Happy Fall Y'all!

I have always loved the fall, when the trees turn brilliant colors – it just makes me happy! We recently had an opportunity to visit New England to see their famous fall foliage…I was not disappointed! We flew into Boston & headed out to Maine. We hugged the coastline on our way to Acadia National Park so I could see some of their famous lighthouses. I took a bazillion pix just like these; unfortunately, I don't have the right camera (or the right skills) to capture the distant views properly.






We probably saw a dozen lighthouses like these






We visited Plymouth & Cape Cod. I love the history of our country! I saw “the rock” that marks the Pilgrims' landing



We stopped by Plimouth Plantation, a little village that shows the life of the Pilgrims & that of the Wampanoag Natives in the 1600s - wasn't exactly the Happy Thanksgiving story we like to tell.





This guy had to be freezing



Paul is always in the market for more rafting equipment



Out on Cape Cod, we saw more lighthouses




We got rained on



We saw more beautiful scenery along the drive



I ate lobster in Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod (Nice rained on look, huh?)

We took a very long scenic drive along the Mohawk Trail & saw lots of beautiful trees, quaint little villages, incredible views, & covered bridges. We made it to Walden Pond right before sunset.



It was the perfect way to end a wonderful day. I love how the treeline is reflected on the water.

Being so close to Halloween, it was a great time to visit Salem – home of the infamous witch trials. We visited the Salem Witch Trials Museum, the Witch Museum, the House of the Seven Gables & just walked the streets. I really enjoyed this little town & learning about the “Wiccan” culture that still exists there. Wica is a neopagan, nature based religion & although they do refer to themselves as “witches” they are offended when people think they are devil worshipers or associate them with satanic witchcraft/black magic. They are into herbs & natural healings much like native Americans. They dress in normal clothing but they do wear ceremonial clothing for their celebrations. Salem celebrates Halloween the entire month of October with all sorts of activities & events – very fun & kid friendly. The streets are filled with costume shops, magic shops, fortune tellers, restaurants, gift shops, etc. I couldn’t resist this little souvenir.

Hope your Halloween was “spooktacular!”

2nd Generation of Saturday Soccer

Paul & I had an opportunity to "relive" the past today as we tried to catch all the local g'kids' soccer games. (Perfect timing for me to try out my newly replaced camera!) We started off with Avery's at 9:00am.

My camera skills are rusty, I just missed Avery's big boot - she plays great defense & her team can always count on her skills to keep the other team from scoring - perhaps why she was invited to be on the "all star" team.

Next game was across town where we caught a glimpse of Cade's enthusiasm for the game.

He's an excellent goalie...

Half way back to the house we were able to catch Ethan's game...

Ethan is a great ball handler - Rochelle says he gets lots of practice during recess at school.

Next we found Trevor at his game, exhausted from hustling.

He plays a very physical game & frustrates his opponents with his long reach...

We empathized with Rochelle, having three games at three different fields...we remember it like it was yesterday. Here are our little soccer stars from Saturdays gone by...one year we had seven players on 5 different teams! Rochelle, Ben & Jill ended up playing high school soccer & Ty played Select (until he discovered basketball).

Awe...those were the days!

Remember all those Soccer Saturdays?

Kyle's Kritters

My favorite DIL (Daughter in law) took a much needed vacation to visit her sister in NYC, We were happy to have Kyle & their kritters hang out with us for a few days – No, I do NOT have a new camera yet, but Adia brought a camera with her so I took advantage of it!

One night we made Hobo dinners (foil dinners)…

Everyone got to make their own masterpiece – then we took them out back to the fire pit…

They were delish!

One morning Kyle took Adia fishing but all they caught was a few crawdads…

I taught Adia how to tie a quilt while she was here. She is really into horses so she helped me pick out the fabric & we made her a personal sized quilt...



(Practicing goofey faces is always fun!)…

Kenyon fell asleep in the middle of a Dr. Seuss story – he was one tired little boy!

We walked into town one day to check out "Coloma Live" & learn about life in the 49ers Miner’s Tent Town.

We played pioneer games with hoops & sticks…

We played tug-o-war & stilts…

(Looks like my photo skills are getting rusty without a camera of my own!)

We tried our skills on an old-school wooden bowling lane…

We learned how to “fetch” water…

& had to carry it all the way across camp!

“Miss Flora” taught the kritters a few card tricks…

We learned how Sutter’s Mill operated with tons of “hands on” activities for kids.

We “observed” panning for gold (because G’ma was too cheap to spring for 5 little would-be miners at $5.00 a pop!)

We learned how the cannon worked & much, much more!

I just love my cute little “stuck in time” community!
(And to my favorite Dil, hope you had a nice visit & welcome home.)