Fall
I love early fall, but this year September was a blur. It was a nice blur, for sure, but Matt and I had unusually busy work schedules, plus we visited a bunch of friends, plus we had a couple of rounds of company, and on top of all that the school year started, which was somehow surprisingly overwhelming. Now that it is October I've started to feel like we're approaching a reasonable routine. But...back to September.
For starters, Will successfully turned four. Here he is at his birthday party, which we had the weekend after his birthday. It was a gorgeous day, so we were able to have it totally outside. We decorated the back deck with apples, mums, and a pumpkin, which was nice and festive.
Next, Will got to bring a book home from school to read to us, which was a big, exciting deal for him (and us, of course). My understanding is that when a student gets to a certain point in his "learning to read" workbook, he gets to bring a book home for a couple of nights. This particular book was about a cat named Tab and a rat named Mac. Tab has a cap and Mac has a ham. (You can guess what vowel sounds he'd been working on.) Here he is reading to Ryan and Matt the very second we got home.
Then last weekend we met up with Megan, Paul, John, and Megan's mom at the Strasburg Railroad. Since this was not a day out with Thomas, the place was pleasantly uncrowded and we checked out the train museum. The museum was fine, but the best part was hanging out with friends. Here is a picture of Will riding a hand-cranked train. (I don't have a picture, but man, you should have seen John motor around on this thing. It was amazing--the kid's not even two.)
And this weekend we went apple picking. I admit, we did not have as much fun this year as we did last year. We went to a different orchard and did not like it nearly as much. We did get to have lunch with my sister Emily, though, who moved to the Philadelphia area this past summer for law school.
For starters, Will successfully turned four. Here he is at his birthday party, which we had the weekend after his birthday. It was a gorgeous day, so we were able to have it totally outside. We decorated the back deck with apples, mums, and a pumpkin, which was nice and festive.
Next, Will got to bring a book home from school to read to us, which was a big, exciting deal for him (and us, of course). My understanding is that when a student gets to a certain point in his "learning to read" workbook, he gets to bring a book home for a couple of nights. This particular book was about a cat named Tab and a rat named Mac. Tab has a cap and Mac has a ham. (You can guess what vowel sounds he'd been working on.) Here he is reading to Ryan and Matt the very second we got home.
Then last weekend we met up with Megan, Paul, John, and Megan's mom at the Strasburg Railroad. Since this was not a day out with Thomas, the place was pleasantly uncrowded and we checked out the train museum. The museum was fine, but the best part was hanging out with friends. Here is a picture of Will riding a hand-cranked train. (I don't have a picture, but man, you should have seen John motor around on this thing. It was amazing--the kid's not even two.)
And this weekend we went apple picking. I admit, we did not have as much fun this year as we did last year. We went to a different orchard and did not like it nearly as much. We did get to have lunch with my sister Emily, though, who moved to the Philadelphia area this past summer for law school.
