Autumn 2013 Recap

I love it when spring finally arrives after an enduring, relentless winter, and I love the long hours of sunlight and warmth that summer brings, but I don't think that any season can match autumn in New England. 

And the quintessential New England autumn activity?  Apple-picking, of course!  Last year, our friends Jim and Thomas joined us at Tougas, our favorite pick-your-own-fruit farm.  We managed to come home with our fair share of Macs, Empires, and Cortlands, in spite of the incredible number of apples consumed by all while picking.

We love Tougas!

 

Hanging out with Thomas

Apples, apples, everywhere!  Love that Louisa is double-fisting them.

We went apple-picking at the end of September, so I was hesitant to get pumpkins at the same time, unsure whether they would last until Halloween.  We knew we likely wouldn't make it back out to Tougas, though, so we went ahead and picked pumpkins, too!  (And they DID make it to Halloween.) 

Pumpkin pickers

And no trip to Tougas is complete without visiting the goats.  Always a fun destination!

Feeding the goats

Most of our family lives pretty far away: Colorado, upstate NY, Tennessee-now-Pennsylvania... further than you want to (or can!) drive for a weekend trip.  The one exception is my uncle, aunt, and two youngest cousins (middle-schoolers) who live in Connecticut.  We try to make it down there a couple of times a year for a visit, which usually involves a sporting event, excellent food, some video-gaming, and a couple of hours relaxing on their deck.  They have a fenced-in back yard (ah, the benefits of suburbia!) and two dogs that the girls adore.  Always a fun trip!  We caught an 8th grade football game while we were there in October.  Dressed in their Broncos gear, of course, the girls had fun cheering for Timmy, number 90.

Louisa says "touchdown" and needs a nap toward the end of the game...

October also included one of our regularly-scheduled visits from Nonna (my mom).  We are so lucky that she's able to make it out here as often as she does.  When she returns to Colorado, the girls always want to know when she'll be here next.  Usually, the next trip is already planned, so it's easy to answer them!

At the playground with Nonna, post-swim lessons

Nonna's October visit included a trip to the circus.  The real circus, too -- not the little circus that is set up at Government Center every year.  (We actually love the Big Apple Circus, which is great for little kids, but I think a real circus needs elephants and lions.)  The girls loved it.  Even if they don't look particularly excited in this picture...

Autumn also brings one of my favorite Charlestown holiday events: Halloween.  I don't really care much for Halloween itself, but I love the way that our square mile of Boston celebrates it.  It's one of only a couple of days out of the year where a bunch of the streets are blocked off, and the whole neighborhood gets together, giving it a fun, block party feel.  Plus, I really enjoy all of the candy.  And having the girls collect it for me.  :)

Pumpkin guts!  Amelia is not a huge fan, Louisa was a little confused by the whole thing, and Ramona mostly just played with the seeds

Halloween carnival at the community garden: games, crafts, and pony rides

Costumes, jack-o-lanterns, friends, candy... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Another fun fall event?  Nothing like a rolling rally!  We didn't watch much of the Sox's season last year, but we were happy to celebrate their World Series victory with a parade, and headed down to North Point Park to view it -- as did MANY other people.  Luckily, we ran into some friends there, which made waiting for the arrival of the duck boats much more enjoyable. 

Congrats, Red Sox!

And that was our autumn in summary.  I leave you with a few pictures from a random evening at the Monument...

Cute girls!  Not sure where Amelia was.

...and some of my fall favorites from my phone.

More to follow soon!