September marked the beginning of school for Alexa (3rd grade) and Brody (preschool). After a long summer, they were both ready to go. In fact, Brody had a hard time waiting for his school to start a week after Alexa's school! Even though he wasn't going to school, he had to join in the 'first day of school' photo shoot with his backpack on Alexa's first day!
Here we have 'the standard' pose...
the 'girly' pose....
Brody's imitation of the 'girly' pose...
the 'muscles' pose...
um....break dancing maybe??
and with the backpacks...
We can walk or ride bikes from our house to Brody's school, so we try to take advantage of that on the days when the weather is nice. Grad school is keeping Billy extremely busy, but he takes a break when possible on the weekends and we make the most of it! New York is a beautiful state and there is so much we want to see and do and explore.
The weekend after school started, we headed down to Ithaca, New York to visit several waterfalls. The parks were beautiful, and these initial photos are deceiving - this first waterfall looks somewhat small here....
but these photos give you a better idea of its size!
There had been a wedding in the area right before we arrived, and Alexa enjoyed picking up the rose petals that were sprinkled along the path...
In the summer, you can actually swim at the base of the waterfall, and the kids enjoyed these parks so much, we may have to go back when the weather is warmer!
This is "Buttermilk Falls", the second waterfall we visited in Ithaca -
Brody once again is busting out the dance moves...
The last weekend in September, we took the kids to a farm south of Syracuse to pick out pumpkins.
They had a pumpkin washing station - a great idea so the pumpkins came home clean. In this photo, everyone is being calm and helpful, but at one point in the afternoon, Billy was too trusting and gave control of the water hose to his youngest - Brody made sure Daddy came home clean too!
The farm also had a petting zoo...
a corn maze...
a grass maze...
and a wagon ride.
However, I think Brody's favorite activity at the farm was the corn canon. You put an ear of corn in one end, pack it down, and hit the button and the canon would launch the corn half way across the field. Brody LOVED it! In fact, I think Brody has decided Pawpaw needs to make a corn canon...though I don't think he's shared those plans with Pawpaw yet!
The kids also determined what they want to dress up as for Halloween this year - Brody decided on Luigi - a decision that relieved me since prior to this, he wanted to be Santa Claus. We quickly purchased the Luigi costume (before he changed his mind) and he proceeded to wear it every day for almost two weeks!
Alexa decided she wanted to be a Snow Queen from a photo she saw in a book. And, based on the book, she wanted the costume to be blue instead of white. Surprisingly, Target and Cracker Barrel both offer a Snow Queen costume for Halloween, but both are white, so after a trip to Joann Fabrics, I am now attempting to sew another costume, two years after I sewed a first costume which was also for my daughter after one of her 'less traditional' costume ideas. We'll see how it goes!
The kids, as usual, have provided plenty of smiles. The YMCA offers a "Parents Night Out" once a month which Billy and I always take advantage of (the photo below is from our date night in September). The kids seem to enjoy it as well, as evidenced by Alexa asking us several weeks after attending one, "When is there going to be another "Parent's Night Off?" : )
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| Syracuse's historic Clinton Square with remnants of the original Erie Canal |
One morning at the bus stop, one of the neighbors was having a conversation with her son. He jokingly brought up something he wanted her to do that she didn't do and she replied, "I know, I'm a bad mom." Brody, who was standing nearby and listening to this exchange quickly informed the neighbor, "MY mom's not a bad mom!"
My honest son is also quick to share his opinions with the neighbors...a young couple with a son Brody's age moved into the apartment complex in August. The boys were playing on their porch just a few weeks after they moved in while I chatted with the mom. Brody looks through the screen door into their living room, which understandably still had quite a few boxes in it, and announces, "It's a mess in there." Yep, nothing like making a lasting first impression on someone!
