FALL FAMILY TRADITIONS

Aside from the usual holidays and the festivities involved with them, we have two traditions in our family that we've done each fall for the past few years (and we fully intend on keeping them going).

First is our trip to our favorite local pumpkin patch. The patch itself is a bit different each year. Some years they have oodles of gourds for me to dig through but on off-weather years (like this one), they just have a few boxes of them. At times they've had things like silly murals of witches and ghosts with the faces cut out so that kids can stick their heads in and have pictures taken. This year they have a big corn maze. But regardless of the changes they may or may not make from year to year, it's always a fun trip. Without fail, there are a few things that are there every year. There is a hay maze for the kids (complete with a wooden bridge over the front of it), a huge field of pumpkins to roam through, and fun 2-wheeled carts to lug the pumpkins - and kids - around in. We made our trip to the patch on Friday afternoon. It was absolutely perfect weather and in spite of the recent rains, the fields weren't too muddy. We let he kids run in the maze then hunted for pumpkins and looked at the gourds. We came home with too many pumpkins that will soon be arranged on my porch, gourds that are already gracing my living room mantle, and mini pumpkins that joined the gourds above the fireplace (as well as some that will sit on the porch with the larger ones).

The other tradition is a drive up our little section of the mountains here to see the fall colors. We went up over the weekend on Saturday, driving up the bumpy dirt road as we enjoyed the sights. Once we reached the top and got out of the car, we were quick to put on our sweaters and jackets as it was freezing cold outside. OK - not actually freezing. It was closer to 40 degrees but with the wind, it was a wee chilly. We went on our usual hike up a little - but extremely steep - hill to our favorite lookout point. Claire surprised us and after being carried for a short time, she actually wanted to get down and hike with Max. Hudson was the champion hiker. He started a ways back with me, passed Max and Claire in no time, and beat us all to the top. A always, once at the top, we took a few minutes gaze down on the valley that we live in and turned to look on the other side, where we can see cabins in the woods below and another valley in the near distance. Due to the wind chill, we didn't stay up there very long...Max and Claire headed down first with tears streaming down Claire's face from the cold. We would have gone on our usual 2nd mini-hike but the side that we walk up sits almost entirely in the shade and was covered in snow. Not exactly prime conditions, especially considering all the rocks that we usually have to maneuver on and around. While this year's drive wasn't as good color-wise as in past years (we went up a couple of weeks later than normal) and the weather wasn't exactly prime, we still had a great time and I'm so glad we have this little tradition.

Now we just have to wait a few weeks and we'll all spend an evening doing another tradition that I know many families have: the carving of pumpkins for Halloween.