Settling into the Season

There's no doubt about it. We miss Texas. Melanie mentions it almost every day.

Texas is perhaps an acquired taste. 

But we definitely feel the loss of it.

So, I remind myself and my children of all the things we couldn't do in Texas. We did not have second-story windows that we could leave open all night long. We did not have several species of brilliant maples studding our yard. We did not have piles of leaves to jump into with wild abandon. There were no mountainous hikes or kitty cats to cuddle or apples and pears to pick right off the tree. 

Skating!

 Melanie looks a little out of sorts here, but she is already skating better than big brother and shortly after this picture was taken, she asked me to sit down so she could skate by herself. The rink is not at all far from the house and the kids are thoroughly worn out when we get home. I'm thankful we've got this option with winter coming!

On Tuesday, the kids and I volunteered at our local polling place. A friend needed a few extra hands to help distribute sample ballots. For the first time ever, the kiddos came in and watched Mama bubble and submit her ballot. Work tables were set up with chairs. It was the perfect setting to demonstrate to the kids exactly how our political process works. I doubt they have a full understanding, but I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to include them.

Jonathan is quite the little politician. He was not shy at all about asking voters if they needed a sample ballot. Very few could resist taking one from an exuberant four and five year old.

Today in class, the kids dissected (i.e. stabbed and yanked all appendages off) crayfish/crawfish... however you prefer to say it. They had a ball. Naturally, Jonathan wanted to keep his specimen, so it has found a home on a wire shelf in the garage beside a very stinky turtle shell and skeleton that we found on a trail at camp. 

Soccer ended last Friday, so today we had lunch with school mates and played until almost 3 pm at the playground outside. It was so nice just to talk with new friends and watch our children play together in the woods and on the playground. We discussed the cheapest way to acquire fire wood for winter, recipes, curriculum and old movies on a perfect indian summer afternoon. What a gift.

A couple weekends ago, we ventured out towards Front Royal to George Washington National Forest. We took the kids on a bit of a hike. We may have just chanced upon the peak weekend for fall color, and we left with our hands full of beautiful leaves to press. We had some lunch at Five Guys (yum!) and listened to Jonathan complain about the length of the car ride all the way home.

I'll have to save Halloween for another post. It was a good one! Some day I will remember to take the good camera to all our events and have all the pictures in one place. What I will say about Halloween is that, although I love the way it marks the season with festivities and fun, I'm always glad to put it behind us and turn the calendar to November 1st.

Slowly we seem to find ourselves moving into a rhythm in this beautiful new place.  Preparing for the possibility of a hard winter, getting involved in local politics, putting a few more pictures in place on the walls - even cooking some of our old favorite recipes in the "new-to-us" kitchen, make this place feel almost like it has always been home to us.