Fall To Do List

This fall Selim and I made a Fall to Do list. It is not like the typical Honey Do list, it was more of a must do and see list for New England. It included hiking in the lakes region, sea kayaking, apple picking, photos of fall colors, and so on. So far we have achieved a good portion of the list. Three weekends ago we went apple picking with Jim and Nikki to a great little apple orchard that was known for its cider apple dough nuts. Well worth the wait in the long, long line out and around the building.

A beautiful mid September weekend we traveled up to the lakes region to hike Mount Manger. It was a perfect day for a hike. The weather was sunny and cool. Selim, Alex, Tab, and Izzy traveled up the mountain while enjoying the breath taking views. All of the fall color was starting to truly bloom and vista we amazing all 360 degrees around us. At first I was not to sure if Izzy and Alex would be up for the 2.5 mile hike but they trooped thru it with smiles on their faces. We even did the ledges and both Alex and Izzy scaled the rocks and made it to the top. With the exception of the frequent bathroom stops for both Izzy and Alex, (yes Alex does...go in the woods) and the snack stops we make it in great time to the top. We had brought a back pack filled with food and refreshments for us to enjoy with the beautiful vista on top of the mountain. We even brought Izzy her own food and water bowl, Alex really enjoyed serving Izzy her food on top of the mountain.

The last weekend of September we traveled to New Castle to rent a sea kayak for the three of us. It was so much fun to tool around the bay with a small boat. At first it was rough going for us to get the hang of paddling and stirring at the same time. We hit land a few times before getting the groove. But that was fine too because Alex liked it when we would bump land and have to push off again to get going again. Again we had a wonderful day with the weather. After we were done boating it was time to get dinner so we went to Portsmouth for dinner down town. After dinner we walked around the shops and visited the local Starbucks bathrooms. Ever since potty training we are sure to visit each and every bathroom around. Small price to pay for having such an independent girl. And I must emphasise "Independent". There is not to much that Alex does not want to do on her own any more. She chooses her own cloths each and every day, some very interesting choices but I am not about to smother her creativity, I like to see it grow. The only things that I have had to learn is that I have had to add on more buffer time to our departure and arrival times since she has to do every thing on her own now. She has to chose her shoes, put them on, climb into the car on her own, get into the car seat all alone, and buckle up too. Now this process alone adds at least 10 minutes to any departure. So now when we are leaving the house her first question to me is "are we running late?". I am guessing I have been saying that quite a bit as of late, simply because we are due to her new found independence.

PHOTOS TO COME BLOGGER WAS HAVING SOME DOWN LOADING ISSUES!

This fall has been truly exceptional weather wise. It is very unusual to have such dry warm weather in October so we are trying to make the best of it while it lasts. We have a few more goals to meet for Fall activities and we will be sure to update as we get them done.