Already Missing Fall

Today was our first snow. I don't want winter to come! I enjoy Fall time in Michigan so much. it's absolutely gorgeous, beautiful leaves everywhere, great weather and lots of fun but there's always a little shadow hanging over Fall saying, "Winter's coming" and believe me that's a threat here. I swear Michigan Winters last for 6 months and it's sooooooo cold, dark and long . All right, everyone feeling cheery now?

Well, the threat of Winter reminded me that I never posted about our wonderful Fall family trip to upstate New York. We went with the same group we went to Niagara Falls with last year (the Collis and Savage families) plus the Smiths who were great additions to the fun. We rented one big cabin and just enjoyed each others company. There was lots of good food, good conversation and of course some good competition.

As you can see Keely had a fan in Anna (below)

Anna and Ben also got along really well until the last day or so when Anna started saying "I hit Ben now." Yep, she was just making the announcement that she was about to hit Ben. It was actually a great intimidation tactic and I'm sure that it was Ben's Karma, payback for all those innocent people he took on during his hitting stage. I was cracking up everytime she announced her plans.

The cabin had a huge yard complete with a a huge grassy play area (above), a fire pit (below) and a pier on the lake. The kids loved it!

On Friday we went into town and took a ride on a ski lift so we could see the beautiful leaves. The fall colors and fresh air was amazing. Oh, and apparently this little town is known for their grape pie (which I've never heard of) so of course we had to try it and I have to say it was pretty good.

Matthew and Keely were quite the hikers, I swear they could have kept going all day!

On Sunday we went and visited Palmyra and had a great time.

Visitor's Center at the Smith farm

Sacred Grove

Smith cabin

Visitor Center at Hill Cumorah

Yes We Can

While I'm so happy with the outcome of the election I know that not everyone is but I wanted to post a link to Obama's acceptance speech just in case anyone missed it. It's 18 minutes and definitely worth listening to. He's both gracious and inspiring and makes you proud to be part of this great country. One important thing that I think will come from this victory is an energy that we've been missing in America for a long time.

McCain was also very gracious in his comments and I really think that now that the fighting and bitterness of the campaigns is over there will be a great opportunity for both sides to work together. Today is a good day.

Halloween Scream

Here's some pictures from Halloween. Keely decided she wanted to be an angel and then said, "so mom, will you be the devil?" I was happy to oblige. Keely really was an angel on Halloween though. We got home earlier than planned from a party on Halloween night and there were still trick or treaters out but because we weren't planning to be home I hadn't bought any candy. Keely just dumped all her trick or treat candy in a bowl and said, "Let's just use mine!" And she was serious. I would have never done that as a kid!
My friend Elizabeth made Ben's Bam Bam costume along with his cousin Aviva's Pebbles costume. They were quite the cute pair, thanks Elizabeth!
We had a great Halloween with lots of activities and parties but my favorite part was actually the trick or treating.
When Ben figured out that he got candy he was super into going door to door. The funny thing was that instead of just taking the candy Ben was trying to trade people (see picture below).When the person at the door would give him something, he would just reach in his basket and try to give them something right back. I guess he figured, "hey, they're hooking me up, I'll hook them up!"