Celebrating Fall

This first picture has nothing to do with the rest of the post, but we had to get it in here.  Christina's mom just sent out a few boxes of things from her childhood (all of which are going over SO successfully with the girls - what is old is new again!).   This dress is one Christina wore often, and it was so fun to see it on Clara today!

You won't see it in any other pictures, because it was definitely a cool fall day.  We bundled up in fleece and got outside to have a great time.  We went to one of the (regretfully, last) Farmer's Markets of the season and stocked up on locally grown potatoes, onions, and apples  Our wagon runneth over!    Later in the day, we took the girls to an autumnal party at the farm where we used to have a CSA share.

Clara pet a friendly dog (Rowdy) who was guarding the ponies giving rides.

Elena was radiant in her riding gear - this girl loves a horse like nothing else.

Clara, on her turn around the field on Jenny.

And Lena on her pass through on Frosty.

They loved it so much we got in line again to take a second ride.  We got to THE FRONT of the line (literally the very next person to get on) and the girls volunteering said that the party was ending and the people in line would be the last ones to get rides.  As she went through the crowd telling people this we asked again if Clara and Elena were still okay to ride, and she said yes.  You can guess what happened next - they decided no more rides AT ALL.  Likely, you can also guess what followed - tears and tears and tears.  We couldn't blame them - all that waiting, and twice promised that they could ride.  Harumph.

Still, we had lots of fun in between the two rides.  We had fresh pressed cider, and it was absolutely delicious.

We went to see the different leaves that fell from different trees at the farm.

We swung on the swings.

We picked out pumpkins (even though we'd already bought some earlier, as you know from the previous post.  Clara couldn't resist, so Christina couldn't either!).

On our way out from the party (sobbing, remember) we saw a huge yellow schoolbus parked in front, with no one but the driver in it.  The girls are transfixed with busses in general; they always point them out.  We asked if we could check out the bus, and luckily the driver said yes!

Such a wacky face here - but they both loved it.  We couldn't get them off!

We finished up the afternoon running around in a field together, which is always a fun thing for Elena and Clara.  Something about all that green grass makes them run with abandon, and we can't help but join in.  They've had the same reaction often on the baseball field near our house - so soccer, baseball, softball - these could definitely be in our future.