the big debacle: october

October is my favorite month, not because my birthday happens to fall this month, but because of the crisp colors and coolness of Fall. Unfortunately, this month we haven't exactly experienced that coolness yet, BUT it is coming.

We've had a busy month. The first Saturday of the month we went over to Georgia to visit S's sister and her family. Our nephew, A, turned 3 and had a Cars party at Mickey D's. Before Old McDonald just had a farm, now according to W, he also has "chikken nuggets." Aye di mi. The following Sunday, I went to Walker county for my cousin K's baby shower. We used to be very close but had grown somewhat apart over the years just because we had very different lives. Now, we both have families, etc so we have more in common. Since my mother's and grandmother's passing, I've been feeling a little lost at times and am finding it is very important to me to maintain these familial relationships so that I don't lose that connection to my mother and grandmother.

We also took a trip down to the coast with my father this past weekend. There are pictures down below. I hadn't taken a trip with my mother or father in 4 years because my mother just wasn't physically up for it. It was bittersweet for me. I have a lot of fond memories of beach trips with my parents. In some ways, it was nice to see places I had been with her, but there was a little sadness there too. We drove down Thursday night. Then on Friday, we drove over to Fairhope to take Daddy to dialysis. While he was at the center, S, the boys and I went over to Bellinggrath Gardens. S wasn't sure about going there at first, but he eventually understood why I wanted to go there. It was the perfect place to let W out and run about. We had a nice lunch there with the Senior citizens and then headed back over Fairhope to pick up Daddy. On Saturday, we headed down to the pool and the beach. W and little G had fun in the pool, but W wasn't too sure about the ocean. W did have some fun in the sand though. On Sunday, we went back down to the beach for a little while before we had to head back north. I think that we had a pretty good trip overall.

This weekend is supposed to be one of those fantastic Autumn weekends that everyone visualizes. I've bought some beautiful cosmos and mums to set out on our front porch to welcome the season and we're planning a day at the Pumpkin patch next weekend for W. S has mentioned roasting pumpkins seeds on more than one occasion so I'm sure that I'll be doing that for him next Sunday.