Remiss

We've been off adventuring quite a bit lately, and though the events have varied, one thing has remained constant: I've been terrible about taking pictures. But I've hodgepodged together a few from our phones, so here are a few random ones. In list form, we have:
Gone back to VT for Columbus Day weekend to see Anna, hiked a bit, spent too much at a great jewelry sale, carved a pumpkin, had friends over for fires in our new fire pit, school school school with Henri, walk around Walden Pond, surprised Steve with the early gift of his whole family coming down for the weekend. The latter took a decent amount of planning and stressing since I plan best out loud and on copious amounts of paper but I couldn't because I was afraid I'd leave one laying about and Henri is horrible about keeping a secret. But we pulled it off! He came home on Friday and was very puzzled as to why his niece was greeting him instead of his daughter, haha. We ate lots, went to watch the Head of the Charles, watched a Clemson vs. BC football game, talked, had a fire, and the cousins generally had a marvelous time roughhousing. Today is Steve's actual birthday (happy 35th!!! I should insert something sappy here about how much I love him, etc etc, but words fail cause he really is the best, so rest assured he's well adored over here) and we're having a big dinner and the cake's cooling. He already did his presents this morning so hopefully the kids will go to bed at a decent time and we can get in a game of Settlers or something. More fun stuff coming up for the next two weekends, and then I think we have one unplanned one before we're again booked solid through the first of the year, Actually, we're booked beyond that because while home Meghan announced her engagement (congrats!) and they've settled on January 3rd as the wedding,

Unrelated to anything, has anyone ever taken the time share people up on their offer of prizes to sit and listen to their presentation? One won't stop calling, and as one of their free nights and presentations is in Ogunquit I was toying with the idea of using them for our anniversary date. Other than smiling through a 90 minute pitch, are there financial repercussions I should be looking out for? Thanks :)

And then the pictures:

His first marshmallow. I think he ended up eating 3....

Hiking

Outlook

A little past peak but still gorgeous

I see a resemblance

Too close to the edge!

Somehow a pumpkin got added to our cart when we stopped for snacks on the way over

He was interested in the process but was not impressed with how the guts felt, lol

whacking golf balls into the back woods

The finished product. Pretty good considering all the "help" he had ;)

So, the 18-24mo coat I bought him touches the ground. Fortunately I have Henri's old 12mo one so he's all set for this year and next :)

Headed down to watch the rowers. Everything gets out of order from here...

Steve watching his Tigers

Steve and brother Paul

Mom S and Steve. Did I mention it poured? So glad I stayed home with the kids!

Attempt at a family picture. We do this every time we get together and not once have we gotten one with everyone looking semi-pleasant. 

Ava burning off some energy before the long trip home. She could tolerate a lot of spinning, I get sick just watching the kids!

Yeah, my kids were sooooo cooperative with this

Aw, lots of loving. Hudson adored his cousins, but his favorite person was Aunt Melanie. I was pretty much ignored the whole weekend, she was THE person for him. If she was occupied, he'd take Paul as second best. I ranked #9.

Headed to VT (told you it got messed up)

Really out of order, the group we camped with the beginning of the summer :) We can't wait to try again, had a blast

Sigh. This girl has way too many opinions on her outfit. It's been freezing, but she'll only wear tank tops and gauze tutus. All summer, she wanted to wear fleece. I made her at least wear a coat for the park.

Sewing project! A magnetized curtain for her bed to hide all the junk underneath. 

We got a little treat at the bakery when we stopped for Steve's cake

He was so proud to sit at the table by himself and looked adorable all perched like this while he ate his biscuit.

The Club rowing back after their race. Our pastors wife's dad (76 years old!) comes over from Germany with his team to compete and this year we got to see him. They did fantastic, much better than previous years, and it was fun to stand on the bridge and scream while they flashed past.

He's 7 seat, headed back to the boathouse. 

She doesn't seem to walk a whole lot on our walks....

Trains make for blurry shots, but I think this is the only one I have of them together. They all seemed to have a good time. Hard to tell, but their hair color is identical. The Schoeffler genes run strong!