Fall day...farmer's market...family...food...fun...

(...sorry, couldn't help myself.  I'm up way too late!)

Most Saturdays in our family are spent at home, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and peaceful all-togetherness that doesn't happen during the week.  This Saturday, though, the kids and I went on an adventure!  The kids have both been learning about money in math class, so when I found out that our little downtown (Canton, GA) hosts a farmer's market every Saturday morning, inspiration hit for a great field trip.  I explained the premise to each of the kids (we would each have $5 with which to buy everything we would need to make dinner and a dessert), and off we went.

Here they are in the gazebo in the town square after they carefully chose their fresh vegetables...

While we were sitting there, I noticed City Hall...it was down a side street I'd never noticed before.  A discussion of local government ensued, so when we left, we drove down there so we could see City Hall up close...

Lo and behold, what should be next to City Hall but a playground?!  Of course, we made an unscheduled stop to enjoy it.

This monument (below) is dedicated on this side to the Canton men who fought in the World Wars.  The other side is dedicated to the Canton men and boys who fought in The War Between the States.

On a side note, look at this wonderful grip -- a miraculous feat for our precious girl!

From there, we went on to the library.  When David finds a particularly enthralling book, he just plops down right where he is and loses himself in it!

We made a quick stop at Kroger to buy our meat and a couple of extra ingredients.  In the meantime, David had come up with a very specific meal plan, but he had to be a little flexible with his potato choices in order to stay in budget.   He chose well, though, so we made it under budget with a few cents to spare, and the kids were SO excited!  When we got home, we were all chilled and tired (it was a cool day -- high 60s with a chilly breeze and on-and-off sprinkles), so we all got into warm, comfy clothes to enjoy some hot chocolate and our books.

 

On another side note, whenever we get home from the library, the backpack barely gets into the house before its precious contents are dumped out for better choosing.  The kids are usually lying in the midst of them, and silence reigns for a good long time!

After our down time, the kids helped to make apple muffins (with the fresh apples they'd bought) for our dessert...

They both helped with various aspects of preparing the dinner, too.  They decided to have (so David related the plan to me:) "beef that is steak, cut up into little pieces and cooked with little potatoes and the long kind of carrots that aren't already short, all cooked together in the pan".  They also bought fresh corn on the cob.  The meal turned out wonderfully and the kids were so pleased to be the purveyors of such a fine spread!!!  We had such a fun day together.