Pumpkins!

DS and I carved pumpkins!  He did a scary face, and I did Totoro.  Sitting on the floor and bending over a pumpkin is a lot harder this year, but I managed it.  And we have a ton of seeds for roasting!  I'm really proud of DS's pumpkin, he did a great job.  I sketched it out for him because we didn't have any templates or anything this year (not my design, found it online), and he wasn't sure he could actually carve it. But it looks great!

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6th Anniversary

Wow, I can't believe we've been married for six whole years.  Seems like no time at all.  But it also sort of seems like a lifetime.  It's hard to remember life without him, and honestly, I don't want to.  He is my anchor, and as long as he's with me I feel like I will never be lost.  Life is an adventure that we will face together and always come out okay.  Or even better than okay.  It is more than I ever expected for myself, and I am so thankful.

We spent the day doing fun things.  We went to Linvilla Orchards for the first time.  That place is so insane!  I can't remember the last time I've been among that many people at once.  It was a little overwhelming.  But then, it's the last weekend before Halloween is celebrated for most places.  We thought about apple picking since we didn't get to do that the weekend before, but I think the chaos of the place made us decide against it.  Don't worry, we did get the most important thing, which was apple cider!  They even sell it in these tiny jugs that were perfect for the ride home.

Portable cider!

Tonight we had reservations at City Tavern, which is probably the oldest restaurant in Philly.  You might remember it from when I got to try my first shrub.  This was the first time I've actually eaten there though, and it was DS's first time period.  All the tables are candlelit, which is a nice touch.  The water is served in metal cups.  I had an amazing pot pie.  It was a perfect way to end the day.  Love you babe.

6th Anniversary, at Linvilla Orchards

Babymoon

I had been hearing talk of this babymoon thing early on through my baby app forums.  I'd never heard of such a thing, but the general idea is that you take a romantic vacation, just the two of you, before the baby comes and shakes up everything.  I thought that sounded lovely, especially considering we have two on the way at once.  Some people were talking about big fancy vacations.  One lady even went to Fiji for hers.  I knew we wouldn't be able to do anything like that for several reasons, but that's just fine.  What we decided on instead was our very first bed and breakfast experience, and it was just perfect.

I did some research for B&Bs in the Poconos area.  Neither of us had been there, and we were hoping to go sometime in October in the hopes of catching some lovely foliage.  We chose the Gatehouse Country Inn, which was so amazing.  They have little add on packages you can get, so we did the babymoon package.  It was basically snacks in the room when we got there, but the apple pomegranate sparkling cider was seriously delicious.  It was a really nice way to start the weekend.*

I had been worried about the trip in general because some people are on bedrest by this point.  Thankfully, not only am I still fully mobile, but we were even able to go hiking on Saturday!  We did the Tumbling Waters Trail, which is about 3 miles round trip with a 400ft elevation gain.  I was a bit worried about that last part, but I really wanted to see the waterfall!  The majority of the hike was super easy with lots of big lovely trees and some lakes.  But you had to hike down a big hill to get to the waterfall and then back up up up to leave.  That part took some time.  I had to rest a lot, because it's so hard getting oxygen into my system with all the extra blood.  Plus, the babies steal most of what I do get.  But I managed the whole thing without incident, and DS was super awesome about being patient and waiting for me to inch my way up.  So worth it.

Of course, afterwards I ate a feast and then took a 2 hour nap...

Sunday we found a close farm and pick pumpkins out of a patch.  It feels like it's been forever since I've done that!  We were going to go apple picking too, but it would seem the area had a horrible harvest because of a late frost killing off all the blossoms in the spring :(  That was kind of sad, but I made up for it by getting the world's biggest pumpkin.  Okay, not really, but it is 30lbs!

Oh, and the breakfasts!  Man, so delicious.  I need to learn how to make a sun-dried tomato quiche.  Really a perfect weekend.  So happy we had this time together.

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*Unfortunately, right before we arrived we saw a baby deer cross the road, which was followed by its mother.  I was so excited, and then absolutely crushed when the mom hobbled across the street on 3 legs.  She had recently been hit and her fourth leg was managed.  I bawled like a baby.  I'm tearing up now just thinking about it.  *sigh*

Beautiful Fall Day

The weather today is kind of amazing.  Perhaps a little hotter than I would want in October (the high is 81°F), but slightly breezy with just a few clouds.  I spent the day at the local park with my friend Sarah and her toddler friend, who we've been calling "Mark" here.  The whole place has been decorated for fall.  There are hay bales and cornstalks around the lampposts surrounding the fountain, which are ornamented with various kinds of pumpkins and mums.  The buildings and miniature golf course have fake spiderwebs all over them.  The carousel is playing spooky music.  Perfect.

This may very well have been my last chance to go to the park with this little guy, which is sad.  He's starting school, and Sarah will be moving on to a new family that isn't close enough for us to have this kind of park time.  I will really miss it.  It gets me out of the house, which I'm sure will be something I'm really craving soon.  Plus Mark is tons of fun and adorable.  He's taught me a lot about caring for toddlers that I hope I'll remember by the time my kids are his age.  I'm not even sure when I'll see Sarah once she's working somewhere else.  This was the bulk of our hanging out, and now we'll have to actually try to schedule in time around work :/

But enough sad stuff.  Today was just great.  And it was also completely filled with pumpkin.  I had a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks with their pumpkin scone for breakfast, and then the pumpkin pie milkshake from Square Burger this afternoon.  Seriously, fall is just the absolute best.

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