The Aspens

I LOVE fall for so many reasons one being the beautiful colors that brighten the landscape in October. We did the "Aspen Vista" Hike--a must-do in the Santa Fe area the first part of the month. The trail was an old logging road so we took the jogging stroller for a change of pace. It was as if we were walking in a sea of yellow with the aspens at their peak. Sasha particularly enjoyed the picnic lunch at the halfway point.

Early October

It seems that every daily routine now Sasha wants to "do it by myself" including washing hands (she would do it 50 times a day if I let her), buckling her seatbelt, carrying dishes to the sink, putting pants on, etc. It's tempting to get impatient and take over, but I'm trying let her do these things as much as possible. It has also been so nice this week that she has caught on to saying "Thank you, Mommy/Daddy" unprompted and appropriately. Not that I need to be thanked for doing anything for her, but it's just nice to hear.

We have had the most beautiful fall weather this year--clear blue skies and temps. in the 60s/70s every day. We've enjoyed lots of good hikes after work during the week and on weekends.

We woke up at 4:15 am one Saturday a couple of weeks ago to attend the Annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. It's the biggest festival of it's kind and they launched about 1,000 hot air balloons at the same time--truly one of the neatest things I've witnessed. It was a great age to take Sasha as she really was excited by all they crazy shaped balloons and it was neat to walk amongst all the balloons on the field as they were being launched.

Fall Color

One of my friends is starting up a business of her own: designing and sewing children's clothing and we got one of her hot off the machine outfits for this winter. Sasha was in a little photo shoot for her trunk show earlier this day and we were inspired to do a little informal photo shoot of our own in front of our house later that day. The yellow aspen trees and chamisa (the yellow flowers below that grow along all the roads in S.F.) were at their peak last week. Gorgeous!

September

We ventured down to Albuquerque for the State Fair. Sasha got her fill of farm animals and Phil and I got our fatty fair food fix for the year. We were surprised how similar New Mexico's State Fair was to Indiana's--just some green chile items on the menus is all.

The weather has been lovely the last couple of weeks. It's just a pleasure to spend time outside our house kicking balls, shoveling stones, looking for geckos, and climbing rock walls.

Phil definitely plays the roll of good cop when it comes to feeding Sasha. He loves to give her sweet treats which lately has included Diet Coke in a big girl cup with a straw. On an unrelated note, but worth mentioning, I haven't had to change a poopy diaper for over a week now. No, Sasha is not constipated, she's almost potty-trained! I will not be sad to put those cloth diapers away.