What a Wonderful Month

Apple picking at Crane's

Kara and Grandma Gerth on the first day of RALLY

Luke taking a walk with Grandpa and Grandma Gerth


Ellie and Grandma hanging out on the boat!



Kara helping Grandpa pick tomatoes in the garden

I can't believe that September has come to an end! This past month was a blast for the Gerth family! It all began with apple picking with friends, which we will hopefully do much more of before the end of fall. I love apple picking, and all things fall, especially when done with friends! This was just the beginning. We spent a week in Minnesota with Ben's family, which is always wonderful. The kids had a great time reconnecting with Grandma and Grandpa Gerth and their Minnesota aunts and uncles. Ben was able to attend a men's retreat with his dad, brother and brother-in-law while the kids and I stayed back at Ben's parent's place and had "girl-time" (with Luke of course! He wasn't quite old enough for the men's retreat :) Kara is still talking about girl-time and how much fun she had stamping with Grandma! Kara was able to attend a special pre -school class (RALLY) that Ben's mom teaches once a week. She was Grandma's special helper, which was a very important roll! Kara also got to help Grandpa pick veggies from their amazing garden, visit Grandma when she was working at the library, make cookies with Grandma, and we all went on a boat ride. Ben's Grandpa and Grandma Gerth were even visiting, so we were able to spend time with them. All this and more made for a wonderful visit with family!

On the way home from Minnesota, we stopped in Wisconsin to visit with some friends from Moody for a few days. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and LAUGHTER! God has blessed us with such wonderful relationships, and it was so refreshing to spend time with these dear friends and their beautiful children.

To end this blessed month, Ben and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. Some dear friends of ours graciously moved their family into our house for 3 days to care for our children so that we could spend our anniversary, kid-free, in Chicago. We LOVE Chicago!! Ben and I met at Moody, so all of our dating took place in Chicago. We went to Shedd's Aquarium, rode the bus, rode the "L", ate out, walked along the lake, went to coffee, visited Moody and walked and walked and walked all around the city to many of our most memorable spots. It was amazing!

What a wonderful month, and fall has just begun!