Vermont in the Fall

 I have to start this off with a miracle.  Last night I went to bed at 9:30!!!!  Can you believe it???  It was a happy miracle.  I didn't make myself a lunch and sent Evan this morning with disposable diapers, but it was glorious.

I haven't been around because I took a short trip up to Vermont to visit my parents and aunt and uncle.  And dogs too, if you want to get technical.  It was a random trip because we don't usually head up north in the fall, actually this was my first trip to New England for fall foillage since. I lived in New Hampshire over 20 years ago.  The drive was spectacular, after we got off the New Jersey turnpike.

I love the drive up there because once you hit New York, it's all through the mountains and little towns. Our car was cramped with our stuff, myself, my husband, the baby, and the dog.  It makes for little space and lots of dog hair.  It looks like hubs is sleeping in our photo, but I promise you he was not.

Notice how jammed Dolce is to the side of the car?  I think it had something to do with the amount of dog fur Evan had in his hands...if Dolce got too close Evan pulled his hair out.  I don't think Dolce enjoyed the trip as much as the rest of us did.  I drove the first shift and Ivan drove the second.  This worked well because I got to enjoy the view.

And look at the pretty leaves.

And Lake Champlain.

Then we spent the weekend with my parents, and my aunt and uncle who are living with them for now (they are in the process of moving to Vermont and already sold their house but are looking for the perfect Vermont house).  It was great.  Evan really loved it because he always had someone to play with him and entertain him the entire weekend.  And my mom and aunt had a bunch of new toys that he got to play with too.  We took a lot of walks in the woods and fed the neighbor's horses...Evan's favorite.  My parents have a lot of land and it's beautiful to walk around (minus the ticks). 

Here's their driveway, with the beautiful changing leaves.

This is the side of the he house, where the den and sunroom look off.

And some apple trees.  They have red and green apple trees...we eat some and give some to the horses...and leave some for the deer.

Evan loved being outside and looking at everything, and so did Dolce.

Dolce did not enjoy sharing his space, attention, and food with the other dogs though (my parents have two dogs).

Evan just really loved playing with everyone, and I liked the occasional break to catch my breath.  It was nice having a few extra eyes and lots of extra energy!

Evan learned a lot of new skills while we were there.  As you can see, he learned how to ride his little cow and he also learned to go up and down three stairs by himself.  It was quite a feat.  He also finally learned to sign "more" which was super exciting for me.  

I took some more photos on my camera so I will post them when I upload them.  We had so much fun and Evan was an angel in the car.  He slept and played the entire time and hardly ever cried.  It was a relief!  Especially because we head up at least once a year and have a few more long car rides planned in the near future.

Pumpkins, Parenthood, etc.

It's dark when I leave for work now.  Pretty soon it's gonna be dark when I get home too.  Yesterday I went to walk the dog at 7pm and it was dark.  How sad.  It's not that I haven't experienced the days getting shorter for my entire life, but it still surprises me.  And it really surprises hubs because the days don't change in Honduras.  The closer to the equator you are the less the days change, so there it was pretty much light out from 6am-6pm and during the winter it might differ by half an hour.

What feels extra weird is that we've been having a hot spell so it was in the upper 80s all week and weekend.  And our air conditioner broke and the landlord doesn't want to fix it very quickly.  So we were pretty much roasting all weekend, in October...while the days get shorter.  Feels strange.  I think cooler temps are on the way though, and day light savings time is going to end in a few weeks too, so it will be lighter in the morning at least.

This weekend we went to the pumpkin patch!  Last year I skipped a lot of the holiday festivities because Evan was so young, but this year we are trying to enjoy them all.  It was lots of fun, but hot.

Yes, I'm holding a teddy bear.  It was teddy bear party day so if you brought a bear you got a free hay ride.  I'm all for free hay rides so I carried the bear around all day.  The hayride was itchy but fun.  They also had a petting zoo, fun slides, pony rides, face painting, and mining for gems.  We didn't do too many of those because they cost extra, but we did do the petting zoo.  Evan loved the goats and wasn't afraid to pet them or feed them.  I think it's because we have such a big, fluffy dog.

Then we walked to the pumpkin patch and snagged a mini-pumpkin.

Yesterday was filled with grocery shopping and cooking and some laundry.  First we went for a walk  though...my favorite thing.  The colors here are a little bland these days for autumn.  I'm hoping they perk up a bit.  

We took a different path and it was so pretty.

We stumbled upon this canoe and it made me think of Anne of Green Gables. 

I actually managed to cook three things yesterday: chili, tomatoe sauce, and meatballs.  All those things cooking didn't help my kitchen from exploding from heat though. Then I was determined to fold all these clothes and put them away before going to bed.  They'd been around for two weeks.

I succeeded, although it was 11:30pm when I crawled into bed.  And I have to get my run in today.  I think it's a half-caf coffee day.

And I can't put into words how excited I am that Season 4 of Parenthood is on Amazon Prime now!!!

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Do you go to a pumpkin patch or do you just buy your pumpkin at the store?

How often do you do laundry?  And do you fold your clothes right away?

Late nights and cold mornings

This post is going to be nice and brief because I need as much sleep on this bus as possible.  Let's just say that this is what the monkey cake looked like at 9:30pm last night.

And I forgot about the white part and had to make an extra batch of frosting.  So I didn't finish until 12:30am.  Well, I guess I finished the cake before then, but by the time I cleaned up and got lunches ready and brushed my teeth it was 12:30am.  And then back up at 4:30am for work.  And to make things worse, I have class tonight until 10:20, so no early bedtime around here.  But here's the finished cake:

It's not my most amazing cake ever and it's not the cake I wanted to make, but I think it turned out ok.  Especially since I was tired and in a bit of a rush.  Ivan made me promise to not volunteer to make a cake again and I wholeheartedly agreed.  Cake making was much easier when I was single...it's not as easy when I have a kid and no free time.

For Becca's gifts (the cake is for her baby shower at work) I made (designed) her a onesie that says "50% Guatemalan + 50% American = 100% Me" except instead of Guatemalan and American it has a picture if the Guatemalan flag and the US flag.  It's not here yet (I created it in Zazzle), but I can't wait to give it to her.  I also bought her some coconut oil (best item in the world, it works as baby lotion, diaper cream, and nipple cream all in one...and does a spectacular job of all three) and Goodnight Vermont.  I love baby showers!  I would have bought more but money is really tight right now.

And the last thing I'm gonna mention is that it's that weird time of year where it's cold in the morning and warm in the afternoon.  Today it was 45* outside when I left for the bus so I grabbed a heavier jacket, but then when I leave work it's super nice out and I look ridiculous with a heavy coat.  Annoying.

Ok, that's all folks.  Time for a nap!

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What's your ideal bedtime?

What annoys you the most about the changing seasons?

  - I love the changing seasons but the above annoys me a little (jacket thing), but the worst thing about spring and fall? STINK BUGS!!  I am so tired of waging a stink war in my house.  I am completely over the stink bugs, it makes it very difficult to open windows and enjoy the nice weather when swarms of stink bugs enter my house.