Baseballs, Butterflies, & Blessings: Fall Fun!

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."

-L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

We've had a lovely October and have enjoyed several fall get aways!

At the beginning of the month, my husband invited me to go on a last minute business trip with him to Colorado.

Considering it was 94 degrees in Texas in October, it took me about 2 seconds to say YES!

Golden trees, snow on the ground, sweaters and empty streets - it was perfect.

We enjoyed a hike and a run/long walk, a great farmer's market, wonderful long meals in practically empty restaurants, and even a last minute mandolin concert that was fantastic.

At times, the streets were almost completely empty in Vail -

in between seasons, I suppose. This meant great prices for us & perfect for a couple of introverts

Best table in one of our all time favorite restaurants and our meal was almost half off!

I had the most wonderfully addictive tomatoes I have ever tasted. They were so good that I begged to know where they came from - and then I emailed the local CO farmer to beg him to ship them to TX next summer.

One day, I drove to Fort Collins while R worked to see my little brother & his girlfriend. We had lunch & Megan took me to some fun shops. It was so fun to see them and explore their town again.

Adam is a musician with a band (Mosey West) that has done very well - new cd out in January!! - he played a little on some random piano for me. (Apparently, Fort Collins keeps painted pianos just out all over town. It is a very cool city.)

One day, the kids and I went to our local rose garden for an Alzheimer's Butterfly release. We lost my grandpa last year to Alzheimer's so it was special to release the butterflies in his memory. The kids loved feeding butterflies watermelon & holding them.

One morning, I took Ellie & some of her friends to the local fair.

Good news? Fair was free in the mornings!

Bad news? Nothing open except a few exhibit halls. The walking wore little kids out and they enjoyed fair food for lunch...

The only real redeeming thing at the fair was watching this little guy hatch! It was amazing!

So technically, this next get away happened in September but I'm putting it here because I kind of forgot to blog it & at the rate I'm going, it will be 2015 before I remember.

For Father's Day earlier this year, my bff and I gave our husbands baseball tickets for them and their sons...

but they invited us along too so we hit the Rangers game with good friends!

Will had fun with his friend & enjoyed all the baseball food.

Ellie loved the game! She cheered and clapped and loved it. In fact, she keeps begging to go back.

(Although she usually calls it football.)

At one point, my friend and I asked the girls if they wanted to go for a walk thinking perhaps they were bored with the game. Ellie was adamant that she wanted to go back up to our seats to watch the game!

Ellie & Hailey

Will & Mason

Such a fun weekend with friends but not nearly enough time to catch up!

(Admittedly, I have no idea who the Rangers played and couldn't tell you a think about the game. I was too busy trying to talk to my friend.)

About two weeks ago, Will's school had a big homecoming celebration with inflatables!

Will had so much fun with his friends on a Friday night.

A local camp (Pine Cove) provided counselors and activities for the kids and it was a blast!

For Will's fall break from school, we headed to Dallas with Cookie & Lovie where they took us to see the musical, "the Lion King!" The kids LOVED it.

Ellie talks about it every single day & begs to go back. I have promised numerous times that I will take her again someday to see it. I was worried she would be scared or unable to sit for so long but they both did great & really loved it.

Then, Lovie & I stayed overnight with the kids in Dallas & went to the state fair!