Fryeburg Fair

 At the beginning of October, we went to the Fryeburg Fair, the biggest in Maine. It reminded me of childhood. It's amazing how every fair, no matter where you are, smells and includes the exact same things.
We looked at animals, people watched, rode a few rides and ate greasy fried food. Best of all, we were in the company of good friends. A winning combination!

October Things

Autumn time! The best of the year. We had some fun in October doing the usual things.

Painting our pumpkins.

 Decorating for Halloween. Hinder's rendition of a zombie is my favorite part! 

 Putting together costumes. I'm not a seamstress, and we're doing the starving student thing, so costumes became a major act of repurposing. This cute Tinkerbell won't know the difference (I hope!). 

 And our favorite, going to Pumpkin Valley farm. The corn maze, hay rides, playgrounds, petting zoo, and corn cannon! Loads of fun for these kiddos! 

And dad joined! Bonus! 

 Ledger cracked me up. He had no fear about getting right in those goat's business. If I hadn't have been watching, they would have chomped his friendly, chubby fingers off! 

 And the favorite attraction- the jumping pillow! 

 Our last beach day in October. See that little set of black in the horizon? That's Riley's kite. This was on our walk to go meet him. 

One of the best parts of the month was taking Hinder on a date to his school carnival. Just him and myself. I followed him around from games to game, holding his tickets, and he had a great time. 

Dragon face paint is the best thing that could ever happen to Hinder! So exciting! 

Columbus Day

 Did you know Columbus Day is sort of a big deal in the Northeast? Neither did I, until I moved here. Everyone takes a road trip, and enjoys "leaf peeping", the funny term for looking at the fall foliage. This past week we had exceptionally nice weather and the foliage hit it's peak. It was seriously glorious.

The kids and I enjoyed some weekday walks around the neighborhood, through the bird sanctuary, and drives around the countryside.

 We soaked up every sunny day, knowing that they are very limited. Beautiful New England falls almost make up for the loooong winters and muddy, freezing spring. Almost.

Riley had the day off on Friday, so after we picked up Hinder from school we went straight to a farm near Freeport, ME called Wolf's Neck Farms. It's right on the coast, and I heard it was a sweet little place to explore. The trails were a big hit. We saw a salt marsh, picked up lots of sticks, and attempted to bird watch (a.k.a scare away every bird within 40 miles with all of our racket). 

The highlight for Hinder and Vyla had to have been the hay bale pyramid they could climb, and Ledger was pretty interested in the big cows. They kids called them oreo cows, for obvious reasons.

 A trip to Boston was the plan for Saturday, until late Friday night Riley learned that one of his best childhood friends was in Portsmouth, NH and would be coming to Portland the next day. How serendipitous! Instead, we spent the day showing Dan and Amanda around our favorite Portland spots. Of course that included the Prouts Neck cliff walk...

 Delicious chowder at Gilbert's Chowder House downtown...

 A ferry ride out to Peaks Island...

 

(This cruise ship was pretty massive! The kids could not figure out how it stays above water.) 

And a bike ride around the island while watching the sunset over the ocean. 

 Not every weekend is this exciting in Maine, but this last weekend was pretty darn close to perfect!

Happy Birthday Dear Ledger

 I have determined that as I get older the Earth has started rotating twice as fast, and the years are flying by as a result! Because there is no other explanation for the fact that our Ledger Summit is already a year old?! We JUST brought him home from the hospital! He's been such a happy, content and cuddly baby that I'm so reluctant to admit that he's not a baby anymore, he's a walking, babbling toddler.

 Ledger loves to be outside and explore, but unfortunately he sticks everything in his mouth, seashells, sticks, seaweed, rocks...everything. He has no fear about what he touches or plays with outside. At this age, my other babies ran from neighborhood dogs, but this kid runs after them.

He's a big kid! Twenty-three pounds, solid, and pretty tall. He's already wearing out some of his 12 month clothes.  He's been walking for about 2-3 months. After a couple of weeks back in our Scarborough house, he mastered how to go up and down the stairs. Now he loves to climb midway up and peer out the window at the swing set and ocean.

 

 Ledgie loves the bathtub! He loves to swim around and splash and try to dunk his face. (much to my dismay). It makes him so happy to be in the bathtub!

 His other favorite thing is eating. He's not picky at all, and he wants to eat all of the time. He loves bananas and blueberries, and avocado and crackers and anything else he can swipe off his sister's plate.

We had a simple celebration on his birthday. Riley invited a few classmates over for dinner and Vyla helped me make a cake.

 He enjoyed a few special presents, a new booster seat and a few fun toys. The grandma's gave him much needed new clothes. Thank you, Nana and Grandma Lorie! Daddy brought home balloons, which are always the life of the party at our house.

 

The older kids were so excited about everything that it made the evening special. 

 Ledger did not love to be sang to. When it comes to being the center of attention, Ledger usually shys away. So when we all were staring at him, singing in unison, with a flaming candle in his face, he was a few seconds away from bursting into tears. But then the song ended, and he got his hands on the goods, and all was well.

Happy birthday, sweet boy! We love you to bits!

September Stuff

We got back to Portland at the end of August, and I can't believe it's only been a month. It's been such a busy few weeks staying with the Ernshaws, moving into our rental house, starting school, and getting back into the swing of school life. Throughout it all, we did manage a few trips to the beach before the weather is too cold to enjoy it. We're trying to soak in as much Maine fun as our time here is dwindling!
Our favorite beach, that happens to be just a short walk from our front door, is Scarborough beach. It's long and has great sand and when we hit it at the right time in the evening, we usually have it all to ourselves.

Riley's last day of summer (and probably his last "summer break" of his life) we spent at Kettle Cove in Cape Elizabeth. It was still warm enough for the kids to enjoy the water.

Walking the Ernshaws dog, Gretchin. They live right on the coast, and Vyla grew attached to Gretchin and I grew attached to the awesome paths they have around their house. 

My sweet little pal, Ledger. He turned 11 months in September and now his birthday is just right around the corner. I can't believe how fast he's grown into a toddler.

 We took the kiddos apple picking at our favorite orchard with a group of friends. The older boys started an apple war, much to the moms dismay, and this guy tried to join in. He had a ball picking up fallen apples and munching on them.

 Vyla and I one afternoon at Westpoint Beach, gathering seashells. With Hinder in school now, she's my bud during the day. I love it.

 Kids monkeying around at the playground! Although I LOVE the fall, I'm definitely going to miss the nice days and getting outside so much.

 The biggest highlight of September is being back at Prouts Neck and enjoying many relaxing afternoons with the kids on the lawn. It's such a beautiful place, we feel so blessed to be here for a short time more.