Frolicking through Fall

It has been a wonderful season! We have had a great mixture of gorgeous fall days as well as foggy dreary ones (which are also awesome in my book)... fall can do no wrong!

We've tried to take advantage of the season and squeeze in all the fun that we could. And we've done pretty well!

We hosted our first ever Fall Firelight Festival at our house complete with chili cook-off and bonfire in early October...

{  The chili awards  } 

{  We had scarecrow supplies but forgot to make any  }

{  We party in our carport :)  }

{  Cleaning up after everyone left. LOVE hanging out under these lights  }

We attended a cute little event called Parkfest in one of our town's parks. There was a car show, trolley tours, craft booths, food, puppy adoptions, and live music from this adorable gazebo! It was quaint and very Star Hollow-ish.

The leaves have been beautiful so we've been trying to take advantage of the nice days, going out for walks and enjoying them while we can.

Hazel thought playing in the leaves was pretty nifty!

Downtown St. Charles hosted an event called a Pumpkin Glow! All the shops in the historic downtown area stayed open into the evening and put out their jack-o-lanterns. The place was packed with families and there were all kinds of costumes to look at. We scored a table on an adorable restaurant patio and chowed down on some delicious steak. The weather was nice, the atmosphere (complete with fire, creek, and "house dog") was superb, and we just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. After dinner we walked the streets and peeked in a few shops, but with the crowd and historic building entryways it was hard to maneuver with Hazel's stroller so we just walked and absorbed the  scene. 

 

{  This dog was more of a horse... pardon my steak stuffed cheeks!  }

Fall wouldn't be complete without some pumpkins, so we chose to go to a nearby pumpkin patch that was so much more than just pumpkin picking. They had a corn maze, petting zoo, a giant bouncy bubble thing (pictured below) games for the kids, honey bees, pumpkin cannons, tractor tire swings, sack slides, and more!

Hazel slept through the actual pumpkin picking part, but there's always next year!

And then of course there's Halloween! The past few years we haven't done anything for Halloween. Last year we were out of town, and the year before that we planned to hang at home and hand out candy, except no one came.  :(  This year we went to our friend's house in the neighborhood behind us to hand out candy instead and also attended our town's Halloween parade. Hazel HAD to dress up, but we had two costumes that we loved. She went as a scuba diver and a mandrake!! Let the picture overload commence...

She's ready to hit the open waters with her dad!

We decided on an ocean theme for the whole family (minus Norbert who didn't come out to celebrate). A shark, a scuba diver, and a narwhal!  ... Sadly, this was the best group shot that we got. 

{  The whole family (minus Norbert) dressed up!  }

{  Gosh, she's good! She doesn't even need her mask over her eyes or her regulator in her mouth when she's swimming with her dolphin friends -- Photoshopping done Picture by Tyler  }

{  Obviously the real deal because only real mandrakes can move in pictures...  }

She was even got a few retroactive cameos in these scenes...

Holidays with a baby are so much fun. I cannot wait for the big ones coming up. I know she is going to love all the twinkle lights that come along with Christmas! Autumn, however, is not quite finished yet, so we will continue to milk it for as long as we can. If it dries out enough, we may need to make a giant leaf pile this weekend!!

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