New Fall Traditions

One of the hardest parts of moving is learning to let go of beloved traditions (especially surrounding holidays) and making space in my heart for new routines.   

Normally, this time of year, we'd be heading up to Apple Hill to pick apples and frolic on a bunch of farms.  This year, Apple Hill was too far.  So instead we joined some friends on a trek to an apple farm in Petaluma.  The drive was lovely, the frolicking was fun, and the apples...delicious.  Change is okay.  New experiences can make for fun memories too (repeat to self over and over). 

Nicolas, Riley and their new buddy Judah racing down the hay bales

Me and my cutie pies

We picked four different kinds of apples.  All yummy.  We even found some called "Jonah Free" apples!

Another thing I'm missing this time of year is our annual Pumpkin Carving Party for the kids on our old street.  I loved this tradition because it was such a fun and easy way to build community with our neighbors.  I thought about hosting a similar party at our new place with our new neighbors but somehow it didn't seem like the right timing for that.  Then, I saw a poster advertising an event at our neighborhood park - an afternoon of making Scare Kids.  What Fun!  We invited our next door neighbors (to the right and behind) and together, we all walked down to the park on Sunday afternoon for a completely wonderful afternoon of creating ScareKids.    

Everyone was told to bring old clothes that their kids had grown out of.  Some fabulous volunteers (neighbors!) brought the rest of the supplies and organized the whole thing.  The kids had so much fun making them!

Our group.  EZ is Jonah's age.  EJ is Nicolas and Riley's age.  Thank you God for putting boys the SAME AGE as my kids right next door and behind us!

EJ is quickly becoming part of our family.

When we were done making Scare Kids, we stayed and played for awhile at Maxwell Park.  The Prinz family even joined up with us for playtime, which spilled over into impromptu dinner back at our place.

New fall traditions are being made.  Joys are coming our way in all sorts of surprising ways.