What Shall We Do This Weekend?

Where did the summer go?  It seemed like I was just posting all the sanity savers for summer, and now there's a chill in the air, the leaves are starting to change, and my big girl went back to school this week.  With the three day weekend coming up, I find myself trying to decide what to do.

All my readers have help from me, right over there on the upper right corner of my blog.  I try hard to keep the calendar packed with free or cheap activities that are family-friendly.  I like to have a lot of choices for getting out and having fun with the family, and if I'm doing the research, I may as well add it in for others to use.  Local readers will receive more benefit, because I tend to focus locally.  Maybe if I post about our local apple orchard or pumpkin picking, it will give out-of-area readers ideas of where to search for similar places.

So...here are some of the events that I know about in our area this weekend.  The summer festivals are all drawing to a close, but many of the places listed in the summer sanity savers are still available.

• This upcoming weekend, Madrid is having their Labor Day festival.  Check out the calendar of events HERE.
• Living History Farms is having a special event all weekend, with an old-fashioned baseball game at 2 pm on Sunday.  It's not free to get in, but you can buy 2 for 1 tickets if you use Tropicana rewards.
• The Berry Patch farm in Nevada is open for picking blueberries and raspberries starting Friday.
• The Des Moines Renaissance Faire also starts this weekend.  It's open for the three day weekend, then for the next two weekends.  See more about it in the calendar.
• The Latino Heritage Festival is on Saturday and Sunday at Southridge Mall.  In previous years, it's been at the Blank Park Zoo, and we've always had a great time when we went.
• One last highlight for this weekend: there is an Arabian horse show event all weekend at the state fairgrounds, with free admittance for the spectators.  It might be a great event to check out.
• Center Grove Orchard is probably one of our family's favorite places to go.  I went for the first time many years ago with a class, and we've returned every year with our own kids.  There are more activities every year, including a petting zoo, an old schoolhouse, elk to feed, a giant slide, tractor rides through the orchard, and don't forget to pick some apples while you're there.  Next Saturday, September 11 marks their opening day.  Read more about it here.

As we are moving into fall, what is your favorite fall activity?  We welcomed some cooler weather tonight by cooking s'mores over our fire pit in the backyard.  The bugs are still biting, but it's getting closer to pumpkin patch time.