Halloween

Halloween in the neighborhood with cousins ...

Season Ends

Xander wrapped up his fall TOPSoccer season today with the annual end-of-season / Halloween party. His favorite part is the small bowling game they set up. He stays here pretty much the entire time, except to walk over and pick up his award trophy from his coach, then he heads right back. He also enjoys dressing up in costume, and this year, wore the light-up stick man costume we actually ordered for last year (it was too hot for a sweats outfit last year, but since it was spitting snow today, he was pretty toasty inside).

Indoor Pool Fun

The other two boys have been less than impressed with the indoor pool at the local YMCA that opened in our part of town. And in truth, it doesn't have much to offer for kids over three (mainly a small children's splash area, a two story slide, then adult lap lanes - no deep water areas, no diving board or basketball goal or rock wall like our other favorite indoor pool).

Xander, however, is content to wear his goggles and splash in the kids area for hours.

Girls Day at the Races

Enjoying a brisk fall day out at Keeneland's fall meet with Grammy and Aunt Kelly ...

Teenage Fun

While Connor is still looking forward to trick-or-treating this year (in what may be his last year), he is also interested in hanging out with friends. He and a buddy, who was spending the weekend with us, dressed up to attend a Halloween costume party at one of their good friend's house (back in the old neighborhood). Connor was Clark Kent (read: Mom wanted an easy costume) and his friend was Jason (read: his friend's Mom also wanted an easy costume). Hard to believe these two will be teenagers soon. Hanging out with friends is way cooler than hanging out at home ...

Fall Day at the Orchard

Nothing says fall quite like a warm day spent outside at one of the local orchards. Apparently, it spoke to more than just us, because I have never seen the place quite so packed. We parked near the road. I have never even seen cars parked that far down before, and I've gone on school field trip days with preschool where every parent, grandparent and local relative troops out to join their preschooler!

We joined the masses on a warm Saturday afternoon (next time, we'll go just a few hours prior to closing, because the crowds got better as the day got later). Connor had his friend H over for the weekend. I tagged along with Xander to make sure he was playing nicely and following directions. All the boys seemed to have a big time.

Xander's favorite part is riding in the big and little "tires" (aka oversized pipe tubes on pipe rails).



The swings are fun, too, but he's getting a little big and the wood support beams strain a little with the heights he likes to achieve.



Connor and his friend H wanted to ride the pedal cars first.



Xander likes the smaller slides because there aren't any lines to wait in.



Almost as good as the big one.



He did wait a few times for the two-story slide, but was mostly content on the one-story slide.



Connor and his friend H taking a turn on the "tires" next.



On top of the corn maze (got to love that neon yellow outfit).



Xander inside the smaller "tube" again.



Walking on the spider web.



He likes the corn, but prefers when there are less kids (and certainly less wild kids, as a few apparently didn't have any parental supervision - or just really bad parental supervision).



Walking on the tires.



King of the world.



Connor and H seeing who can knock each other off the pillow pad.



And Mommy's reward for the day ... apple cinnamon doughnuts and fresh made Kettle Korn.

Snapshot Sunday

Xander was one happy boy to catch a fish this past Friday while out with his CLS buddy Scott.

Court Days

Sawyer and Aunt Kelly making a day of Court Days Festival ... enjoying the rides in the children's area. The mechanical bull was his favorite.

Bike Rider

Sawyer riding a three-wheel bike at school, learning about force and motion with his classmates. For someone who never shows any interest in bikes or scooters at home, he apparently enjoyed this a lot!

Fair Fun

Sawyer and Aunt Kelly enjoying a local fair ...

Yearbook Photos

And the reason that I don't purchase school pictures is ...



Fake smile.

Not having it.

Biggest cheese smile ever.

No, thank you.

Snapshot Sunday

Love his heart ... he picked out three doughnuts while he was out with his CLS worker, one for him and each of his brothers. He was so disappointed that Connor wasn't home and that Sawyer had just eaten on his adventure with Aunt Kelly. He ate his chocolate with sprinkles, and wanted so badly to serve his brothers with a plate and a doughnut!

Tuesday Night Skating

Rails to Trails

Another day, another bike ride on the nearby Rails to Trails path ... and another day to swing on the recently repaired swing!

Getaway Trip

For a few months, we tried to figure out a way to make it out west and hit a few of the national parks. There were just too many to chose from, and we had too much trouble narrowing it down. It's almost going to have to be a long road trip. So for our fall trip, we stayed a little closer to home and took a trip up the East Coast to see two cities we've always wanted to see - Boston and New York.

Special thanks to Grammy and Aunt Kelly for holding down the house and the boys' routines at home so that we could get away for a while. It's nice to be able to leave behind the day-to-day of school and work and CLS workers and bedtimes and school lunches and therapy appointments and sports and activities and just be.

Though Josh's idea of vacation and mine may not be quite the same ... pretty sure we spent more time on the go than any other vacation, and we were up earlier most days that I like to be, but we definitely saw a lot in a short amount of time.

The token airport shot for Xander ...



Beginning in Fenway / Back Bay, Boston ...



We started our time in Boston with a tour of Fenway ...



Rooftop gardens were amazing ...



From the Green Monster ...



From the party deck ...



Museum at the end of the tour ...



Exploring the JFK library ...



And the amazing harbor walk around the library ...



Shot from my camera (above) looking back into downtown Boston ...



The long (it felt longer than they said it was) Freedom Trail ...



The Government House ...



Famous cemetery with notable historic figures ...



Historic building mixed in with modern ones ...



Amazing city parks and green spaces ...



Paul Revere's house hidden among the downtown streets ...



The U.S.S. Constitution in Boston Harbor ...



Bunker Hill ...



Iconic Boston streets leading away from Bunker Hill (how would you like to park here every day!) ...



Taking the train to Foxborough for the day to cheer on the Patriots ...



It was SO HOT (yes, this was the day they ran out of water and charged $5 for tap water - thank goodness they pulled off a last second win to make it worth it) ...



Touring a few college campuses (we liked MIT better than Harvard) ...



More artwork at MIT ...



The boat house was my favorite (can I go to school here just for this?) ...



Another cool building on MIT's campus ...



The iconic gates of Harvard Square ...



More Harvard ...



Harvard Law (paging Elle Woods) ...



Red Sox game on our last night in Boston (we had awesome seats behind the home dugout) ...



Night game (couldn't help the Sox win, but still fun to watch) ...



And our first view after coming up in the NYC subway near Bryant Park ...



The penthouse view from our hotel near Times Square ...



First day stroll through Times Square (in search of our first NYC pizza slice) ...





Passing NBC Studios / Rockefeller Center ...



And stumbling across the Lego Store for Connor (and our first NYC purchase) ...



Rockefeller Center (minus the ice, not quite as spectacular as it will be in a few months) ...



Lego version inside the store (for Connor) ...



Radio City Music Hall (as seen through the windows on our way up to Top of the Rock for a sunset view of the city skyline) ...



Central Park view from Top of the Rock (we were not prepared for ALL the cranes ... apparently the world is always under construction) ...



Token selfie from Top of the Rock ...



Sunset ...





Relaxing on the rooftop patio of our hotel ...



Checking out the Gershwin Theatre, where we'll take in Wicked in a few days ...



Trump Tower on our way into Central Park (I was actually trying to get the cool globe artwork at the base more than anything) ...



Central Park ...





The merry-go-round (for my "Now You See Me" moment) ...



Another bridge ...



Huge open space in the middle of NYC ...



Miles of walking trails ...



"The bridge" from Central Park in most movies ...



Row boats with the skyline in the distance ...



Standing on the rocks ...



The back side of the MET ...



The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir (my favorite part of Central Park) ...







The MET from the street side ...





Tree lined streets and sidewalks around Central Park ...



Looking for Alex the Lion for Xander and Sawyer ...



Fire Station near Times Square as we were walking ...





No pictures allowed during the show, but we took one at intermission of the theatre and stage - Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre - by far my favorite thing to do in NYC ...



Late night at the theatre, early day at Battery Park for a day of touring ...



Lower Manhattan from the ferry headed to Liberty Island and Ellis Island ...



Lady Liberty from the ferry upon arrival ...



Ellis Island from Liberty Island ...



New York Harbor and the outer bridges (New Jersey on the right) ...



Statue of Liberty from the grounds ...



Ellis Island (the building architecture was very cool) ...







Charging Bull on Wall Street ...



World Trade and the Oculus ...



World Trade by day ...



9/11 Memorial pool ...



The Survivors Tree ...



9/11 Museum ...













The second memorial pool ...



World Trade by night ...



The outside of our hotel (we were on the top floor) ...



Grand Central Station (again, cool architecture, and again, looking for Alex the Lion for Xander and Sawyer) ...









Government Center downtown ...



Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge ...



Brooklyn Bridge Park ...





Walking the High Line ...







Flying in the clouds back home ...