Fall Holidays in NY and at Home

We got ready to head to NY for Rosh Hashanah in September by painting some apple trees for GG's dining room decor.

We had two lovely dinners with family and friends down in Westchester and the morning before we left, we went to a beautiful spot on the water to walk, climb, and explore before having our own Rosh Hashanah family service.

We were home for both Yom Kippur and Sukkot.  The kids had a blast at our preschool Sukkot Party despite that it was too rainy and cold for us to celebrate in the sukkah outside.  Here's Dagny showing her lulav and etrog to the Rabbi.

 And dancing with them.

 Graham cracker and pretzel sukkahs!

Team Dad Heads to NY (in August)

The second to last week of summer, while I was getting my classroom ready, Dan took the kids to see his family in NY and they had a blast!

First up, a nature preserve! (Thank you to GG for all the great photos!)

Second, a visit with Cousin CJ in Brooklyn!

And a special guest appearance by Uncle Carl!

 

 Then, off to a splash park near Prospect Park.

 

Later that week,  our favorite Mamaroneck playground.

 With frozen yogurt for all!

 And finally...Coney Island!

I think next summer, I better get in on this NY fun!!

Where has the time gone?

It was brought to my unsuspecting attention this weekend that we have (roughly) been back in school the same number of days as our entire summer.  On one hand, I was thrilled that we have made it that many weeks managing new pick up, drop off, and school routines without major incident. On the other hand, I longed for those warm summer days that seem a distant memory.  Thankfully, I dug up some photos that have been waiting to be posted of the end of our summer.

My parents came and helped us with the kids the last week of summer as we transitioned back to school.  Finley had lots of Grammy and Granddad time since he was the last of us to return to a full school schedule.

We also got to hang out with our closest friends at a local beach before we said goodbye to the summer sun.

 Our cherry tomatoes were late bloomers but gave us some wonderful end of summer treats each time we pulled back into the driveway!

Forseters at the Four-H Fair

Dagny, Finley and I had fun exploring all the animals and such at a local Four-H fair this past weekend.  But the animals could not compete with the bouncy house slide and enormous popsicles :)

 

 Though this little guy did have their attention for a while.

Finley was very impressed with its camouflage...his word, not mine! "He looks just like a rock, mommy, isn't that cool?"

And the owl presentation was pretty neat, too.

Nice that Richard Simmons joined us, right?