Fall Fun 2011

Fall festival at our church....Alec was Batman, Ann-Marie was Pippi Longstocking, and Evan declared himself too old to dress up, so he volunteered to be in the dunk tank to raise money for missions.

Do you notice who is first in line to dunk Evan? (above)
Of course, the pumpkin carving was a hit....
our guest, Glori, enjoyed herself also, and hammed it up for the picture.
We love going to the zoo in the Fall, and we have had an unusually nice stretch of weather......we actually haven't been to the Pittsburgh zoo for over a year. We were pleasantly surprised by several changes made to the zoo.
The rays are always a hit, as well as the meerkats....
and below is what Ann-Marie is looking at face-to-face.
We hope you and your family are also enjoying the beautiful Fall days!

Colorado - the places

This will be the last post about our Missouri/Colorado trip....I am getting behind and need to get some fall photos up! I tried to show all we did in Colorado, but it's hard because we packed in a lot. Above, the Air Force Academy Chapel....
playing in a penny arcade in Manitou Springs.....
discovering the Narnia Wardrobe at Focus on the Family.....
strolling around Cripple Creek, Colorado.....
holding up the Balanced Rock at Garden of the Gods....

touring the Olympic training center.....

taking the tour OVER the Cheyenne Mountains Zoo....


hiking up to Helen Hunt Falls.....

exploring hands-on activities at Starsmore Discovery Center......
not quite making it all the way to the top of Pikes Peak, but close......
and a little side trip and a shout out to a small but wonderful pumpkin farm in Iowa!

October Missouri Trip....the places....

If you go to St. Louis, Missouri, you have to go up into the arch. Here is our family picture at the top....and below, Ann-Marie below the arch. The kids actually went up into the arch twice, compliments of Grandpa and Amma.
We had two favorite eating experiences...the first was Crown Candy. If you're a fan of the TV show "Man vs. Food" then you might have heard of Crown Candy.....


Walking around St. Louis was fun....the city garden is a very interesting place to discover.
The St. Louis zoo was a short, but wonderful trip, compliments of New York Life. Highlights were the elephants, the penguins, and the big cats. We could have spent a day just in the insect building!

We enjoyed a morning at the Missouri Botanical Garden....the children's garden was amazing. What caught Ann-Marie and my eye was the Chihuly glass.
Another favorite eating experience was Pappy's BBQ....another feature on "Man Vs. Food." (I'm sensing a theme here.) We're not huge BBQ fans, but it was good. We loved all the silly sayings on the walls and shirts about BBQ....like the sign out front?
I found a motorcycle museum for Darrell....we all enjoyed seeing the foreign, vintage motorcycle collection.
The last night in St. Louis was the Beatlemania concert, hosted by New York Life. It was a lot of fun.....hundreds of balloons around for the kids to make silly hats, as you can see.
So this last picture proves a strong genetic link....Alec definitely has the Jerome sleeping gene....he can sleep anywhere....even in the middle of a loud concert in uncomfortable bleacher chairs.

Missouri/Colorado Trip - The People

We recently took a two week trip, traveling to St. Louis, Missouri for a New York Life Convention, then onto Colorado Springs, CO to see my youngest sister and her family, and finally making a one-day stop in Iowa on our way back to Pennsylvania to see my other sister and her family. What a wonderful trip! This post is about the special people that we were able to spend time with on our journey....the next post will be about the places we visited. Above, my dad and step-mother came to St. Louis to spend time with us.....
The pictures above and below are of the Campbell family: Kris (not pictured), Jennifer, Benjamin, Jonah, Abigail, and Nathanael (the baby). I have a long friendship with the Campbell family....I grew up with Kris, met Jennifer when they were living in Alexandria, Virginia, and we have managed to coordinate trips back to Iowa to see family and keep in touch since they moved to Illinois. On this trip, we stayed overnight with them the first night, then they were able to come into St. Louis to have dinner with us another night.

While we were in St. Louis, I was able to meet my cousin's wife, Katie, and their children at the Botanical Gardens. What a treat to be able to spend time with family we do not see very often! We missed seeing Steve, but had a great time with Katie, Dacia, Tucker, and met new baby Chanel.
Now, to Colorado.....my youngest sister, Sheila, and her husband, Kurt, and their family - Silas, Nathan, Abby, and Selah (the baby) graciously hosted us while we were there. How do you get two sets of children, seven kids - ten and under - to sit still for a picture? While they are watching TV!
Finally, the Iowa "day-trip" to spend time with my next younger sister, Carla, her husband, Richard, and their children - Isabelle, Wade and Will....yes, identical twins. In small town Iowa, Carla and I received several questions about whether we were twins...I don't know how Carla felt about those questions, but I loved it because it immediately shaved four years off of my age!

A big thank-you to Josh Westurn and Mike and Chelsea Johnston.....our Pennsylvania neighbors and friends who watched our house and took care of our dog!

September Wrap-up

So what has the Jerome family been up to in the month of September? A new haircut for Evan....totally his idea....
Evan is playing on a middle school travel soccer team......
discovering a new art class at Uncommon Grounds in Aliquippa.....here are the kids' oil pastels in the style of Amedeo Modigliani.....
a pyramid project that lasted three weeks, but the kids all enjoyed working on it together.....
and Darrell's birthday!

It's been very busy here, which is why the blog has not been updated this month. Managing three different curriculums, teaching a certain joyful 5 year old to read, keeping track of three different activity schedules (Evan-travel soccer; Ann-Marie - team gymnastics; Alec - recreation soccer), teaching a new Sunday school class at church, teaching a new geography class at homeschool coop......well, you get the idea - September has been a little overwhelming. True to Jerome style, however, a BIG trip is coming in October.....so stay tuned!

Discovering Raccoon Creek State Park

The last two weekends we have been exploring Raccoon Creek State Park as a family.
We explored one of the hiking trails....explained off of their website:
Mineral Springs Loop: 1.2 miles, easiest hiking, white blazes
This loop trail begins and ends across from the park office. Mineral Springs Loop passes through one of the park’s historic areas, once known for the “healing qualities of the mineral water.” Above the springs are the remains of the 1800s Frankfort Mineral Springs Resort.


This past weekend we went back and just enjoyed the beach area....it was wonderful!

Now, for those of you who haven't seen Evan's new haircut - here it is! Just in time for the cooler weather?