Good golly, October was full. Birthdays and skydives and a trip to Paris (someday I’ll get those pics up on the blog!), leaves galore, and some hardcore Halloween-ing.
Our morning walk (or bike) to school has been chilly as of late, but I’m loving that crunchy sound of leaves under foot (or tire).
I headed to the Arboretum on a drizzly Friday for some me-time and wandered among the golds and browns and reds – this place is an October staple in my Fall folio.
The Japanese garden across the street was nearly empty due to the rain, so I pulled up the hood of my rain jacket and took advantage of the quiet. I haven’t been here for years, as the parking lot is chock-full on sunny Fall weekends.
These. Colors.
It was clear from this tree that I missed “peak” foliage, but no matter. If only it were sunny…
And the next day it was! Shane, Juliette and I found ourselves with an open Saturday afternoon and headed right back out to the Arboretum for more leaf-peeping.
“Autumn Jules”:Â I love her.
Jack and La Verne treated Shane and I to a very special meal at Archipelago in Columbia City for our birthdays at the end of the month. We filled half the seats in this 8-person restaurant and relished every course, each of which came with a heartfelt origin story from the chef.
Ah, and Halloween! So good this year! Juliette loved pumpkin-carving…
And decorating the mantle with the few glittery owls and spiders that we picked up from the dollar store.
A guy down the street spent the entire week before Halloween carving pumpkins and we walked by there nearly every day to check on his progress. 107 pumpkins all-in!
Juliette found a bumble bee headband, wings and skirt at the dollar store back in September when we were buying supplies for her birthday party and asked if she could please be a bee for Halloween. Cheers to the cheapest, easiest costume EVER! She got all decked out for her school’s annual Monster Mash on a Friday night and had a blast fluttering down the halls and around the gym with her buddies.
And the main event! The October 31st festivities kicked off with Juliette playing a little ditty for a small crowd of kids at the community center where she takes piano lessons.
We darted home to eat a quick bite, do a little face paint, and then snap the obligatory porch pics.
Shane busted out his Matt Cain jersey and dressed up as Giant. In jeans.
And no shoes. Thanks for trying, though, hon.
Juliette buzzed outside the moment she saw neighbor kids emerging from their houses, eager to get her trick-or-treat on.
Let’s do this!
Our neighborhood felt so friendly and festive, with decorations on most porches and everyone stopping to compliment each other’s costumes.
Ok, this house hardly screamed “friendly”, but hey, they had candy!
And now our pumpkins have gone squishy and been thrown in the compost bin. Juliette’s trick-or-treating loot is gone (sweet kid donated all but 10 pieces of it to her school’s candy drive for the troops). The owls and spiders are tucked into storage. Happy November. 16th. !!!
