And just like that it was time to start another year of school. Olivia was up first, heading off to start 6th grade at Canterbury Middle School. I am not quite sure how we got here so quickly, but here we are. There is hardly a day that the child hasn't gone to school or come home with a smile on her face. The first day of 6th grade was no exception. I felt good sending my girl off to to start an exciting new year!
Within a few days it was Cece's turn to head off to her first day of 2nd grade. With her two front teeth still working their way in, she was ready to take on a new school year with a huge grin. The change in confidence in this girl in the past two years is tremendous. It's so nice to send her off to her first day of school knowing she is no longer the timid, nervous Cece of a few years ago.
A few weeks after school started the girls participated in a cheer leading camp at our high school alma mater. This is something they have done for a few years and have really enjoyed. They practiced their cheers and stunts during the camp and a short exhibition.
The performance came a few weeks later during one of Snider's home games. The girls cheered for the first two quarters, rooting on the Panthers. They cheered right next to the Varsity squad shouting all of the popular chants. Both Olivia and Cecilia got to do stunts too, mainly because they were some of the smaller girls there. They looked adorable and they had a great time!
As the summer days were winding down we were trying to squeeze in as much pool time as possible. Most of our time was spent at Cherry Hill pool, but on occasion we would head over to Uncle VJs for some private pool time. On this particular day it was just us and the ginormous floaties in the pool. Super fun!
A few days later we celebrated Labor Day and the official closing of Cherry Hill Pool. It had been another summer full of sun, fun and of course, good friends! The girls had a great summer with all of their buddies and the awesome lifeguards. It is always sad to see the pool close, not only because that means no more fun in the sun with friends, but because that means winter is just around the corner! I guess that means it's time to start counting down to next year's opening day!
Even though the kids were now back in school we still tried to visit the zoo a few more times before closing day. Every trip to the zoo is completely different. You never know what animals are going to be active and what you are going to see. It may be the end of zoo season, but there's still the annual Zoo Halloween!
One of our first official events of the Fall was my nephew's wedding. My nephew Eric married his sweet fiance Melissa in a fun outdoor ceremony at the TinCaps stadium. Our local minor league baseball team has a beautiful outdoor stadium and each year they host one outdoor wedding. Eric was lucky enough to secure that spot. It was a fun ceremony surrounded by all of their family and friends!
Next it was onto the reception. The wedding was fun, but the party afterwards was a blast! Everything about the day revolved around baseball, and the reception made you feel like you were at a fun baseball party! We all danced the night away. It was a great family event that allowed everyone to come together, have fun and celebrate a wonderful occasion.
Fall was now in full swing and we were making the rounds to try and hit all of our favorite fall activities. This year we tried something different. We took the girls to the Kuehnert Dairy Farm. This is a local dairy farm that puts on a huge fall festival each year. I am so glad we took the girls because it was great!
Pumpkin decorating, corn pits, obstacle courses, and many cow related activities. I think petting the baby cows was one of the highlights. They were adorable. It wasn't only a fun place to visit, but educational too. The dairy farm was offering tours of their facilities showing us just how the milk was made. It was beyond fascinating!
When the tour was over we got to sample some of the milk the farm produces. It was delicious! I am so glad we took the girls there this year. I think it will get added to the list of our favorite fall traditions.
Our fall traditions continued with a visit to a local pumpkin patch and corn maze. Last year we took Cece here while she was recovering from her ankle injury. She had just started wearing her walking boot, but it was still tough for her to get around. Her favorite activity was just sitting in the corn pit. Well we reenacted that activity, but minus the boot this year...thank goodness!
It was just the three of us last year but this year we all went, even bringing along Olivia's friend Audrey. We weaved our way through the corn maze, finding all of the Halloween blow-ups along the way. The girls climbed huge hay bales and we picked out some small pumpkins in the pumpkin patch. I can't resist a cute little pumpkin patch. Pair that with cute girls and you can't go wrong!
We can't let fall pass without a visit to the apple orchard. Again, this was an activity that was much more challenging last year as we pushed Cecilia around in a wheelchair as she desperately reached for apples from the trees. Thank goodness for quick healing and strong bones. This year we were back to picking apples without any trouble!
It was a chilly day at the orchard, but the apples were still plentiful and of course, delicious! We picked until our bags were full and enjoyed a few apples along the way. It's one of our favorite things to do each year, and one that we can enjoy for weeks to come as we eat the apples we carefully picked.
Halloween was quickly approaching so it was time to start breaking out the costumes. The girls first got to show off their costumes at the Zoo Halloween event. Our free days were limited to squeeze in this activity so we were forced to do it on a rainy day, but that meant no crowds! With umbrellas in hand our veterinarian and hip-hop dancer (lazy costume) walked through the zoo collecting treats and enjoying the elaborate decorations. The rain didn't keep us from still enjoying this annual event.
All of the fall fun leads us up to the big day...Halloween and trick or treating! I was able to convince Olivia to find a more creative costume, so that day we had a hula dancer and Evie from Descendents. (If you don't have a girl between the ages of 6-12 you probably have no idea who Evie is). What I know is that I am super grateful for dance costumes that can be used for Halloween costumes each year!
We had a wonderfully mild day on Halloween, which made trick or treating so pleasant! No heavy coats covering the costumes. No shivering and complaining as they ran from house to house. No, no...they trick or treated until it was pitch black outside and everyone had turned off their porch lights. Once they got home they immediately dumped out their loot to assess just how much candy they had collected. As you can see it was a pretty successful Halloween night!
With fall coming to an end there were so many fun things ahead with the holidays. Fall may bring some of my favorite weather of the year, but the holidays bring some of my favorite family activities of the year! Bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas!
