I love a cold and rainy fall day!

I know you all are anxiously awaiting my vacation update post (ha ha) but you're going to have to wait until next week.  Today my mind is on all things fall!  It's a cold, rainy day here in NY and I've spent the afternoon decorating, drinking coffee, crocking chili, and baking cornbread.  Here's a quick glimpse of what I've been up to today.

Coffee in my new mug...
I was recently part of a mug swap and this is the beautiful mug my swap partner gave me.  It's so pretty and I swear my coffee tastes better in it!

DIY fall wreath...
I actually made something! I spent quite a bit of time today roaming around Michaels craft store and decided I would try to make my own wreath.  This is what I came up with.  I'm not really happy with how the F turned out, but other than that I'm fairly pleased.

Fall decorating...
I didn't go too crazy with my inside decorations, due in large part to the fact that an entire tote of fall decorations is lost in the abyss that is my basement.   But I think the items I did put up look pretty festive so I might just leave it as is.  Here are a few pics.  Sorry for the poor picture quality... my phone is acting up again.

Chili and corn muffins..
Great way to end the day!

I'll be honest.  I am loving this weather!  It's so nice to be cozied up under my favorite blanket writing this post.  I hope you all are having a cozy and relaxing weekend,  wherever you are and whatever your weather!

Goodbye summer

Over Labor day weekend, we made what would be our last trip to Hoffman's Playland.  Ever.  After 62 years, Hoffman's is closing their gates for good.   Hoffman's is a small family-run and family-friendly amusement park.  There are 19 rides, all sorts of carnival food (fried dough, Sno-Cones, hot sausages, fries, ice cream etc), and an old time arcade.  It's the perfect place to spend a summer afternoon with your kids.

I find it so sad that this place, which has basically been synonymous with summer fun in this area for so many years, will be no more.  I didn't grow up here so I don't have any of my own childhood memories of Hoffman's,  but my children have definitely had a wonderful time there and I have heard the memories and stories of so many others.   It is truly a loss for our community.

I wanted to share a few pictures with you of our last time at Hoffman's...

Nick held his brother's hand the whole time, just like we asked.  Unfortunately their free hands were in dirty water the whole time!

Nick screamed the entire ride and daddy almost barfed

Enjoying a sno-cone

Earlier in the day we spent some time at the Pine Bush preserve and discovery center.  To learn more about the Albany Pine Bush click HERE.  We had a fun time exploring and playing.

Although we were sad to say goodbye to Hoffman's, we had such a lovely day together as a family.  We even topped it off with dinner at Red Robin and ice cream at our favorite soft serve spot.  It was one of my favorite summer weekends!

What was your favorite summer weekend?

Super quick weekend update

Happy Monday!  It's especially happy for me because we are on vacation!
Finally got my pics to upload so here is a quick picture recap of our weekend  :)

Saturday was all about soccer!  Check out this handsome devil!

Sunday we finally made it to Maine for our long-awaited vacation.  After stopping at our rental house to drop things off and get changed, we hit the beach!   The kids had an absolute blast!  They jumped waves, dug in the sand, looked for seashells and chased seagulls (well, just Alec chased seagulls).

Keeping it short today cuz well, I'm on vacation! :)  
Have a great week!

Not the week I expected

Hello from Ogunquit, ME friends!  After waiting all summer long to go on vacation,  we are finally here.   We almost didn't make it.  This has been a horrible week.  Thursday morning while at work I got a phone call from my aunt. My mom was being rushed to the hospital.  She was having a heart attack.  I jumped in my car and somehow made the hour and a half drive to the hospital she was at.   Let me tell you,  there was a lot of crying and a lot of praying in that hour and a half drive.

When I got to the hospital, mom had just come out of the cath lab.  2 of the arteries were 100% blocked and they had put in 2 stents.  Apparently mom had been having chest pain since 10pm the night before.  I stayed with her at the hospital until about 6:30pm when she basically kicked me out of her room and told me she wanted me to go home to my boys.  She looked pretty good for a woman who just had a heart attack and she was in good spirits so I reluctantly agreed (and also because 2 of aunts were there with her and my dad was on his way).  She came home yesterday and is doing well.  I asked her if I could come out and help...clean, cook, whatever but she said ABSOLUTELY NOT and she would be extremely upset if we cancelled our vacation.

So here we are, on vacation.   I am still scared and nervous for my mom, but I am feeling a little better with each passing day.  I love her so much and I am so greatful she is OK.  It was bad, but it definitely could have been worse.  If you feel so inclined, please say a prayer for my mom for a speedy recovery.

Ok, enough of the sad stuff!  Some good stuff happened too!  Yesterday was Nick's first soccer game and he scored a goal!  He also looked totally adorable in his soccer uniform.

Our first day of vacation has been great!  Both kids did very well on the 4 hour ride.   The house we rented is simply adorable.   We hit the beach today and the kids had a blast!  Filled my heart with such joy!  And we had some delicious mexican food tonight!

Sorry there are no pics...my phone is having issues and I can't get them to upload.   Hopefully tomorrow.   Good night friends.  Wishing you all a wonderful week!

Friday favorites: Fall edition!

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”
― Lauren DeStefano, Wither    

I've been waiting all summer to do a Fall Friday favorites post and I just can't wait any longer!  I love love love fall!  I love the weather, the clothes, the leaves, the pumpkins, the apples, the holidays!  I love decorating for fall.  I love it all! 

1.  Fall decorating

I love decorating the house for fall.  I do both the inside and outside.  The outside usually consists of sort of mixture of wreaths, pumpkins, and mums.  I've been known to throw a hay bale and cornstalk in there too!  This year I am looking forward to receiving this new fall wreath I ordered from Plow and Hearth.

Last year's décor

2.  Apple picking
This has become our little family tradition since Nick was born.  We have quite a few apple orchards around us, but we have a special one we keep going back to.   It's not too big, not too small, and has good quality apples.  They also have some farm animals for the kids to feed, and a little hay bale maze.  Oh, and apple cider donuts too.  YUUMMM.  I probably have about 1000 apple picking pictures, but I will only force you to look at a few.  :)

3. Halloween
I have always loved Halloween.  Trick or treating, costumes, Halloween parties, and of course CANDY (and maybe just a couple tricks)!  I also love to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown."  I was so disappointed when Nick had no interest in watching it last year.  Well, maybe this year!!

Nick's 1st Halloween.  My cute panda!

This was my favorite costume yet!  I was a yellow crayon, but I'm not showing pictures of that :)

4.  The changing colors of the trees
Fall is such a beautiful season here in the northeast.  It is absolutely breathtaking when the leaves change colors.  Oranges, reds, yellows...they are all beautiful.  We love to take a drive through the Adirondack mountains or out to Vermont when the leaves are at their peak.  You know, "leaf peeping" (BTW, I always thought that was such a silly expression!).  Nature's beauty can be astounding!



Covered bridge in VT...love these!

5.  Pumpkin craving and all things pumpkin
Pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin cheesecake.  YES to all of it!  Although I don't really crave pumpkin any other time of the year, I can't get enough of it once fall hits!  And what is more fun than carving pumpkins??  OK, scooping out the guts is kind of gross, but I love the finished product!

So there you have it friends!  Some of my favorite things about fall. What are some of your favorites?  Do you have any special plans for the fall season?  Any fun family traditions?  I'd love to hear all about it!

Linking up with:
That Friday Blog Hop
Friday Favorites with Diary of a Real Housewife
Andrea, Erika and Narci for Friday Favorites
Friday Flash Blog
Oh Hey Friday



Summer weekending

It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend!  I got to do some things that have been on my list since June!  Good thing considering this is the last "official" week of summer.  How did that happen?  All my Southern Facebook friends are posting 1st day of school pictures today.  Next week school will start for all of us in the Northeast.  Crazy!

Saturday started out with soccer practice (cancelled from Thursday due to rain).  After some grocery shopping and cleaning and organizing at home, we headed out to go berry picking (1 of the things on my summer to-do list).  We headed to Bowman Orchards for pick your own blueberries and raspberries.  The kids had a blast running through the rows of blueberry and raspberry bushes, and eating just as many as they picked!  Hubs and I were literally dripping with sweat.  I think it must have been one of the most humid days of the year.  While we were there, we also picked up some cider donuts.  Sooo good!  I had all sorts of plans for our fruit (smoothies, muffins) however the boys have devoured over half of our haul already so I don't think that will happening.  We'll be heading back in a few weeks when apple picking season is in full swing (and the humidity is gone).  We have gone apple picking every year since Nickolas was born.  It's our fall family tradition!  I can't wait to make some apple pie, apple crisp, and apple muffins!

Saturday night was capped off with some delicious take out pizza from one of our favorite spots.  We were going to start watching "Orange is the new black" on Netflix, but we are lame old people now and were too tired!  LOL  Is anyone watching this show?  What do you think?  Hubs and I were huge fans of Dexter and Breaking Bad and we need a new series to watch now that they are both over.

Sunday morning the boys were up at 7am (as usual) so I sat on the couch watching cartoons, drinking coffee and catching up on some of my favorite blogs (and refereeing a 1 and 4 year old fighting over toys).  Once hubs got up, we got dressed and ready and hit the Farmers Market (the other thing on my summer to do list).  I have been wanting to go to our town's Farmers Market for oh, like 5 years!  Why haven't I gone?  I don't know because it's literally 5 minutes from the house!

The Farmers Market is right on the "waterfront."  We walked around a bit and watched a boat make it's way through the locks (the Erie Canal).  It's pretty cool if you've never seen it.  Then we checked out the vendors.  It's not a huge Farmers Market, but it has the usual....all sorts of fresh veggies and fruit, plants, cut flowers, homemade desserts, homemade soaps and candles, crafts, etc.  There was even a vendor with a bunch of gluten free desserts.  The flourless chocolate cake looked really good.  Almost bought it but didn't.  Maybe next time.  They usually have a local musician playing and a small kid's area set up too. 

After buying some fresh veggies and making our way to the car, I was excited to see they were offering kayak rentals.  There were probably 15 people out kayaking on the river.  Hubs and I said we should definitely do that soon, then remembered how we capsized our canoe at Blue Mountain Lake. Soo... maybe not.

Hubs spent the afternoon working outside and I stayed inside with the kids.  We set up this cute little tent on our deck and the boys loved climbing in and out of it and hiding in it!  Nick wanted to sleep in it last night, but I told him we needed an air mattress first.  The deck is hard!!

It was definitely a lovely weekend.  I am so happy I checked 2 things off my summer to do list!  How was your weekend?  What did you do?  Any plans for the last weekend of summer?

Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop
Meandering Mondays
Monday morning gossip
Mingle Monday
Turn it up Tuesday
Hump Day Happenings
Pig and Dac
Little Friday link up