Happy Fall! Apple Picking Trip 1

I love fall in New Jersey!  September and October here are mostly sunny and still warm enough to be outside enjoying the countryside without having the yucky summer humidity.  In September, our church playgroup went to Sun High Orchard about an hour away to do some apple picking.  It was a beautiful day in the 70s, but I just couldn't resist wearing my cute boots :)

This goat appreciated Andrew's corn husks

Andrew pulls apples he picked in an orchard wagon

Andrew's favorite thing was picking up the pumpkins and hauling them around in the wagons

Andrew and his friends liked hauling each other, too

Andrew and his friends--what cute critters

School

Andrew, holding his "First Day of Preschool" sign in front of our house

Andrew has now completed his first 10 weeks of preschool, and he loves it!  I love it, too.  (Grocery shopping all by myself is such a treat!)  He goes three mornings a week for a few hours each time.  There are 16 kids in his class, and three teachers.  Two of the kids from his church sunday school class go to school with him.

They color, paint, read books, build with blocks, act out stories they've read with the drama teacher, do puzzles, make collages, cut and paste, play collaboratively, play at the park across the street, eat snacks, sing songs, observe rocks in their sensory table, and lots of other fun things I'm sure.

The teachers take the time to teach the kids proper procedures for everything and they encourage independence among the children.  Andrew has learned how to start his coat zipper all by himself, carry scissors by creating a "jacket" around the blade end with his hand, and cough into his "cough catcher" (elbow).

Andrew and part of his class learning the "Hallelujah" song on the first day of school during worship

When I take him each morning, he takes off his coat and hangs it all by himself on a coat peg in the hallway outside his classroom.  Then all the kids and parents in the preschool meet for 15 minutes of "worship" (it's a Christian school) in one of the classrooms, lead by the head of the preschool.  They usually teach a bible story, lead us in songs that include sign language signs, and lead us in a prayer.  Then the parents get to hug their kids goodbye and the kids start their day by going potty (these teachers are smart!).  If the weather is good enough, they usually go immediately to the park for some time.  The teachers are all very kind and I feel like they really care for and enjoy the children.  In fact, due to Hurricane Sandy Andrew's school was closed for four of his school days.  When we returned, the head of the preschool said that all the teachers couldn't wait for the children to return to school.  Another example:  I send Andrew to school with sunglasses when it's sunny because his blue eyes are sensitive to the sun when playing outside.  I told the teachers about it and asked if it was ok.  I was afraid they would tell me "no" because they don't want to keep track of kids' extra stuff.  But Andrew's teacher said that they if it's something that helps Andrew, they would do their best to facilitate it.

I'm so glad we have a great place for Andrew to learn and grow and gain independence.  He was definitely ready for this next step in his development.  He's making lots of new friends, too.

Summer Vacation Part 2

Here's a wrap up of the rest of our summer vacation in Washington:

We had a family reunion with Paul's family, including a big family photo shoot.

Here's my cute niece, Melanie.  As my dad would say, "you look good in anything you eat."

Paul convinced his dad that re-doing his back deck would be a good family reunion project.  Here are Paul, Doug, and Steve hard at work.

The women-folk took care of the children and supervised from the hill.  The kids loved watching the construction.  At one point, they sat inside the upstairs sliding-glass door and watched the deck construction like TV while eating popcorn.

Heidi, Rebecca, and Lindsey

Paul's sister, Lindsey, watches the deck construction with Jeffrey and Andrew.

Here's my cute nephew, Jeffrey.

Andrew loved Melanie's car.  

"Hey, baby, do you want a ride?"

Jeffrey apparently didn't love it as much.

The speed demon in action.

There's Melanie again!

We had a girl's night in--playing games, eating huge ice cream sundae's created by my father-in-law, and laughing really, really hard.

Sister-in-law Jeanette's parents have a great backyard full of fun stuff for the grandkids 

Even the big kids enjoyed the teater-totter (here's brother-in-law Doug and my father-in-law Terry) 

Steve, Heidi, and Chris with baby Blake

Rebecca and Emma

Aunt Heidi and baby Blake

Summer Vacation 2012

We are in the middle of a big two-week vacation to our hometowns in Washington, and we're having a blast.  I think this is actually our first real vacation as a family since Andrew was born, except for little trips to Philadelphia and New York during Paul's grad school year in Pittsburgh.  Here are some pictures of things we've done so far.

Andrew fed some animals at the Clark County Fair

Also at the fair, we saw the Pirate's Parrot Show.

If you hold out a dollar in your hand, a parrot will fly over and take it from you.  Andrew got a bonus when one landed on his head for quite a while.

Here are the parrots with their loot.

This is the pirate ship  

Andrew went on his first roller coaster.  It was this little dragon ride.  He liked it so much that Paul and I each got a turn riding it with him.

The next day he got to go on this little ride at Walmart, which he loved too.

Riding the swing at Hockinson Park near Grandpa and Nana's house.  See those beautiful evergreens in the background?

At the edge of the park I found some blackberries to pick.  The great thing about this area is that blackberries are weeds that grow everywhere, so you can pick some whenever you want to in mid to late August.

Laughing, and laughing with his cousin Melanie

Drawing on Grandpa and Nana's front walkway

We went to the zoo with my sister-in-law Rebecca and her kids, Melanie, Alex, and Liam.  Then my little camera died, so that's the only photo I have, except for on my phone :(

We took an early morning family walk.

Andrew ridin' in style

We've gotten to say "hello" to Grandpa and Nana's neighbor's horse, who often grazes in their backyard.

No gathering is complete without me agreeing to make some sort of elaborate and/or time consuming food, so we had my family and a few friends over for a little Indian buffet.  My mom made the aloo gobi masala (cauliflower and potato curry), and I made some navratan korma (nine-vegetable curry in cashew cream sauce), masoor (lentils soup), and brown basmati rice.  We also had sliced mangos and some store-bought naan and paratha (Indian breads).

My sister Bonnie and me

Paul and our friends, Ryan and Elizabeth

Bonnie, my dad, and my mother-in-law (aka Nana)

My father-in-law and my mom

Elizabeth made a beautiful strawberry cream tart for dessert

I jogged a 5k for the first time!  I am so proud of myself.  For someone who has always hated running, I was amazed that I was able to jog for 33 minutes straight.  Rebecca and Paul ran it too.  Woo Hoo!