Fall in Full Force

Can we all just agree that Fall is the best season? Who was I kidding thinking Summer was my favorite? Clearly Fall is the superior season! 

It took me nearly 26 years to really appreciate this time of year and all the goodness that comes with it. With the change of the season, I look forward to orchard trips, pumpkin patches and pulling my favorite boots and scarves out of storage. Not to mention the vibrant colors. I'm distracted by the seasonal changes, so much so that I find myself taking back roads just to discover new pockets of color. Does that make me crazy? Maybe - but I've accepted my nuttiness. 

We've been busy the last week and a half soaking up this amazing fall weather (it's still in the 60's and 70's!) and creating more family adventures. An annual apple orchard trip is a "must-do" on our list of Fall activities. We braved the orchard crowd on a Saturday morning, so we knew the place would be a complete zoo - which it was. That didn't stop us from joining in on all the orchard fun! 

Harper got to ride "her" pony, Blaze. As she jumped off the saddle she gave him a gentle pat, looked up at me and said, "isn't he just the cutest pony?" (Don't get any ideas girl!) We weaved through the corn stalks and buried ourselves in the corn pit. Harper loved the giant jumping pillow - I'm pretty sure she could have jumped all day if we let her. Emmett had his fair share of fun too. Those tiny hands of his were covered in dirt as he dug up rocks and poked at the pumpkins. 

It really was the picture perfect day for the apple orchard. 

 

This past Friday I got off work a little early and decided to take the kids on an exploring adventure. We headed to Elm Creek Park Reserve to check out the Fall colors, collect leaves for an art project and snap some photos. 

Harper and Emmett had a blast playing in the leaves and collecting sticks. Seriously both of these kiddos and their sticks. I had to remind Emmett several times, "not in your mouth buddy!" Meanwhile Harper was on a mission to find the biggest stick she could carry. At one point she was dragging a huge branch behind her. Not a stick, a BRANCH! She was upset when I told her we couldn't bring it home with us. I did let her bring her favorite leaves home, so that made up for the branch snafu. 

The kids were my little adventurers and I could have watched them explore all afternoon! 

This past weekend was rare for us, we had no plans. None. Notta. Zilch. I feels like we haven't had a full free weekend in months so I was looking forward to a couple low-key days. 

On Saturday, Mitch promised Harper they could make a treasure map. They stained the paper with tea and collected the chocolate gold coins for her treasure chest. We convinced Harper when she woke up from her nap the treasure would be hidden and she could go on her pirate adventure. 

While the kiddos napped, Mitch and I constructed the map and hid the treasure chest. This fun idea became a little more time consuming than we both thought, but in the end we were pretty impressed with our map. :) 

Harper woke up ready for her pirate duties. We handed the map over and followed her around the house and outside to find all the X's and "buried" treasure. All the time and effort we put into this silly map was totally worth it to see the complete joy and excitement on her face. When we found the big treasure chest outside, she looked at us and said, "Can we do a different treasure map now?" If she only knew how long that thing took! The rest of weekend she carried her map around in search for gold doubloons. Oh how I love our little pirates. :) 

Until next time…

The Helleens