Shall we begin again?
Yes, of course. There's always time for new beginnings.
October began with a trip to Shipshewana for fabric for a Simon quilt with Mommy's friends. Sarah has made each of the children a scrapbook for their first year and a quilt when they were ready to move into a big kid bed. Both stretch her crafting abilities and creativity, but are fun ways to give something handmade and full of love to each child. Simon came along for the ride...but it wasn't his favorite trip. He did get a carousel ride out of it which hopefully made the torture of quilt shops worth it for him.
The fabric was purchased...who knows when it will be cut.
October is an ending for us - zoo season is wrapping up. Aunt Annette and girls were in town for our last trip of the year. Add that to the fall decor and the kids were happy! Simon and Elijah couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the oversized pumpkins at the entrance and had to keep touching them to make sure they were real!
With the girls gone at school for the day, Sarah kept Simon entertained with an introduction to Fall Themed Activities. Elijah came over to participate, too!
Simon's fourth child status was solidified when he picked up a pair a scissors and began cutting. Miriam was probably four when she was allowed to begin learning to snip away at paper. Not even two-years-old, Simon had them in his hands and attempted to cut the newspaper. Mommy knew it would be impossible to keep scissors away from him with three older sisters constantly crafting, so she taught him to hold and manipulate them. He's extremely proud of this new skill!
The girls get a week off of school in October and we use this time for our family vacation. We were supposed to go to Panama City just as Hurricane Michael was destroying the town. We were so grateful that the vacation rental company was able to move us west to Destin. We were off!
It's only a 12ish hour drive from home so we made a straight shot of it and got into the condo around 10 PM. Everyone was beyond tired at that point, but still so excited to be in the warmth and out of the car. We played every driving game imaginable several times during that trip and the kids were absolutely wonderful, but we knew things were getting kooky when Miriam suddenly started speaking in an English accent as "the British News Reporter" detailing our surroundings and reporting on the other passengers in the van. During our third round of the alphabet game, done in the dark in Alabama state highways and the backroads of Florida, Felicity claimed spotting a 'B'. Vivian, never one to tolerate any kind of cheating from other people, said it was impossible that Felicity had seen a 'B'.
"Where did you see it!?!" Vivian demanded.
"On a sign," Felicity said confidently.
"What did the sign SAY??" Vivian wasn't going to let this go.
Felicity hesitated for a second and then said a little slower, "Bears...are...close."
This was the funniest thing we'd heard in our whole lives. Or maybe we'd just been caged in the van for too long. But we laughed about this for a long time. We still do, actually.
Our condo wasn't directly on the ocean, but we could see it from a distance and easily walk to the beach. Our pool was right at the base of our building and we spent most of our swimming time there.
The girls made friends to play with and found new ways to relax.
While Simon napped each afternoon, we rested or watched TV or played games together.
Felicity also had to work on "homework". Or at least she had fun writing words. We love the Kindergarten teacher at the school - each of the girls has developed an early love of learning and school with her as their first professional teacher.
A couple retaining ponds near the resort housed turtles that the kids enjoyed feeding when we went on walks.
Lucky Sarah got to celebrate her 35th birthday while in Florida! So we went out to dinner at an open air restaurant on the beach. Tim even got her a slice of key lime pie!
Most nights we ate at the condo...Tim grilled out and got some peace and quiet a couple of evenings.
We left the resort a couple times. Once to visit the extremely beautiful Eden Gardens State Park. At home, nature was showing signs of life fading, but Floridians still had blooming flowers and green trees to enjoy!
We toured the home on the property which was also fantastic...but imagining sleeping in the heat of summer without the luxury of air conditioning made us happy to return north.
We also went out to a couple of parks to play...
...and did an evening round of VERY classic miniature golf in Fort Walton.
Almost as soon as we paid for the round, Simon bent over at the wrong moment and got a putter in the face. That black eye lasted quite a while.
We made it home in one piece and not too late for harvesting with Uncle John. The girls (Simon changed his mind when he saw how large the machinery was!) took turns riding in the combine with him on an extremely pleasant October evening. We were lucky the weather was so wonderful because the van battery died and we were stuck there until Tim could make it out with a replacement.
Back to life as normal. Bedtime stories. Crazy hair days at school. Love notes in lunches, on the grocery list, and left on the counter.
October 30th. Simon's last day of being one. Mommy tried to get his picture to remember his little boy face and personality. The personality she captured as he ran all over the yard laughing and finding bugs and caterpillars.
And finally a picture of his little face.
The next day was Halloween and Simon's second birthday. Grandpa celebrated a Red Green Halloween. Note his attractive vases and the extreme use of duct tape.
The kids were the Peanuts Gang. Mostly they love the comic and wanted to wear wigs.
Simon loves sugar and will forever appreciate his Halloween birthday for all the candy he collects and eats! And so begins another something new...Simon at two.
