Autumn Thoughts

Today is one of those gorgeous, crisp, autumn days that makes me LOVE that we live in New England! The leaves are changing, the sky is blue, and everything feels so fresh. Yay! I took the kids for a walk this morning, just around the neighborhood. We took the double stroller, and Spence got off and on at his leisure -- picking up sticks and rocks, "feeding" leaves to the ducks in the pond, etc. Natalie kicked her little legs, babbled incessantly, and tried to grab any bushes that were close to the sidewalk. She kept turning around to grin and giggle at me, obviously happy to be on an outing. (Sammie was already at school, and missed out today, too bad.)

As we rounded the last corner before coming home, we could see the big oak tree in front of the house across the street was dropping lots of its leaves. Someone had swept/blown them into a big, long pile along the sidewalk. Here's the tree, I actually took a picture of it a few days ago, for my dad (who thought it was a "remarkable" tree when he was here -- "so big!") ...

 The leaf piles around the tree looked so fun, as we got closer, I spontaneously decided to sit right down in the middle of the pile. Spencer caught on and started tramping through them. Natalie watched us from her stroller, giggling and reaching for any leaves I threw toward her. Finally, I got her out and let her sit in the leaves, too. She loved it. They both looked so cute, and were having so much fun.We were so close to home, I decided to go get the camera, so we could capture the moment -- and maybe the feeling -- on film. First shot says it all...

Spence was having a little snoozer...

Showing Mommy her pretty leaves (and prettier eyes, and adorable piggy tails)...

Buried boy...

 Nattie, looking up, pointing (which she hardly ever does, and I didn't really catch it on the camera very well)...

Here's what she was looking at, in all its red-brown glory...

Tramping, tromping, smashing, stomping...

Closely examining...

Climbing the wall to sit on top, then jump of (notice the shoes on the wrong feet -- I pointed it out to him before we left the house and he told me, "It will be okay like this, Mom.")...

 Giggling together...

Reveling together...

Trying to move to a new spot (unsuccessfully -- she kept heading toward the road)..

Ooooh... another pile, just across the street. Maybe we'll head to THAT one tomorrow!

Actually, in our neighborhood, they have these guys who come blow all the leaves out of peoples' yards and pile them up along the street or sidewalk, as pictured. I'm not sure if home owners pay for the service, but they even did our house, without saying a thing to us. We've wondered what they do with the huge piles -- would love to see the giant leaf vacuum guys come around and suck them up! We're also wondering if they'll come blow our leaves again in a few weeks, when the REST of the leaves are down. Who knows?!

Anyway, it was a fun morning. Samantha was sorry she missed it, so we went again this afternoon (but forgot the camera). We'll probably go again in the morning, so she can have her moment to pose for some pics. If you haven't crunched some leaves this fall, I highly recommend it; it's hard not to smile and feel like a kid, and definitely something to smile about! Welcome, Autumn!!