3 1/2 Things Of Fall

Let me introduce you to Captain Fall.  The President of Autumn.  The Weekend Adventurer.  Those are all little names I just came up with to set the tone for who John was this weekend.  He was all about making this a fall weekend.  Last week, he started coming up with things that he wanted to do as a family, and those things were somewhat fall oriented.  There was a list: make pumpkin pie, buy cider, get a treat from a local bakery, and go on a hike.  We accomplished 3 1/2 of those things.  Here's our weekend rundown:

Friday night, John and I volunteered at a rave.  Boulderave is a night of free climbing at the gym that we love.  (Hey, Chandler!)  We got to participate in a few of the things: best burgers of our life; free chair massages, and I climbed the lead wall (that I never go on!) and took a huge whipper at the end.  It was a great time!  It was kind of like a really fun date to a party.  Even though we love the old movie-and-dinner thing, we have found that doing something different and active is always the better choice.

Source for the picture

Saturday morning was perfectly slow.  After each getting in a run, John and I slowed down with the kids for a bit.  Pumpkin pancakes, playing on the floor, and Curious George ushered us into the day.  

Eventually, we all got ready to run out to two stores to look at couches.  We've been looking for couches for months now and here's our process: John tells me what he wants and doesn't want and I look at 4,000 places and narrow it down to a few options.  We look at them together and he approves or dislikes.  It's perfect, because I loathe asking John to go furniture shopping, and I really dislike making it a family affair.  We don't do it often, but whenever we do I feel awful.  It seems unfair to ask John to spend his free time after working all week to go sit on sofas.  He assured me that we don't do this often, and when it comes down to it he's with his family and that's enough.  I'm sure he would say differently if we went antiquing every weekend.  Then again, I would say differently if that's what our life looked like.  Different strokes for different folks.

We were fast.  We were back home in an hour.  The kids went to bed for some solid three-hour naps while John and I ate soup out of mugs and waited for our babes.  They woke up, we fed them lunch, and headed up the mountain for some fall hiking.  

By the time we got to the top of the mountain, it was 3:15.  We had planned to stop at a local bakery for our fall treats, but the places we found closed at 2 and 3.  We ended up grabbing some Oatmeal Cream Pies at the supermarket for less than $2.  We thought that was hilarious.

This might be the most awkward family picture ever.  We were so excited to hit the trail, so it didn't matter.  Here's our hike in pictures: 

It was awesome.  Everyone who lives in this town will tell you that the hiking is awesome and we don't do it nearly enough as we want.  We live in a valley surrounded by awesome mountains and trails and every time we get out there we're reminded of how great a hike can be.  We hope to make it a regular part of our lives instead of the occasional activity that we see it as.  The more we do it, the easier and more natural it gets and the less of an ordeal it seems.  

Highlights: Burl wanting a walking stick just like John's, finding a cave (like on Curious George) that Burl could explore, water so clear we almost jumped in, sitting by the creek & shoving cookies into the kids' mouths, watching Burl throw rocks in the creek, seeing Fern come alive and wiggle like crazy when I sat her in a leaf pile, standing with my family as we take in a little waterfall.  

After the the hike, we ate at John's parents', brought the kids home for baths and bed, and I went to do my little cleaning job.  

Burl's photography skills are pretty good.  Too bad my high bun started sprouting 

His bit stack of firewood for camping.

Sunday the kids were too snotty to go to the church nursery, but John sent me anyways.  By myself.  He was happy to stay home and wipe noses and play Hide-n-seek, and I was happy to get to go since we haven't been there in a few weeks.  After that, I hit Oktoberfest for burgers and cider and took them home to John.  Besides a little visit from Joseph, the rest of the day was pretty chill.  

After the kids went to bed, John and I talked about the same things over and over.  We say the same things we always do, but we say them like we've never said them before.  They are so sweet.  I can't believe they're real.  Aren't they the best?  Could you ever imagine this?  She's getting more playful.  He's getting so big, but he's still so little.  I love our life.