The leaves have started to change! It is so beautiful in the Pacific Northwest in the fall. Especially when the sun is out. Surprisingly, there are a lot of sunny days here in the fall. The Girl likes to stomp on the dried leaves. Of course, this job is taken very seriously and it can take us up to an hour to get to the mail box and back since every leaf MUST be stomped! I try and take advantage of the gorgeous days and get out in the fresh air and play. We walk to the park as often as possible. Our plants on the porch have been flowering like crazy with all of the sunny weather as well.
For the rainy days we have had, we have been stuck in the house. We pulled out the "princess castle" tent and set it up in the living room. Mama (me) had to be inside of it as The Girl piled all of her favorite things into it and on top of me. Care Bear figures, bracelets, blankets, pillows and stuffed animals add up fast!
It had been raining for a week, at least, when we got a lucky break and the day we were going to the pumpkin patch turned out sunny!! Yay!! We decided to go to Fall City Farms again this year. They have a pumpkin patch, cows, goats and a donkey. They also decorate the shop area with pumpkins.
The pumpkin patch wasn't too muddy but a lot of the pumpkins were rotten or had rotten spots on them, ick!! It was also pretty cold but such a lovely day. The Girl chose her pumpkin pretty quick. She definitely knows what she wants!
Nathan and I took a little longer to select our pumpkins but we all finally found some that we liked. We loaded them up in the wheelbarrow and headed back to the farm. One of the reasons we decided to go back to this particular farm was because of the apple cider. Last year, they had the best cider we had ever had. It was truly incredible. This year it was $10 a gallon (!!!) but we went ahead and got a gallon since it was so good. Once we got home and opened it up, it was juice, not cider. There were no spices to speak of. So very disappointing and maddening! And for $10 no less! I hated to dump it down the drain so I froze it to use in cooking later and went and got some real cider which only cost me $4 a gallon.
We have a party at work the Friday before Halloween called Hallo-WINE. Clever, right?! :) It is a block party with the other wineries in our building, where everyone dresses up and drinks wine. It is a blast! Our "before" picture above shows Julie, myself, Lindsey and Nina as our normal, everyday selves.....
....and then MADNESS!! From left to right: Me as Freddie Mercury, Nina as Pat Benatar, Lindsey as a flapper and Julie as David Bowie. Pretty awesome, right?? We got crazy busy and really needed some beer after work so we went to the mexican food place up the street after work. There was a DJ there and all of the people that were at our party were there. There was dancing, drinking and eating. So much fun!! So much in fact that some of us got hurt and didn't even know it until the next morning :)
Then it was trick or treating with The Girl. She dressed up as Olivia. She was so cute!! She wasn't sure what to think when we first started but when she realized all she had to do was knock on a door, say Trick or Treat and she got candy, there was no stopping her! She would have knocked on every door in the city if we had let her. My girl is so food driven it's almost embarrassing. She is so much like her mama and daddy :)
And just like that, October was gone. We are now 2 months away from our Europe trip and I'm starting to freak out a little over everything that still needs to be done before we go. I try and clam myself with dreaming of all the fantastic food and wine we will be eating in Paris, Rome, Le Marche and Venice. And all the pictures I will be taking. That reminds me of another thing to add to the list, more memory cards for the camera......
