Fall

The leaves are falling and the air has cooled a ton....it's Fall, it crept up on us while we were away in Oregon.      It is most definitely my favorite season, but it's also the end before Winter comes and Max is stuck in the house and I have to be more creative with inside activities and outings that will stimulate him.  Max is like a puppy he loves to get in the car and drive places, unfortunately with gas prices that's a little hard these days.  I remember when he was a baby we are always on the move and we would go to my Dad's to help him out two to three times a week, followed by lunch of course.  Then when Grandma Boots moved here we were visiting her two times a week just to make sure she hadn't burned down her apartment and she was still alive.  Today we have become homebodies, which is good, carting two kids around can be exhausting and I prefer going to the store by myself when Jake is home.

Oregon was very pleasant while we were there.  The sun was out and there was very little rain and the fog bank only came out once.  Max loved all the space there was for him to run around outside and he especially loved the chickens......he wanted to feed them all the time and when I say "feed" I mean through dirt and rocks at them.  I think he would have been content being out there all day if we let him.  He read books most of the day and played on the beach.  Unfortunately, Tyler and Ashley had seminary and school, and Barb and Ralph had work.  But we still had fun.  Max had a lot of fun and Dex was really good the whole trip.  but getting home was great.  I felt like I was drowning about 2 months after Dex was born, but getting away for a little bit helped me out.  

My low point of the trip was on the way there.  We decided at the last minute to leave on Thursday night, thinking the kids would sleep the whole time and we would be able to have an easier ride.  Wrong.  Well, Dex slept like a champ the whole night only waking up at 12 to eat and then 7 in the morning.  Max was extremely difficult and car sick.  He was confused about how long the trip was going to be.  He couldn't wait to get in the car and go to Oregon, but after about an hour he was complaining how he wanted to go home, and he was so tired.  He was completely confused and then car sick.  I think he finally fell asleep around 3 AM and then he would wake up every half hour to vomit.  It was awful   I hit a breaking point and told Jake I was never driving back to the coast again, and while we were driving there I was dreading making the drive back 5 days later.  But the drive back was so much better.  We gave max some Dramamine ahead of time, every 6 hours and we also moved his car seat in the middle of the back instead of on the end.    We also drove a different route, this time through Idaho.  It was probably an hour longer than the way we drove to get to Oregon, but it was less windey and we didn't feel like we were always in the middle of no where. If you don't already know, you are not allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon, people do it for you.  I almost panicked when we were driving through a small town at 4 in the morning and only had a 1/4 of a tank of gas left and all the stations were closed.  In most states you can pump gas whenever you want and just swipe your debit card, but not in Oregon.  I thought we were gonna have to pullover and just sit in the car.  But we found a station and the manager was smart to open cause the customers were pulling in left and right.

Halloween was fun for Max.  He would talk about his scarecrow costume all the time, but would only let me put it on him.  I think we had three engagements total that required him to wear a costume.  he looked so cute but rarely would wear the hat.  Dexter was a gentleman.  He wore a little tuxedo onesie and we drew a mustache on his face.  He loved all the attention.  as always.