Enjoying Fall

I've mentioned a few times (okay, maybe many times) that I love fall and have been looking forward to it since... oh, about the end of June.  Not that summer isn't great (and what's cuter than a baby in a bathing suit?) but fall has always been my favorite season.

Maybe it's the changing leaves.  The pumpkin flavored everything? The pumpkins themselves? Leaves on the ground?  The crisp morning (and sometimes afternoon) air?  APPLES! Apple picking? Hay rides? Cooler weather means you can wear sweatshirts and sweaters and no one notices the 5 pounds you put on from eating pumpkin flavored everything?  

Probably all of the above.  And more things I haven't thought of in my minute-long ponder over the wonders of my favorite season.

So far we've been enjoying the season.

We played at the Spa Park on an unusually warm day (which was awesome, because there were summer clothes we got as hand-me-downs that MiniM.E. never even wore!).

We went to Congress Park to feed the ducks,

and play with the flowers.

We visited Bowman Orchards.  We played in their awesome wooden playground,

pet their animals,

tested out their fence and Adirondack chairs

sat in some pumpkins

and bought some cider and donuts.

We didn't actually go apple picking... but we bought some apples, so that counts, right?

We took a walk in downtown Ballston Spa.  It wasn't exceptionally "fall-y" but MiniM.E. was wearing a halloween outfit, and it was pretty darn cute.  And we were enjoying the cooler weather.  So I'm going to count it as a fall activity.

 

on the run

Do people send Halloween cards like Christmas cards? Because if they do, that last picture is definitely my Halloween card...

The Balloon Festival

This past weekend was the Adirondack Balloon Festival.  It sounded like it was going to be pretty awesome, my mom was visiting and usually I just put her to work and she deserved a break, so we decided to go.  It was a four day event and we picked Friday evening.

We arrived at the airport in Queensbury and waited anxiously for the balloons to take off.  The website promised 80+ balloons at 5:00 pm.  We spread out a blanket and waited...

And waited...

Finally at 5:30 some balloons inflated...

but it was too windy for them to take off.  After dragging a baby there we were pretty disappointed.  But oddly intrigued.  A few of the balloonists suggested that the next morning they would take off.  AND it might be foggy, which (contrary to what one might think) would be ideal balloon viewing conditions.

What the hay, we decided.  And woke up at 5:30 to be at the airfield at 6:30 to see the balloons take off.

Things I wish I'd considered:

-It always takes longer than usual to get a baby ready when you have to be somewhere.  We didn't leave until 6:15.

-Contrary to my thinking, hundreds of people chose to wake up ridiculously early on a Saturday to take their families to the airport.  There was a HUGE line of cars.

-We probably should have tried to find a back way to the airport.  The HUGE line hardly moved.

-We might have considered leaving earlier... as we were still in traffic 2 miles from the airport at 6:30 when the balloons were supposed to start.

-Much earlier... we were still a mile away when the balloons floated over our car.

We did finally get to park after sitting in the car for two hours.

There were still a few balloons inflated that weren't going to take off, and MiniM.E. seemed to have a good time.

Especially when we walked through the craft fair and stopped for a while at the kite stand.  She liked it so much that she cried when we left.  And so begins the "crying-and-flailing-when-it's-time-to-go-phase".

So... we decided since we'd already put so much effort in, we would try one last time on Sunday.  Sadly, my mom was back at home after two failed balloon sighting events.  Sorry Mom!

We got up earlier (at 4:30... though we still left later than we planned), found a back way to the airport, avoided the traffic and were waiting on the airfield at 6:00am.  Other than the fact that I have not experienced 50 degree weather in a while and assumed a light sweatshirt would be adequate clothing, it was worth getting up early to see.

AND next year, we'll be pros.

A Toddler

It's official.  We have a toddler.  3 weeks shy of her first birthday and she's off and running.  Literally.

Not only have we been busy (excuses, excuses) but now I have a little person to chase after (seriously, I set her down in a parking lot today... fortunately a non-busy park parking lot... and she just walked away).  So I'm working on some posts about a few of the things we've been up to, but this just couldn't wait.

Catching...

Here's a catch up post for you... because apparently at our house, we're really good at catching things.  As in bugs.  The sick kind, not the crawling kind.

MiniM.E. was sick for a week or so, had a few days of feeling good, and then got sick again.  Then Bob got sick.  Then I got sick.  And we're all still a bit under the weather.

And if I thought it was hard to find time to make blog posts with a healthy baby, it is infinitely harder with a sick baby.  Especially when she's up a million times a night.  And I'm not feeling good either.

So even though we're both still a little under the weather, I finally feel like I can stay awake during one of her naps and write a post longer than three sentences.


Exciting news!  Someone took her first steps!! We're on our way to walking!

In other, less exciting news, we've been spending most of our days outside.  I think I have a budding gardener on my hands.  (Or at least a budding mulch-eater).

We've been to the park to feed the ducks a few times

We celebrated MiniM.E.'s 11-month birthday by buying her a musical walking toy.

Of course, the best part is the box it came in.

The second best part is playing with it sitting down.

She also likes to crawl behind it.

We haven't really gotten to the walking part yet...

We also took her in the wagon to the playground near our house.  It's a pretty awesome playground.  Unfortunately it's sort of geared more towards big kids, but we played for a while and MiniM.E. seemed to have a good time.

Yesterday we went up to Lake George for the Jazz on the Lake jazz festival.  We were all still a little under the weather, but fortunately it was pretty relaxing.

Molly's favorite part of the day was petting a couple great danes we ran into.

The other thing she really like to play with were the trees.

Between the dogs, the trees, the jazz and not feeling so great, we must have really worn her out because she fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept until this morning!

11 Months?!?

Just a quick post to say we're one month away from having a one-year-old.

I can't believe it.

Neither can she: