After a week of dad leaving ransom-note like daily clues, it was finally revealed that Team Llama would be heading to Nebraska City for the 50th annual AppleJack Festival. After a successfully on-time departure with some bagels for the car ride, 

The annual orchard pilgrimage to fetch a medium-sized bag of apples has also been a nice opportunity for a few family photos:

When Pa’s not around to pull the wagon, you gotta pull your share (of a near-empty wagon)

It’s important to understand that each subsequent photo of Eleanor consuming an apple are all different fruit at a ratio of one-to-three to those not-pictured partials starts

Des presenting his most recent “flower” find, mere seconds from the prior (and so forth)

A quick pitstop at the pumpkin patch

[Llama household, ca. Sept 18: near daily reading]
Thistle: “Have you checked the pumpkin patch?”
Duck & Goose: “The WHAT?!”

Undaunted by physical appearance, Eleanor would attempt a lunge for any pumpkin- regardless of weight

Little Ella on the Prairie

Ok, let’s pull together

As a recently confident high stepper, Eleanor immediately infers the gameplay of this part of the playground

“Hop!”

With an early check-in to the lodge, it was the perfect second-story window view for a picnic

Narrator: We now pause for a message from our sponsors-

Des gazes out upon the east orchard, or he’s the admiring the (clearly dead) bug still attached to the extended window sill. Who knows.

Des digs in to his share of the apple pie à la mode

Eleanor cocoons peacefully into the hammock

Explore explores his comfort of heights atop a large rope-spiderweb

And high up a cardinal perch

Plant trees…

…raise children

Eleanor Shreffler, intrepid walker of long distances

Dad’s “it’s cool, we’ll wing it” approach to pizza sourcing and resource management resulted in even a Pizza Hut carryout order pushing dinner timelines well beyond normal. Desmond has his first drive-through food experience to fuel the chips-and-guac requirements for a car DJ chip party, and before you knew it, the pizza was ready.

With the beyond-overtired little sister zonked out (rodeo’d down?) for the night, there was still time for a late-night swim