Fall Is In The Air

Have I told you  I really love fall?  It's my favorite season.  Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte.  Flag Football.  Cool weather.  Leaving changing colors.  Sweatshirts.  Did I hit all the wonderful fall things? 

This is the second season my son has played flag football.  He has really enjoyed it.  He is a tad smaller than most of the other guys, but he's pretty quick.  So far his team has only lost one game.

Okay, this has nothing to do with fall, but it happened yesterday.  A while ago, my daughter purchased a Disney John Smith and Pocahontas doll.  While she was playing with them, John's leg snapped off.  She put it away and hasn't played with it since.  The officer decided to try to screw the leg on so she could play with it.  Out came the power tools.  This is where my son enters the story. 

"Hey dad, why don't we put a Bionicle leg on John?  I think I can build one!", my son exclaims.  The officer replies, "Can you build one the same size as his leg?  Try it!" 

Viola....

Back in 2004, the officer, his dad and our friend, Matt, built an awesome two-phase playground in the backyard.  The kids played on that playground for many years.  This year, we got a trampoline.  We didn't have room for both in our backyard, so the decision was made to tear down the playground so we could put up the trampoline.

They have not regretted the decision.  The kids have thoroughly enjoyed the trampoline.  They've been working on perfecting the front flip.  Last night, my son finally landed it.  Then he landed again and again.

Sunday night when we put the trampoline up, the kids really wanted to sleep on it.  However, possible Oklahoma storms put the kibosh on that idea.  We had to move the trampoline again the fence and put sandbags on the legs.  With winds up to 60 miles an hour, we were really hoping we had a trampoline in the morning.  Fortunately, it was still there and intact the next morning.  Last night, the weather was perfect with lows only in the 50s.  The kids got their mummy sleeping bags out and put their sweats on.

I wasn't sure if they would make it all night long.  I wasn't sure if Jetta would try to hop onto the trampoline.  I was nervous because they were out there all night long by themselves.  The officer was nervous because the back door was unlocked.  So I opened the windows in my bedroom and opened the blinds so I could see them.  I did not sleep well.  I kept waking up and checking on them.  

However, they were fine.  I tried to not be all "GO TO SLEEP!" mom because I was so tired.  I heard a lot of giggling.  I saw someone running around the yard.  I saw glowsticks being thrown around.  I saw a headlamp continuously sweeping across the yard and shine into our bedroom.  I heard the springs of the trampoline squeaking.  I heard lots of talking. I heard some crying.  I heard the dogs walking back and forth and their tag jingling because the kids were in the backyard.  I know memories of a fun fall evening sleeping on their trampoline under the stars was being made, so I relaxed and enjoyed all the sights and sounds.  They slept outside all night long.  They got cold, but they made it.  My son woke up at 6:40 a.m. to come use the restroom, but then went back outside and laid there until sister woke up.  They came in around 7:20 a.m.

Lastly, a couple of days ago when I was jogging, I started to notice all the leaves that are starting to fall onto the ground.  They are starting to change colors.  On my last lap, I was wondering how many shades there were so I picked some up.  I found all the wonderful, brilliant colors of fall.  

And then I was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise.  In a couple of weeks, daylight savings will happen and I won't see too many of these sunrises so I'm enjoying them now. 

So many reasons fall is my favorite time of the year!