Fall....the Best Season of All

As I've gotten older I find my seasonal preferences shifting from fun in the sun to crisp fall days.

My favorite season when I was younger was summer by far.   I craved hot summer days.  I would lather up with Hawaiian Tropic Oil ,lay out back on a lounger and bask in the golden sun. 

Nowadays that same sun causes me to cringe in fear.  Somehow in the last few years the sun has become my enemy.  The heat and humidity effect my body in ways I still don't understand.  It dehydrates me, makes my body weak and shaky and blackness closes in.  So now I'm extremely careful going out to enjoy a summer's day.

However, fall is cool and filled with beautiful ever changing colors.  I love experiencing these changes with my family.

We enjoy walking and taking in the breathtaking reds, oranges and yellows surrounding us.

I love the smell of leaves burning.  I love staring into the dancing flames.  It's invigorating.

We have our fall traditions.  We start with apple pucking in late September.  Then we decorate the house inside and out for fall.  Finally we head to a local farm to pick out pumpkins.  We drink hot apple cider and eat dense apple cider donuts.  We trail through hay and corn mazes.  We take hayrides into the pumpkin fields.

After all the pumpkin field fun we take our pumpkins home to carve.  Carving is so much fun.  The kids deliberate on how to proceed.  Will they go free style?  Use a stencil?  Or use the plastic cut out pieces to pierce the pumpkin skin, trace and then cut the shapes out?

Then Halloween arrives.  The kids dress up and excitedly run door to door for Halloween goodies before hitting the wall of exhaustion.  We finish the night off at our local ice cream stand.  Halloween night is their final hoorah before shutting down for the season.  Free ice cream for all!

Before I know it October is over and Thanksgiving is on its way.  Before long it'll be winter.

Winter...please hold off as long as you can.  I want to enjoy the crisp fall days before they turn brutally cold.