It’s Beginning to Look A lot Like…

Fall!

Oh, how I love Fall! It’s by far my favorite season.

I love the coziness and slight chill in the air.  Though, in San Diego that means highs in the 70s instead of the 80s and 90s, but whatever, it’s cooler!

I love when football begins, so we can cheer on the Dolphins and enjoy our Sunday routine of church, followed by brunch at home in front of the game.  So much fun!

I love our annual trip to the pumpkin patch at Bates Nut Farm!  I’m used to checking the weather and praying for cozy coolness for several days ahead of time.  Hot weather kind of kills the boot and scarf and sweater outfit I always want to wear.

I love the autumn wreath that we always hang on our front door.

I love the fall flavors and making pies.  For several years, the annual pie auction at our church preschool was a highlight of the season.  I don’t mind telling you that I was really disappointed when this event was cancelled last year.  Still, fond memories of making my Whiskey Chocolate Pecan Pie and the fun of having folks bid against each other for it!

I love making pumpkin pancakes, which are delightfully easy to make paleo for me.  With some toasted pecans and a drizzle of real maple syrup.  Delicious!

I love Thanksgiving and the traditions of the day.  We start with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with breakfast.  I’ll cook most of the day, while football is viewed and perhaps tossed around in the backyard, then we’ll feast in the late afternoon.  Finally, we watch Home Alone while eating our pumpkin pie.  It’s the best, but it’ll be hard to top last year, when my sister and her family came to visit!  That was truly the best.

I love going up to Julian during the fall. It’s this quaint, old mining town in the mountains east of San Diego.  We try to make it up each year for apple picking. This year just Dennis and I are going up there to celebrate our wedding anniversary!  We’ve always wanted to spend the night in Julian.  So, we’re taking this opportunity to spend one night and then hang out all day on our anniversary, which is a Monday this year.  It’ll be fun to explore the town with less of a crowd!

I love wearing boots and scarves.  I have a ridiculous number of scarves for someone who lives in San Diego.  So, daily scarf wearing in the fall helps justify the closet space they take up!

I love watching Teo play soccer!  Tomorrow’s the second game of the season, and it’s so fun to watch him and his buddies play.  After coaching T-Ball in the spring, I know several of his soccer teammates quite well, so it’s extra fun to cheer for the team.  At their first game last week, they discovered that the field was significantly bigger than last year.  It was an adjustment, for sure.  Time for some conditioning practice!

I love our neighborhood Halloween traditions of meeting at one house for a pre-party and then trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  It’s so fun to see all the creative costumes!

I love carving pumpkins!  I pretty much do the same jack-o-lantern face every year, so it’s like meeting an old familiar friend.  We’ve now learned to carve them a day or two before Halloween or else they’ll rot and literally melt on our front step.  That was never an issue growing up in Humboldt County!

I love our church’s annual Oktoberfest celebration!  We have amazing German food and beer, while enjoying fellowship with our church family.  This year is going to be extra special since it falls on Reformation Sunday, and… it’s the 500th anniversary of the Reformation!  Truly amazing to think how much the world has changed thanks to Martin Luther’s insight into the gospel and grace through Christ alone.

I love pumpkin spice flavor, be in in lattes, muffins, cookies, whatever.

As you can see from this post, another thing to love about fall is looking back on pictures of our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  It’s so cool to watch the kids grow through the years as they pose in front of piles of beautiful orange pumpkins.  Looking forward to adding to the collection of pumpkin photos with my big kids this year!