Oct-Nov 2016

I enjoyed fall so much here. It lasted several months and cooled down pleasantly, but was not cold. Being in Florida for a year it seemed we were stuck in the summer season for 18 months. The cool air felt refreshing and life felt like it was progressing again. With no change in season for so long, it felt like life was at a standstill. 

I never go to garage sales, but we happened to pass one on a walk one day and I picked up the Mousetrap game for one dollar. The boys love playing it

 

With the beautiful weather we hit the parks and thoroughly enjoyed being outside. These kids love the swing. Here you can see the red tint in Maya's hair. This is at the park that we walk to by our house. 

 

Bethpage State Park has an awesome playground and paved bike trails we like. 

  

We went to the Hartford Connecticut Temple open house. It was a 2 hour drive. Levi made things exciting and threw up in the car on the way there.

 

The rolling hills in Connecticut are absolutely stunning with fall colors. I have never seen anything like it before. Just as far as the eye can see rolling hills of fall colored leaves. It made my heart happy. That was one thing we missed being in Florida.

 

Levi goes to school for six hours a day. That leaves me, Malachi and Maya some time at home. It's a different dynamic at home without Levi. When Maya naps I always try to give Malachi some one on one time. That is the only one on one time he ever gets. We do lessons, play games and read books. 

Malachi and Maya get along well. He really watches out for her and helps her be happy.

 

For Halloween the boys wanted to be spooky ghosts. I made them some ghost poncho costumes, which they thought were awesome.

 

The church had a Halloween trunk or treat. We decked out the back of our truck as a spooky campsite. We put the backpacking tent in the back of the truck and put a mummy inside. We had other camp and accessories and covered everything in cobwebs. We ended up winning the award for the best decorated trunk. 

We carved pumpkins for the kids. It had been a long while since Adrian was able to carve pumpkins with us. It was a beautiful afternoon and we sat outside and carved pumpkins.

 

Levi had no problem getting messy. Malachi was a bit more hesitant. The kids get so excited with simple traditions.

  

We went trick-or-treating after school. Adrian had to work. We just went around the block, it took less than an hour. The boys had a lot of fun and were so excited for their goodies. They enjoyed just as much to hand out candy to the few trick-or-treaters we had.

 

Maya started crawling and pulling herself up to standing in October. There was no stopping her. She wanted to go go go with her brothers.

Maya started to really cling to her teddy bear. She snuggles it when she sleeps. It is her soothing security item. She loves to feel it on her face. 

Here is Malachi proud of the tower he built all by himself. 

 

Malachi still loves his snuggles. He snuggled up to Adrian on the backyard swing.

 

Malachi working hard to rake the leaves while Levi is at school.

The school had the best pile of leaves to play in.  

Maya's first time with bubbles. That face is fooling. She generally dislikes the bath. I think what she does not like is water on her face.

 

Christmas tree light glow!  

  

Levi got strep throat in the fall. No surprise since he was exposed to it so much at school. But he had his throat swell up big again like it did last April. Adrian ordered antibiotics and I took him into the doctor. She sent him immediately to a pediatric ENT. Turns out Levi had a thyroglossal duct cyst. Basically the thyroglossal duct is supposed to disappear in utero, but it did not for Levi. When he gets a throat infection this duct also gets infected and swells up with puss. The ENT wants to surgically remove the duct because it may just keep getting infected. We are still not sure if we want to have the surgery done.

For Thanksgiving we got together with the Christensen's and the Olson's at the Christiansen's house. The Olson's had extended family in town so there were a bunch of people there. It was fun to have a big gathering. It was a little bit chaotic with lots of people and lots of food. Which to me feels just like a holiday at home with family. It was a good time. We have been on our own so much for holidays that a big chaotic gathering felt just like the way a holiday should be.

Adirondack Vacation

Adrian got his first official vacation in September. We had to pick vacation dates the previous March and we did not even consider Levi being in school. But, we took him out of school for half a week even though it had only been in session for two weeks. We picked these days because the fall foliage was supposed to start in upstate New York. So we planned a camping trip up to the Adirondacks which is upstate New York and very Foresty. It was supposed to be a 4 hour drive straight shot, but with kids and breaks it was a 6 hour drive to get there. We stayed in Bolton Landing on the shore of Lake George. It was so gorgeous. The trees are so green and thick. Being in Florida for the year prior and then on Long Island in the city, we have not seen the woods or forest for a while. 

 

We had a little cottage all to ourselves And just had to walk a short distance to the lake. The lake is very pretty and had crystal-clear water that they drink there. 

 

The way down to the lake was very steep. We stopped to play along the way. We just wanted to relax with no schedule and enjoy ourselves. 

 

It was a very big lake, about 32 miles in length. It was so relaxing just to sit by the shore. We went just as the peak season ended, so we could not get in the water and swim by the cottage. 

 

The boys had a blast playing by the water. 

 

Maya loves to be out and about as well. She never fusses or complains if we're out. 

 

We had a fire place to heat the cottage and we also roasted marshmallows in the fire too. Levi lost his second tooth while we were there in the cottage. He left it for the tooth fairy and got a dollar for it. 

 

 

We went for a hike one of the days. We chose a hike that had a nice view at the top and was only a 3 mile round trip. Little did we know we were going to traverse up the highest peak over Lake George. We had to start by crossing the highway. 

The trail got steeper and steeper. The boys are so strong and they love adventure. It ended up being a mile and a half straight uphill, but the boys got up it awesome, with just a few whines. Had we known how steep it was, we probably would not have done that trail. 

 

  

The boys had to climb every rock and branch they saw. Here they are showing off their strong muscles. 

 

Maya  had the best ride up. And she never complained. 

 

It took us a couple hours to get to the top, and it had a spectacular view. Little did we know you could actually drive to the top as well.

 

That is Lake George down below us. We thought it would look even more spectacular if the fall leaves had changed colors. 

 

Instead of hauling all the kids back down the steep hill, Adrian ran back down in 15 minutes flat and drove the truck up to get me and the kids. 

 

Afterwards we headed into town and let the kids play on the shore of Lake George. They love the water and it was not too cold for them. 

 

The equally love the sand. 

 

Adrian, Maya and I lounged by the shore and relaxed while we watched the boys play. Directly behind us is the remnants/museum of Fort William Henry that was used in the 1750's during the French and Indian war. I always find it fascinating to know what happened in the places I am at in years gone by.

 

The next day was rainy, but it was the most beautiful day because of the rain and fog. We went for a morning drive and it was really just so beautiful to see the forest covered in mist and fog. 

 

 

Our last day there we checked out some underwater river caves. They were cool to see. But we noticed we were not as amazed as the other tourists around us. We determined that this place looks similar to Zion National Park which we are really used to seeing. But the other tourists probably had never seen anything like this. 

 

 

It was a much-needed vacation. We made some really good memories from this. And we actually would like to return often to the Adirondacks. 

September 2016

September was a busy month. Right after Labor Day Levi started kindergarten. He attends Gardiners Avenue Elementary School. His teacher is Mrs. Minogue. She is a great teacher and Levi likes her. She told me at first Levi was shy and quiet, but now he's warmed up and talks to her and has many friends. When the weather was warm we would walk to school. It is a half mile one way and took us 17 minutes to walk. Now that it's cold, I just drive every morning. 

 

Levi did not want to initially start school. I think he was afraid of being somewhere without me and with all new people he did not know. I did not blame him. I felt a little bad myself just dropping him off at the door and basically telling him to go in and figure everything out on his own. I thought the first day they were going to have to drag him in the school kicking and screaming. But, that was not the case. He did wonderful. I tried to prep him prior to school starting and get him excited. We even went and toured his school before it was in session. Right before it started he told me was as excited as the size of a hair. Goofy kid 😄

 

 

Levi lost his first tooth while at school. He told me it fell out and he put it in his pocket and didn't tell anyone. He was so excited to tell me when I picked him up that day. He soon lost his second bottom tooth a week later while on vacation camping. 

 

Here's little miss, so pretty. 

 

One Sunday we took a drive up to Oyster Bay. It was really beautiful. You can see Malachi in the back. Though we told him not to play in the water, he just could not resist. 

 

When Levi was in school one day, I went with a couple friends to the lighthouse on Fire Island. It is a mile walk on a boardwalk to get there. It was a beautiful perfect warm day. 

 

 Here's Malachi and his bud Jeffery. 

One Saturday we took a drive up to the north shore. This was probably the last beach day we had before it got cold. Off to the right in the picture we could see Connecticut. 

 

 

  We had several backyard fires. We all love to sit around a warm fire and roast marshmallows. The boys call having a fire "camping".  

Maya and I watching Adrian chop some wood. 

 

Apparently the best place to nap is on a heaping pile of clean laundry. 

 

Beautiful little Maya.