Fall (Pumpkin) Fun!

 

It's FALL, the most wonderful time of the year (except Christmas!). I truly love the fall-- the colors, the cooler mornings, that it's okay for me to wear cozy sweaters, sleep under blankets, and burn scented candles (meanwhile, Kelvin still likes to sleep with the fan on).

The weather is starting to change a bit-- we had a very rainy Saturday morning with Iver's most recent soccer game, in which his team lost amidst all the sliding and muddy falling to Jon's team (2-5). The kids all needed warm baths after playing/spectating! 

In the afternoon, it dried up and we joined some friends at Huddie's Harvest Pumpkin patch.

Scarecrows

We started with the corn maze, in which I got lost last year! Iver and Levi (4th grade) led the way out.

Giant sunflowers!

The kids hunted for their perfect pumpkins to take home...

... and played with "weapons," predictably.

I thought these were interesting!

Iver's class took a field trip here (walking distance from their school) a couple of weeks ago but his white, bumpy pumpkin got stolen (or lost)! He was on the hunt for more cool ones. 

Fall is busy in these parts-- the kids are still doing cross-country (which ends with Championships this week), soccer (Iver) and have lots of school events (AAH! THE EMAILS!!!), including Halloween and Dia de los Muertos activities (additionally, last week, Iver went on a two-night overnight school field trip to Wolf Creek Education Center). My work schedule and call structure is changing in a couple of weeks, starting in November, and I've had a bazillion meetings about the transition. Nevertheless, I still really enjoy the season.  

The best month

I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. 

- Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

October is my absolute favorite month of the year. I love the crisp mornings and often sunny (with occasional rainy) days. I love being warm and toasty in cozy socks, slippers, a robe, by a lot candle, holding a warm drink. I love seeing the leaves and feeling the seasons change before us.  

Mushrooms in the Arcata forest (I'm not a forager) on a recent walk with Karen.

Pumpkin carving (here’s the robe)

I love the ending of "fall" soccer and the conclusion of the first part of the school year, as well as the calm-before-the-holiday storm of holidays and "festive stress," which I feel and tend to blog about every year. 

I wish October could last forever!   

All the Fall (things)

We had some crazy "Indian Summer" weather last week, with temps in the mid-eighties, which is nearly unheard of on the NorCal coast (especially in October!).

Thankfully, it's cooled back down to our 60-degree normal, and feels like "fall," my favorite season.

The kids have stayed busy with cross-country racing. Iver and Niall have both improved in their times and positions, I think finishing in second place per their grade in last week's race at College of the Redwoods (Niall completed one mile in 9:37 and Iver completed the 1.5 miles in 10:11).

This Saturday, we attended another of Iver's soccer games, in which Iver scored five (!) goals, and his team went on to win again (they're undefeated).

In the afternoon, we visited Huddie's Harvest, a local pumpkin patch.

The corn maze was TOUGH! Iver and I were a "team" and kept going around in circles.  I told the kids about visiting the World's Largest Corn Maze in Dixon, CA in 2007 (40 acres of maze!).

After about forty minutes, Kelvin and Niall led us to the exit with their voices (we had to cut through some stalks, not the real path!).

There was a scarecrow exhibition (made by local schools).

This morning, Iver baked two pumpkin pies to share with his class in school (I don't even like pumpkin pie but he's very much into baking these days). I watched/supervised while sipping tea flavored with pumpkin spice in this sweater-weather.

Happy Fall!