Suddenly summer is behind us and its fall! We took our last camping trip of the season for Ryan's birthday in September. We drove up to Pismo Beach. It was wonderful and difficult all at the same time. Not having to drive overnight to our destination was wonderful - a 7 hour drive that we thought would only be 5 was difficult. The wide open space to camp on the beach was wonderful - having to listen to all the ORVs all day and night was difficult. The beautiful weather in the morning was wonderful - being cold and trying to keep things from blowing away in the crazy afternoon wind was difficult. But Ryan and I are all about making the most out of situations and being thankful just to be able to get away so we dug a giant sand pit to give us something to do in the morning and to protect the girls from the wind in the afternoon, and collected sand treasures with the girls.
Then I got to go to get away for mine and Venissa's first annual girls trip to Vegas. We have been doing well at keeping up with each other and planning family days or girls dinners every month or two but it still wasn't enough, so we decided to plan a whole weekend together. We flew out from San Diego together (my first time flying to Vegas instead of driving) and partied, shopped, ate and gambled till we dropped. It was just like the good old college days! And Ryan was happy he didn't have to go to Vegas again.
Then in October, using my birthday as an excuse, I booked a weekend in Palm Springs for Ryan and I. Neither of us had ever been. With it being closer, having the tram up to the mountains, but still having that "get away" feeling, I was hoping this might be the perfect compromise for our couples get away spot - since he really dislikes so much about Vegas. Even with crazy traffic on a Friday afternoon it only took us 3 hours to get there, and on the way back with none it was 2. The tram was awesome, and we loved that we were in the dessert then 30 min later hiking in the mountains with the first snowfall of the season all around us. We explored the fine dining of town, and just enjoyed getting away together on our own.
And finally, the hallmark of fall season; Halloween. Rory had decided to be Merida, and we got a cute Carters elephant toddler costume for Abby. Kirstein was in town so my mom, Wayne, and her all came over to trick or treat, and with Skye and Danielle having moved just a few miles south of us, they came over too and we took the kids out. A good time was had by all, even if Axel lost a shoe, Rory ripped off her wig before we even got to the first house, and later took a spill headfirst down the stairs (yelling out "I'm ok!!!" the second she touched ground). It was like correlating cats though the adult to child ratio was 7:4, but we didn't loose any of them and they all went home with more candy than any child under 4 should have.
Then the following weekend we had our annual Halloween party. It's funny how we used to throw these big parties, and 40 people would show up and party until 2 in the morning. I used to make two whole batches of my infamous punch and was lucky if the second one lasted past midnight. Obviously at that time there were no kids. These days its closer to 20 people almost all families, showing up early enough to take a group kid shot outside before it gets too dark, and us seeing out the last remaining (usually childless) guests before midnight. One batch of punch is more than enough (even though I'm always prepared to make a second one - just in case) and an entire room is dedicated to keeping the kids contained.
It seems things change so drastically in just the blink of an eye... but really it is gradual change that happens every moment, hour, day, so that you don't notice until you look back 5 years ago and realize what has occurred. I wonder how I will feel looking back at this time in our lives in another 5 years.
