HIKES, FORTS + FALL PLANS • HELLO OCTOBER!

A few days before this she picked up a random stick, held it like this and said, 'I'm dow-ing hite-ing!
You coming, Mama?' I have no idea where she saw that because neither of us use walking sticks when we hike.

 

'Wook! I have kitty cat ears!'

 

She hiked pretty much the entire trail at Carlito Springs Open Space.
The county just opened it to the public for the first time last month.

We once built a tiny fort for Ev on a whim in a Brooklyn park and she never stopped talking about it.

We thought we'd show her what real forts look like.

As we try to find our 'new normal' here in Albuquerque again, we've been spending a lot of time outside hiking and building forts. The weather has been beautiful, but you can feel the chill of Fall beginning to set in. Even after being gone for a year, we've sort of gone straight back to our old routine. We've picked up where we left off and have been making plans to frequent all the Fall festivities that used to be tradition for us. The Balloon Fiesta starts this weekend and I'm hoping I'll be able to drag Papa Bear out of bed for the early morning ascension. We've usually always gone at night when the balloons flicker, but don't fly (and they have fireworks) because it was easier with Ev, but I think she's old enough to really enjoy seeing the balloons ascend and make the 5:00 A.M. wakeup call worth it this year. The Pumpkin Patch is, of course, on our list for this month too (a little video of last year's Fall festivities). We've also made plans to head up to Los Alamos with some friends of ours for a resale we always attend and get the majority of Ev's clothes at. We're usually able to fit in a few hikes while we're there and the Fall colors are always gorgeous.

What kind of Fall festivities do you have planned for this month?
Happy weekend!

P.S. from the archives:  a Fall book list for toddlers • a leaf craft • another leaf craft