same. This induction is only 5 days early and will be the latest I've ever been induced, I'm a little nervous about going into labor before my appointment, but hopefully everything will be OK.
My midwife also told me that I didn't have to stay in the hospital for 48 hours (which is not what the Doctors there say) and that I could go home after 24 hours. I am so excited. I hate sleeping in the hospital. So, I should get home right around the time my mom gets here - on Wednesday, October 15th. I'm really excited about that.
For the first time in my pregnancy I am measuring smaller then I'm suppose to, which makes me feel good. The midwife says it doesn't feel like it's going to be a big baby, so another relief!
I'm feeling pretty good, my hips and lower back ache a lot, but apparently, as both my
mom and my midwife say, that's what happens when you have 4 babies in 5 years. My "to do
before the baby comes" list is getting shorter and Mike is being really good about helping get all
these things done and just dealing with my nesting phase.
We've got a name picked out but can't agree on how to spell it. My sister, Betsy, did point out that I fill out the birth certificate so ultimately I should win! In another couple of weeks I should be ready!

The James River

On Labor Day we went to the river (again). The kids can't seem to get enough. It rained most

of the the week before we went so the river was considerably higher and faster then the week before. It was a fun time for everyone.

We have to climb down onto a bridge and then climb off the bridge when we get to where we want to be. We then cross the river where it's relatively shallow and slow. This time that meant up to my stomach and still faster then I felt comfortable with. Since it was moving faster, it was difficult to see the bottom, so we stumbled and slid on the mossy rocks all the way across. We went with Uncle Sean, Aunt Rachel, Morgan, and our friends, Dave and Rachel so luckily we had plenty of help with the kids. After crossing the river we hiked down a little ways to get to the swimming hole and jumping rocks. Mike took his camera this time and got some great pictures!

Here's Mike's pictures of the river. It's the same spot on the river, the second shot has an

adjusted exposure time - you can see how fast the river was moving that day!

Here's part of our group, Uncle Sean, Morgan, and Dave playing with the kids in the swimming hole.

Here is Anna Elise trying out someone's goggles.

Below is a picture of her getting ready to jump in.

Here's Calvin hanging out on the rocks and below he is watching out for Madeline, he is overly

concerned for her safety sometimes. It's cute, but she does NOT appreciate it!

Below are the kids drying out and warming up on the rock. Daddy tells them they are just like lizards when they lay on the rocks!

Here is Madeline, no fear as usual. She didn't really like help walking on the rocks or playing in the puddles. She would let people catch her when she jumped in, but that was it.

Here she is letting mom help her get out of the water, but pulled out of my grasp pretty quick!

Here's Maddie with her new friend. That moth landed on her lifejacket and wouldn't leave. It stayed there while she wandered around and played on the rocks and was still there when she

'swam' across the swimming hole and played with Rachel. It must've liked her.