Ah, how I love the Autumn season, let me count the ways.
As I sit here, sipping on a delish pumpkin pie smoothie, having just returned from a lovely walk with my new beau Gus through Rock Creek Park, I reflect on my favorite season of the year.
The trees are at their peak right now and the weather is still lovely (we are expecting highs in the low 80's this week).
Soups, roasted vegetables, apples and squash are in - I am going to break out my favorite kitchen toy, the slow cooker, later this week for some comfort food. The first chili of the season was produced yesterday (black bean and acorn squash - quite tasty if I do say so myself).
It is cool enough for sweaters and boots during the day but not cold enough to have wear a coat.
All in all, life is good!
We have been keeping busy with various school activities, surviving our first weekend at home without dad (fishing in Jackson Hole, so jeal. At least about the Jackson part), a doctors appointment for Gus and our first parent-teacher conference for Hank. Gus is growing like a weed - at 2 months he weighs 10lbs 12oz and is 23.5 inches long. The doctor himself was impressed with Gus' growth spurt - he has now caught up to where Hank was at this same age, despite having been born nearly 2 pounds lighter. We see lots of smiles these days when Gus is awake and his neck strength is coming along nicely.
The toothless grin
I mean, really. How cute can you be?
Not a care in the world...
Our meeting with Hank's teachers went well and we got nice feedback about him - nothing too surprising on either the positive or "room for improvement" areas. His report card says things like "Loves playing on the climber","Enjoys the sensory table" And who doesn't? Then we have things like..."Increase ability to regulate behavior in the busy classroom", "Increase eye-contact and turn-taking", "Develop independence with potty training". In other words, he could work on sharing, focusing and going pee-pee in a toilet. The usual pre-school stuff. We were relieved to hear that even though Hank has been saying "Don't push your friends" repeatedly at home ever since he started school, he is not the pusher. Phew. For lots of photos of Hank at school, click here:
Dad attempts to make the big boy bed seem cool. So far, no dice.
Action shot!
Columbus Day weekend we headed down to Luray, Virginia near the Blue Ridge Mountains with our friends Jay and Jamie and their two kiddos, Johnny and Devon. Only about 2 hours outside of DC, the Shenandoah area is all country - rolling fields with the aforementioned mountains in the background. For the kids, we visited a fair that featured antique tractors, funnel cake and a nice mixture of amish and redneck types. The next day we checked out Luray Caverns, these insane caves that go on for miles. They have been lit up inside for better viewing of the stalagmites and stalactites within them. There is even a "natural" organ that has been created from these eerie stone columns. For the grown ups, we sat in the hot tub drinking beer and wine, ate yummy dinners and ended our days around a fire pit.
Hank on a WW2 Jeep.
The perfectly still water in this cave acts as a mirror for the stone above it. Trippy.
I'm not sure why Matt looks scared in the this photo. Maybe because the tour of the cave took 90 minutes!
Fall is only half-way through as far as I'm concerned, especially since it doesn't really get chilly here in the swamp until January so there's more fun to come. Auntie Alice and Uncle Brian are here visiting this weekend which will be grand, and then of course, the ultimate Fall activity: Halloween!
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