"Fall" Fun

It is not always easy to get into the spirit of certain seasons and Holidays when living in Florida. I know, I know, living in Florida certainly has its perks I am well aware. But what you might not know is that my husband and I grew up in upstate New York, I went to college in Buffalo, NY  and Curt went to college in Morgantown, WV. We also lived in Northern VA for four years and Ohio for nearly seven. So we are no strangers to cold weather, snow storms accumulating 24 inches of snow (one of which I slept in a grocery store for two nights because I could't get home), fall festivals, apple picking, and amazingly colored leaves on trees. A lot of these (almost all) we do not have here. We've lived here for three and half years, the first year was hard for the girls not having the change of seasons we had grown used to in Columbus. But we found ways to make it Fall, and did our best to celebrate the other Holidays without snow and "cold" weather. Again I say ~ I know we are lucky with the weather we have here and I am not complaining in the least!

Last year our attempt to get into the fall spirit wasn't accomplished all that well. The fall fest we went to was more of an arts & craft fair and not so much fall or fest. We carved pumpkins that rotted a short two days after they were set on the porch. So this year we had to make it better; and I would say this weekend was a huge success! We were invited to a fall fest at a friends church; we were excited to attend in the hopes it would be better than the year before. Boy were we right! It was a great time for the entire family. Train rides, games, bounce houses, a maze, great food, "princesses", face painting, and so much more. With this being the twins first "mobile" Fall/Halloween (last year they were two months) it was amazing to watch them play, run, and smile. It was also great to see Kendal and Madison having fun and appreciating "our" fall.

On Sunday we continued our Fall weekend fun with a visit to the "pumpkin patch" not rows and rows of pumpkins like we are used to up north but it was perfect for us and the girls had so much fun picking their pumpkins and imagining what they could turn into.

The whole ride home the girls talked about how they were going to "paint" their pumpkins.. no carving right now.. I mean we still had two weeks until Halloween! I knew watching Charlotte and Olivia paint was going to be interesting. They have never used or played with paint before. We started with finger paints and gave them a little lesson on how to put the paint from the plate to the pumpkins. Charlotte L.O.V.E.D IT. she got in there and went to town; only tried to eat the paint a few times. Olivia on the other hand wasn't too excited about getting her hands dirty (taking right after her big sister Kendal at this age). So we handed her a paint brush but at that point she was too traumatized by her messy paint hands! She still did a great job! 

I would say our third Fall in Florida was an absolute success with more to follow I am sure. A lot of things in life are all about perspective and while we may not have falling leaves or chilly temperatures we do have the ability to make the seasons and Holidays our own. Our own traditions and our own stories that are sure to make lasting memories for us and our girls.