So what do you do when the world has drastically changed right before your eyes? You carry on the best that you can, and find ways to still make life fun. We were sad to see the summer come to an end knowing that as the weather cooled down it would be harder to find ways to pass the time. Luckily we were still able to do many of the fun fall activities we look forward to each year. First up, was our annual visit to our favorite fall festival. The corn maze with the Halloween blow-ups is always a hit with the girls.
This year they expanded the festival to include more activities. I think everyone has been so desperate to do things that people were going above and beyond to make things fun, especially for kids. With so many things not taking place this year, we were grateful to be able to go to this festival.
We also love to visit the dairy farm. And this year being forced to wear masks while there wasn't such a bad thing. It definitely helped to mask the smell! The girls got to paint pumpkins, tackle an obstacle course, and of course learn all about cows and how they make the milk.
I think the highlight for all of us was getting to pet the baby calf. The sweet thing just laid there while we all loved on it. Beyond sweet! Once again the dairy farm did not disappoint.
We waited a little too long to go apple picking this year, so our favorite orchard had already shut down their u-pick hours. We did manage to find another little orchard that still had some apples left on their trees. We may not have gotten as many as we normally would, but we got some and and the girls had fun!
With Halloween quickly approaching we had to find time to carve pumpkins and make Halloween cookies! My Mom hosted the girls and Olivia's friend Sara for a Halloween themed evening so they could do all things Halloween. Their cookie decorating and pumpkin carving skills were top notch, and the finish products were impressive.
Todd's brother Barry had his annual Halloween party, giving the girls another chance to dress up. This year Cece opted to be a simple witch. It was easy, and I was grateful for that. Olivia went with Harry Potter, and even coordinated with her cousin, Ella for the party. Fun times!
The Fall can produce some gorgeous weather, and on one particularly beautiful day the girls decided to walk around the neighborhood and take some photos. The leaves were so vibrant, which made for some stunning photos of my ladies!
Finally, all of the fun fall activities lead up to the ultimate event...Trick or Treating! Halloween had arrived and Cece was excited. Olivia had a better offer and was off to her friend Sara's house to trick or treat and hang out. Normally Cece would be disappointed, but she had her friend Beatrice come over and walk around the neighborhood with us.
The girls were on a mission to collect as much candy as possible. We were worried what trick-or-treating would look like in the world of COVID, but luckily many people still participated. The cool thing was that most people were handing out more candy since there maybe weren't as many trick-or-treaters as normal. It ended up being another successful Halloween!
Up next, Olivia's 14th birthday! Yes...14!!! Olivia and her best friend, Sara have birthdays a few days a part and they had plans to have a small birthday party with some close school friends. It was set to be an outdoor party at Sara's house but unfortunately, a few days before the party Sara's brother tested positive for COVID so the party was off. They were all so disappointed and I felt terrible as they were really looking forward to it. That definitely didn't stop us from celebrating our girl! A homemade dinner of her choice, gifts and a chocolate cake and my girl was happy! It may not have been the birthday celebration she was hoping for, but we did all we could to still make it special. Plus, the party would happen eventually...just in a much different way.
Our fall continued to produce beautiful weather. Some unseasonably warm weather, in fact. We were grateful for this as we were dreading the winter, knowing that we would be stuck inside with the world still being held hostage with Coronavirus. So, on warm fall days the girls get outside and enjoy every second. It that means you throw fall leaves in the air while wearing shorts in November...then by all means do it!
Before we knew it we found ourselves celebrating Thanksgiving! Not how we expected this holiday to play out this year. Olivia was supposed to be on a class trip to Panama. Obviously that was postponed until next year. We would also be preparing to perform at the Embassy Festival of Trees. Although the festival took place, no performances were allowed this year. We kicked off the holiday like we always do though...decorating for Christmas. We actually started this a few weeks earlier this year because the holidays bring joy, and lord know we all need as much of that as we can get these days!
We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving pretty normally. We usually just go to my Mom's, so COVID wasn't able to mess up that tradition. We had turkey and all of the fixings. On top of that, Olivia made an apple pie. Now, I think Olivia would have rather been spending Thanksgiving in Panama, like originally planned, but hopefully she will get the chance to go this year.
As we entered the cold month of winter I just hoped we wouldn't get stir crazy. The world was still a mess and we were still so limited to what we could do. At least we had the holidays to focus on, and our goal was to make them feel as normal as we possibly could for the girls.
