Fall is Pumpkin and Apple Time

Like the rest of the country, fall time in Alabama means pumpkins are everywhere.  The many new and unusual varieties this year were fun to see and we got a couple of strange ones in addition to a few normal orange ones, including a pale Long Island Cheese (good for baking, evidently), some kind of white pumpkin that was not fun to carve, and a blue pumpkin that was even worse for carving.  For a while I considered getting a large one just for fun.  But Calvin always picked out the smaller pumpkins, ones that he could lift and carry, ones that were just his size.

Posing with the giant pumpkins at the local farm stand (Oct 8).  We went home with a small orange baking pumpkin instead.

Fall also brings apple season.  When a group of other Air Force spouses were heading out to a local orchard for a morning of apple-picking, Calvin and I joined them. 

At the apple orchard, Oct 17.

It ended up being too rainy to actually go out and pick apples, but we got a couple of boxes of just-picked golden delicious and have been enjoying them ever since.  I've made apple sauce, apple butter, apple pancakes, apple bread, apple oatmeal cookies (a failed experiment), and two batches of apple cider.  We still have a drawer full of apples in our fridge.  Maybe two boxes was too many, but they are delicious.

We have been enjoying a wonderfully mild fall this year - a benefit to living in Alabama!  Warm temperatures stuck around until late last month, and we are just now getting some fall color.  I still have a tomato plant in a pot in the backyard that is happily growing tomatoes, and a few potato plants that hopefully will provide something for us to collect before it starts getting too cold.  Will it get too cold for potatoes?  I'm not really sure.  The bugs are still chomping away at my herbs and tomato plant leaves, though - I figured they would stop by now and got lax on inspections.

For a while I was worried the fall color would miss us (I don't remember the trees changing color in Florida, and I wasn't sure if we were far enough south to have green trees all year or not), but now the trees are in full display.  Beautiful.

Our favorite places: The Montgomery Zoo

Another of our favorite places to visit is the Montgomery Zoo.  This small zoo is only about 15 minutes away, and with season passes it is an easy place to go for a quick outing before lunch or a stop on our way home from errands in Montgomery. 

Three African elephants at the Montgomery Zoo.

Pretending to be an elephant.

Big stomps, big trunk, big elephant.

We'll usually cover a third to half of the zoo on a visit, though sometimes we head straight to the playground, seeing only the tigers and rhinos on the way. 

A ferocious beast at the playground!

On the big slide.

Several times we have picnicked at the zoo, and we almost always ride the small train. 

Together on the train.

Since the zoo is so small, the limited space given to the animals is a bit less than I wish it was, but it is well maintained, the exhibits look natural, and the animals seem happy and active.  Best of all, we are able to get very close to the animals, there never is a line to get in, never a crowd to wade through to see the animals, and often times no one else at all on the shady paths that circle the "continents" of animals.  The lions and tigers perk up when we walk by, the mountain lions walk a little closer and meow when we approach, while the Canadian lynx nervously take a few steps back.  The female rhino recently had a baby, and the two prehistoric-looking animals are so close to us while they nap in their shade or nurse in the sun that we can see the wrinkles on their tough skin.  We sometimes feed a special straw to the giraffes from cups, their long black tongues expertly pulling the food up from Calvin's double-gripped offering.  The bison wander a grassy plain with caribou and other North American grassland animals, while another grassy area is filled with antelope, a pygmy hippopotamus, Kudu, and other African grassland animals.  All while exploring this zoo, we feel like we have it to ourselves.  Sometimes other people will pass by, and usually there will be a few other kids at the playground, but never have I needed to park anywhere other than the very first row, mere steps from the entrance.

spelling

Tonight at dinner Calvin started spelling something.  "s-g-t-m-v-a-b-c." he said matter-of-factly in his almost constant stream of chatter. 
Bryan and I paused and looked at him.  "What does that spell, kiddo?" asked Bryan.
"Snake!" said Calvin.  Then he spelled it again.  "s-s-s-r-r-r-r-t-t-t-u-u-u-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v.  Snake."

Our favorite places: The Montgomery Museum of Fine Art

One of our favorite places to go is the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art.  They have a fantastic children's art space where kids can play in a variety of super-creative ways, from building blocks and light filters and shadows to printing and drawing and computer art programs to manipulative/interactive versions of real art in the museum.  We easily spend hours just playing; it is probably the most requested destination for Calvin.  I love it!

These magnetic shapes are so much fun to build.  Bryan and I can't help but build our own structures while Calvin works on his own.  Here Calvin is building a tower crane.  Face painting courtesy of Michael's Arts and Crafts kid-craft project earlier that morning.  We were having an artsy day!

Building tower cranes with daddy, complete with operator cab and counterweight.

Calvin is painting with watercolors during an art class on another visit to the museum.

Making a tall, tall tower.  We always end up at the magnetic shape table.

There really is a lot more to this museum than the magnetic shapes, but this is evidently the only thing we take pictures of.  Calvin and I have both taken classes at the museum, and we have explored the exhibits outside of the children's art space a little - I hope to see more soon.  I am so happy to have such a fantastic art museum so nearby!

sandwiches

One day Bryan and I were sitting together on the couch when Calvin walked over, asked us what we were doing, and squeezed himself in between us.

"Oh look," I said "its a Calvin sandwich!"  To which Calvin responded by squirming out and moving to the outside with me in the middle.

"Ha ha ha, now its a mommy sandwich!"  We all giggled a little and snuggled in tight, loving the family moment.  Then I heard a quiet "yum yum yum" from my son.  This of course was followed by a "blah!  Mommy's back."