I Love Fall!

The leaves are a gorgeous yellow, orange, and red. Anytime I drive anywhere I say to the kids "can you believe how gorgeous these leaves are?" Nate says "Why Mom?" I guess he'll really appreciate them when he's older. We are baking pumpkin cookies, pancakes, muffins, and eating pumpkin ice cream. The weather is brisk enough for light jackets and long sleeved shirts, and the crisp air smells magical. I LOVE FALL! I guess it reminds me of trick-treating in the snow as children and of family get- togethers coming up. I also love the warm, cozy feeling of being in my house bundled up in a blanket with a good book. Alas, now that we are a few months into fall, I definitely have some catching up to do.

At the beginning of the season, it was finally cool enough to go camping. So we packed up our 10 man tent and headed to Prince Wiliam Forest Park with our friends the Cranes, and some of their friends. All the kids got along great, and enjoyed finding sticks together, playing tag, roasting (and eating) marshmallows, and watching the fire. Nate and Kaitlyn loved their new sleeping bags, and once the settled down from all the excitement of camping, finally went to sleep. Us adults, stayed up and talked late into the night as well as sang around the campfire. It was a great way to welcome the new, crisp weather.

We spent Labor Day at Burke Lake Park with the Hunts. The husbands took the kids on the train and to the playground. While the wives went running for 5 miles around the lake. The weather was wonderful and it was a perfect day for a run and to spend some family time outdoors.

My baby moved out of her crib:( I guess she's not a baby any more, I'm in denial. The kids and I have been spending rainy days inside painting, baking, reading, and doing a lot of rough housing!

At the end of September, we went to Cox Farms for their preview weekend- only $5 a person and the best deal in town! We love that place- it has a hayride, complete with sound effects and a Disneyesque tunnel, barrel slides, haystack slides, and a huge dinosaur slide that you use burlap sacks to go down. They have lots of mini slides as well as farm animals and the best part, all you can eat apples and apple cider. As a bonus, you get to take home your own mini pumpkin. We went to another pumpkin patch several weeks later with Nate's preschool, but it wasn't nearly as good. Even still fall festivals are always a fun way to celebrate the new season:)

Here is Nate's preschool field trip to Clark's farm in Fredericksburg: