What a Fall

November 04, 2015

I love Fall. It's my most favorite season, without a doubt. The cool air, the sweaters and boots, the changing colors, the anticipation of the holidays, the pumpkin flavored everything (which may be getting out of hand these days), the apple picking, the return of TV series, the anniversaries, the birthdays...it's all just so great. And as a bonus this year, I have a wee little one, and new Fall fun to experience with him.

And I'm finally getting around to documenting it, on probably our last really nice (late) Fall day.

We kicked off our Fall season finally attending Dozinky Days in my mom's hometown. We had never been, all these years growing up, and I was shocked at how big of a deal it is. Thousands of people (and bees) flocked Main Street, and yet we still ran into at least 10 of my extended family members that I don't see often enough. My cousin saved us a spot for the parade, and we had a great time with them. I'd say Carter enjoyed his first parade experience, watching the band and the dancers and the tractors go by. Of course, that was when he wasn't busy chewing on a flag or a flyer.

Carter conked out for a good bit in his stroller, thankfully. (And all thanks to a loud generator I happened to stop by). These days out and about are getting harder and harder to get in some daytime sleep, as he won't fall asleep in my arms anymore. While he snoozed Jon went off in search of more food. We ended up having a gyro, but half way through noticed a cooked bee in it. A BEE. I can't even think about this without still feeling queasy - who knows if we had already eaten one/some. We brought it back and were given a new one (reluctantly...I'm guessing we weren't the first to report such an issue), and ate it rather cautiously.

Next was a trip to the Twin Cities Corn Maze with a few friends. It was a glorious crisp, sunny Fall day and Carter donned an adorable sweater and baby jeans and I could have just eaten him up.

The bigger kids ran around hay bale mazes and pet animals while Carter contently observed. And chewed on his sweater buttons. I nursed him amongst stocks of corn, a first for us, and then we all went to play in a giant bin of corn. Carter tried to eat the corn numerous times, so in went his pacifier. That worked like a charm.

We finished off the day with a hayride (along the road, not very exciting) and by then Carter was almost in full meltdown mode. Fortunately the bouncy ride made him pass out on my shoulder, and transferred easily to his stroller, and then to his car seat. That was a first.

Another day this Fall we checked out our city's Big Truck Day. I was lucky to hear about it from our neighbor (and I have since bookmarked our library website so we don't miss other fun opportunities). Granted, Carter was mostly indifferent to the fact that there were big fire trucks and bulldozers and spent the time watching people. But, it was a stunningly gorgeous day (we really got lucky with these Fall weekends) and we got out of the house.

Then there was the weekend where Carter was sick with a fever and we bought a car, so no real fun there. (Except for a new car, obviously). Aside from the car purchase, I don't think we stepped foot outdoors.

And of course, Fall wouldn't be Fall without a trip to the apple orchard. We went to the same place where we got engaged (sort of - we were technically in the air when it happened, but we launched from this orchard). I always enjoy going back there year after year. We missed actual apple picking season, but enjoyed some apple brats and apple doughnuts. We also stopped at a pumpkin patch nearby and wandered around a bit. By then, Carter was waaaaay past his nap time so we scurried home pretty quickly (and then fought a good fight to get some sleep).

Another weekend we made a quick trip to a pumpkin patch less than a mile from our house. I got some really cute photos, but per usual, Carter did not smile. He gets so serious in new places. All of his greatest smiling photos are in our house.

A week later, we were carving! Carter was definitely intrigued by the pumpkin, the gooey insides, and lifting the top off. He chewed on the eyeball triangle I carved out while I finished the rest. Oh teething. And points to Jon for actually taking photos, so Carter will know when he's older that his mama was around too. ;)