Cooler Days

After having near perfect weather for about the first 8 weeks of living here, fall decided to not only roll in, but kind of fast-forward to late fall weather. The last 2 weeks we've had many days of gray skies and highs in the 40's. It's been quite a shift to go from wearing shorts a couple of weeks ago to having to deal with gloves, extra layers, and over last weekend, even our winter coats. Yes, last weekend we had our first snowfall of the year--1.5 inches on October 10! It melted quickly, but it was still surreal to wake up to a blanket of snow so early in the year. The sun is out today, with temps forecasted for the 50's and 60's over the weekend, so it looks like a nicer, gentler version of fall has returned (for now).

We have been busy with our usual pursuits, but we did manage to get out of town ( first time since August for me and the kids!) 2 weeks ago for a weekend camping trip with some good friends of ours from Sioux City. We met in between at Wilson Island State Park, just outside of Council Bluffs, IA. We had a great time despite the unseasonably cold temperatures. Our friends have kids the same ages as ours, so they love to play together. We had a couple of campfires, lots of good food and lots of good conversation. We had to pack every blanket in the house--the second night got down to about 39 degrees--but we stayed toasty in our tent at night. I would post pictures, but we forgot to take the camera on the trip. It probably didn't matter--I wouldn't have wanted to take my gloves off to snap pictures anyway :-)

The week after that, Cliff had his first travel experience with the Cornhusker Marching Band--a Thursday evening game at Missouri in a downpour of rain. Despite the sogginess, he had a great time and saw the Huskers pull off a monster comeback in the 4th quarter. Two days later, he was outside all day (the day of the snow) judging a marching band contest here in Lincoln. Needless to say, he enjoyed spending that Sunday in his warm sweats.

The kids are still doing great. Laura loves school. She has learned lots of songs, safety tips (crosswalks, police officers, etc.), all about apples and several 3-D shapes. She likes to identify objects in the house as cones, cubes and spheres. Nathan is a word MACHINE these days, adding at least 1-2 new words to his vocabulary every day. Some of his cutest are "beep-a" (paper), "dee-dee" (cookie), "Kinko's" (yes, the copy store), "bitty" (blankie), and "buh" (bus)-which he exclaims with total excitement whenever he spots a school bus.

I am keeping busy with my water classes (6 per week), and I really, really love being home the rest of the time taking care of the kids and the house. We are all looking forward to Cliff's fall break 4-day weekend this weekend for some quality family time.

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the fall!

Gina