Rainy Day

Today was rainy, so we all slept in.

It seemed like a good day to visit a museum. And it just so happened to be the Smithsonian's National Museum Day, so admission was free. Hooray! We went with Michelle and Justin.

The lady at the ticket desk told me she didn't think picture taking was allowed inside the museum...but I'm bad, so I decided to chance it and take pictures anyways. But because the museum was so dark, all the pictures ended up looking like this:

But we did get this video!

After the museum we walked over to the library. 

The library had a little market inside with art and books. We looked around. 

And then I saw this!

Pretending to pick John's nose to make him laugh
 since it's hard to hold a laughing pose for 5 minutes. haha! 

And the finished product...

Haha! Not the most flattering portraits, but I love it!

We had a ton of fun, but all good things must come to an end...or must they?

We hung out all lazy like for the rest of the day.

And then John wanted to go to the Apple Store to check out the new iPhone 6 and find out if it's really worth $700 (His conclusion: yes, yes it is. Unfortunately, we don't really have $700 lying around, but if we ever find a $700 bill hidden underneath our couch cushions, we know just what to do with it.) Abram and I watched the fountain outside while we waited for John. 

Our city has a tradition that every Fall for about a week some of the town's best and most expensive restaurants offer special meals for only $30 (including an appetizer, entree, and dessert). $30? Sure, why not?

$90 later we walked out with our bellies filled and our pockets emptied. Haha. We hadn't really calculated parking, taxes, and tips into our final bill, but those medium-rare steaks were totally worth it. 

Autumn Aloft

Every summer when was I young my family and I would go to the Boise River Festival. Pottery vendors, jewelry dealers, scarf embroiderers and cinnamon bakers filled the city parks with colorful kiosks and eager patrons. Local music echoed along the greenbelt while kids splashed in the Ann Morrison Park fountain. As night dimmed, red, yellow, and blue electric parade floats lit up downtown and tumblers and tubas danced through the streets. But every day, before all the festivities and concerts and shopping and parades, even before the sun had fully peaked its head over the rolling foothills, the sky would fill with balloons.

While it was still dark my mom would persuade us, her pajama clad children, into the grey Taurus and drive us up to a city lookout just as the sun crested Treasure Valley. A pink pig, a huge dairy cow, a classic coke bottle, and rainbow of floating orbs took to the heavens and speckled the sky. There was something about leaning up against the road railing wrapped in my Grandma's quilt, watching slow airships sail through the clouds that felt like poetry, but I could never quite find the right word to describe the experience; that is, until I became a teenager. Then I had no trouble at all summing up the annual event into one word. I dubbed it "boring."

And that's when my childhood ended, I suppose.

But then we moved and somehow the tradition of watching balloons launch got lost in the shuffle of life. And then I got older and the worries and stress of adulthood have kept me occupied and I've never quite felt up to the task of waking up early just to watch some silly blimps hang in the air.

But as the radio DJ announced that Park City was bringing back their famous hot air balloon launch, Autumn Aloft, after a 20-year hiatus, I felt a part of me reawaken. Even though I wasn't in Boise, it was as if a very real piece of my identity that had become dormant years before was also coming back after a long hiatus.

I carried my pajama clad baby and persuaded my messy-haired husband into the car on an early Saturday morning and we drove up to Park City. It was a beautiful drive.

Once we drove into the city limits, I searched for balloons, but John noticed something else.

Fog.

What the London? Hazel mist was splashing up against the fence!

We finally found the balloons and there was something almost dreamlike about the whole experience, as if I was reuniting with childhood itself after all these years.

But the green gargoyle and orange pumpkin snapped me out of it.

As I stared at the silly blimps hanging in the air, I thought to myself, "Does this mean I'm 'grown up' now? Is this balloon launch some kind of symbolic metaphor signifying my entrance into maturity and self-acceptance? If it is, then it's a lovely threshold."

But honestly, I don't believe anyone "grows up." I think we are who we are the day we're born, then we forget, and then we remember.  

Saturday Morning with Dad

Every Saturday (early in the morning) John wakes up with Abram.

One morning I woke up and this is what I found:

And then this happened:

I love these two. 

Picking Apples & Pears

One of my favorite traditions since being married is going to my in-law's house to pick apples and pears in September. And when I say tradition...we've only done it once before. We did it the first year we were married, but last year I had a 2 week old baby around harvest time, so we skipped out on the picking. But this year we were back in the game! Except for John. He pretty much works 70-hour weeks these days, poor guy. But I took pictures for him so he could be a part of this fun day.

On a cool September Saturday, early in the morning before the bees came out, my father-in-law (Norris), Abram, and I headed out to the yard to pick fruit. John's folks have a red apple tree, a green apple tree, and a pear tree. We started with the apple trees.

Grandpa Norris and I picked,

while Abram chomped on apples.

As I was picking I noticed something in the tree: 

A bowl? 

I found out that I was picking apples in the "Seconds Tree." My father-in-law, Norris, is a talented potter. Potters all have a "seconds pile" where they throw all their chipped and defected work. Norris decided that instead of having a "seconds pile" he wanted to have a "seconds tree." He places his chipped masterpieces into the tree for all the apple climbers and pickers to discover. Apple picking suddenly turned into a treasure hunt for me.

After we surveyed the apple harvest, we moved onto the pears.

Abram explored the backyard, 

then he helped grandpa pick. 

I stood on a ladder. 

Once we were done picking we went to the kitchen where my mother-in-law, Jo, was prepared to help us preserve the fruit. She is a super woman when it comes to food preservation. She cans, juices, and dries fruit and vegetables all year round for her family. 

First we soaked the fruit in order to force out the worms and earwigs...ew!

Then we cut the fruit.

And then we dried it!

I can't think of a better way to kick off the Fall season than with a harvest! Thank you Grandpa Norris and Grandma Jo for letting us come and enjoy the morning with you!