A Fun Fall Day

Thursday is Daddy's day off, and we try to make the most of every minute of that day, because he is so busy the rest of the week. He always tries to make sure that we do everything as a family on his days off, so that we can spend as much time as possible together.
Yesterday was such a gorgeous fall day outside, so we decided to introduce Brett to the fun of jumping in a pile of leaves. I helped rake up the leaves while Daddy and Brett loaded them into the wagon, and took them to a flat piece of lawn just right for little boys to jump in. Brett wasn't sure about all the happenings at first, especially those scratchy, crinkly leaves in his wagon, but he soon warmed up to the idea, and had so much fun! He LOVED helping throw the leaves out of the wagon onto the growing pile, but sometimes got mixed up and forgot which side of the wagon to throw them over. :) When the pile was big enough, Daddy helped Winky "run" and jump into it. There were a few fusses from the little boy at first, but when he saw Daddy sitting in the pile and watched Mommy join him there, he decided it was OK. Matt and I threw leaves in the air for him, and he watched and tried to catch them as they came fluttering down. But just sitting in a leaf pile gets old very quickly for a little boy of his age and curiosity, so he decided it was time to explore his surroundings. Matt and I enjoyed sitting and watching him pick up leaves and inspect them, and discover new parts of his wagon that he had never noticed before. His favorite part was the handle and he new exactly what it was for. While holding onto one of my hands, he grabbed the handle with his other hand and walked backwards, pulling the wagon along behind him. I was surprised he was strong enough to pull it all by himself! It was a great morning spent together as a little family making memories that will last a life time!

Getting ready to go outside.

The perfect spot to make a pile of leaves.

Filling wagon load after wagon load with leaves to make a huge pile to jump in.

"Running" to jump in.

Yay!!!

Taking time out to "honk" Daddy's nose! :)

I love this little man!!

Throwing leaves is so much fun!

Exploring!!!

My favorite fellas!

Fixin' that wagon wheel.

Nothing cuter than a little boy in overalls.

"Oh yes, you use this handle to pull it"!

Using all of his weight to lean into pulling it! :)

Later in the afternoon we had to go to town to run some errands, one of them being a stop at the bank. The lady at the drive thru window gave Brett his very own sticker which he enjoyed pointing to and saying "Oooo" about. 

After our errands, Matt wanted to take me out on a date for supper. We decided to try Olive Garden again. We had tried to go there on my birthday, but when we got there it was so crowded that we would have had to wait 45 minutes for a table. We were unwilling to make ourselves and Brett go through that long of a wait, so we found a different restaurant and had an enjoyable birthday meal together. This time though, it was a week night and we went quite a bit earlier in the evening. We were able to get a table without any waiting, and enjoyed a scrumptious Italian supper together.

One of the things we got while out on our errands, was a big pumpkin. I found an idea on Pinterest about how to carve designs in pumpkins with a drill that I wanted to try. Matt and I are not fans of the typical jack-o-lantern look carved into pumpkins. Whoever came up with that idea had no decorating sense about them at all!! So we bought a pumpkin for Brett, and thought it would be a fun family project to work on together in the evening. First we washed it in bleach water to get all the bacteria off it in hopes that it will not rot as quickly. Then Daddy cut the top off the pumpkin, and all three of us had fun scooping out the slimy insides. Then the pumpkin was given to Daddy's care and he worked his magic with the drill making the design. Brett was given to my care while Daddy was using the drill, and I entertained him by letting him taking "selfies" with my phone. :) When Daddy was finished, we wiped the pumpkin down one last time, put a candle inside it, turned off all the lights, and admired our pumpkin. It turned out beautifully!! More time spent together as a family.... more memories made!

Getting ready to cut the top off the pumpkin.

Scraping the gooey insides off the lid.

Digging out the insides...

Working his magic with the drill.

Winky and I taking "selfies" while Daddy drills.

All done drilling. (Sorry the picture is blurry!)

The finished product!!!

Fall Pictures

I think my favorite season of the year is fall, although it really is hard for me to decisively say that because I enjoy each new season and the benefits each one brings. But, there is something about the crisp fall days, the changing colors of the leaves, orange pumpkins in the patch, and apple picking that just does something wonderful for my soul. I guess I have a bit of Anne of Green Gables in me, who once said, " I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers!" :-)
I wanted to get some fall pictures of Brett before the weather got so cold that I would have to bundle him up to take him outside. So yesterday, Brett and I spent some time outside, and grabbed a few cute shots that we thought you might enjoy seeing.

North Conway, New Hampshire - Vacation 2014

 Being a wife and mommy has kept me a lot of little bit busy the last couple of months. I've been trying to enjoy the moments of every day being Matt's wife and Brett's mommy, and the blog has not made its way into those every day moments. Never fear though, I've kept my phone busy snapping pictures to post here as I've been enjoying those moments, and I'll try to carve out some time to post them here a little more frequently.
Matt took the last week of May off this year, and took us on a little getaway vacation to New Hampshire. We found that if we don't go away on his vacations, then we end up undertaking a huge project around the house, and it doesn't end up being much of a vacation for him. We had worked on renovating our kitchen the two weeks before his vacation week, and were ready for some much needed relaxation.
We headed out for New Hampshire Monday afternoon after having a BBQ at Matt's parents house to celebrate Memorial Day, and came back Wednesday afternoon in time for prayer meeting. Although the weather wasn't very conducive for sight seeing, we enjoyed ourselves immensely, and were able to relax and unwind.

Leaving the house Brett was wide awake......

.....but soon into the trip, he was ready for some rest. Vacations are hard on a little fella!!

The New Hampshire sign. I was so excited to get there!!! 

Matt rented us a suite at a beautiful resort nestled in the White Mountains.

 This was the view as we stepped out the door of the hotel. We were literally at the base of the mountain!

The view from our suite window. This is the best picture we could get of the beautiful White Mountains. It was so rainy and foggy the rest of the time we were there, that the mountains were hidden.

The main lobby. In the evening the fireplace would be lit, and when we would come down for breakfast in the morning, we could smell a lingering "wood fire" smell. It made it feel so homey.

All angles of our suite..... SO spacious and comfortable!!

Tuesday was Daddy's birthday, so we took his presents with us and Brett and I threw a little party for him right there in the hotel room. Brett enjoyed "helping" Daddy open his presents, although the tissue paper and gift bags were more interesting than the presents themselves.

After getting ready for the day, and a delicious breakfast downstairs in the dining room, we headed out for some sight seeing. Our first adventure was driving up Mt. Washington. It was a misty, foggy day, so we didn't think we would be able to see much from the top, but we still wanted the experience of going up Mt. Washington, just to say that we had done it. 

Visibility turned out to be very poor the whole way up the mountain, which was a blessing in disguise I think. Imagine 6288 feet (8 miles) pretty much straight up, with no guard rails and sharp drop offs on either side of you. Matt might not have had quite as brave a traveling companion had it been a sunny clear day where I could see how far down those drop offs were. :) In the pictures above, the rocks mark the edge of the road and it's complete drop off to the bottom of the mountain beyond that. Beautiful, but SCARY!! 

Our "selfie" on the top of Mt. Washington. It was BITTER cold up there, and extremely foggy!! We could barely see 3 feet in front of us. 

After making it to the top and wandering around in the museum/ gift shop for a little bit, we began our slow descent down the mountain which brought us the most exciting "sight" of the whole "Mt. Washington experience!"

A mumma bear and her three cubs!!

We were able to sit there for a little while and watch them. That little treat made all the fog and drizzle worth it! :)

 

 The foot of the mountain. The view was breathtaking, even if most of it was covered in fog! After our mountain adventure, we spent the afternoon at a place called Settlers Green, a shopping plaza with a great number of name brand shops filled with great mark downs. On top of the markdowns, New Hampshire doesn't have any sales tax, so we were able to get some really good deals. Once our feet were sore from shopping, we headed back to the hotel and spent the evening relaxing.

Wink looked SO small in his gigantic bed that he had all to himself!

Chillin' on the bed reading a tourist magazine. Brett had this "vacation thing" down pat! ;)

We had talked about going back up Mt. Washington Wednesday morning before we headed back to Maine if the weather was better, but we woke up to the same fog and drizzle that had shrouded the beautiful view the whole time we were there, so we packed up and headed home.

We stopped in Freeport on our way back home to visit the huge L.L. Bean store there. Of course, we had to get a picture with the famous boot. :)

We made it back to our home sweet home around 3:00 Wednesday afternoon, and had some time to unpack and settle in before prayer meeting that night.