fall leaves

i've always always been into photography. & exploring on my daily walks.

so combining the 2 is just a blast for me.

especially in autumn. i could take pictures of fall leaves all year round. ya know, if that was possible...

this is the sidewalk to my house. it was gorgeous in the spring & summer & it's incredible now. 

i took these right in my little cul-de-sac.

something has me really extra super crazy titillated this year though:

this little beauty.

early cmas present from the 'rents & i could not possibly, in any form of reality, be more enthused.

¡thank you thank you thank you!

i got many comments/texts/etc that my pics were looking incredible.
thanks but it's the camera.

+ i was on lockdown waiting for siblings to get theirs. :)

sleepy mornings

i'd say a good 25% of the time we share our bed from about 7 until we have to get up.

 our pillow cases aren't usually mismatched. haha long story.

 i love c's lips here.

 ooo & a's too come to think of it. (he'll HATE that.)

 e asked me to take pictures of them "sleeping in a row" so she's faking sleep here.

hahaha i think she's hilarious.

this is what real sleep looks like. girl loves herself some literature. :)

mount vernon bike trail

there is an immaculate paved trail that follows the west bank of the potomac river from the mt vernon estate all the way to theodore roosevelt island.

we met up with some fun friends & started at belle haven to do the middle leg of the trail.

perfect weather for it & just so pretty. a little frustrating to not be able to take pictures at every turn.

we went through an incredible part of old towne into neighborhoods & harbors we hadn't seen.

there were rowers, sailboats, motorboats, fishermen, birds, etc. keeping the river busy.

we could almost constantly see the monuments on this trail. see the tiny capitol building in the center?

next we rode through the unexpected marsh land where the winding wooden boardwalks kept us a safe 6 inches from the swamp.

it was really unique & kind of came out of nowhere.

next we crossed over a huge stone bridge, checked out all the boats at the marina, saw more fishermen, watched some flag football, flew past gorgeous fall leaves, & passed reagan national airport to get to gravelly point park in arlington. somewhere in there i got bit by what we're guessing was a horsefly. i was super confused when it happened because i was a moving target. those suckers are painful!

there's a picnic area with the airport in front & the cityscape behind us.

we watched the planes come in.

until it got too windy.

 

then circled back at our new version of full speed to get some dang lunch. the wind really started to pick up & it about threw me from my bike several times. it was 14-15 miles in total. & today the part that's sore is the swollen bite on my shoulder blade that is big & red & feels like a deep bruise. with no other random mishaps it was a great little saturday afternoon.

artsy pen pals

i adore my nieces & nephews soooo much. each one of them is so unique. i know them so well; i unconditionally love them. i also loved my cousins growing up & still do. i really want my own kids to have that.

my kidlets send & receive fun little kid letters from their cousins via snail mail.

they loooove it! last week ellery destroyed lena's in about a day and a half by carrying it with her everywhere. this is the most recent pic i have of one from lexy. she's the oldest so her pen pal gets some seriously impressive art. :)

& since i'm usually boring about it, it's literally the back of austin's old homework assignment with a scribbled drawing. maybe ellery writes a letter or 2 (that i have to distinguish for the recipient) & we add a tiny note from me in the girls words of what they want to say to lexy, lena, luke or jack.

either way i think it's darling. & i like that it's rare enough that the girls fuh-reak when they get one in the mail.

this time we did something different. i had one apple that was too old to be really good so first we tried apple stamps. fail. i think i just didn't cut it straight enough...

but i'd been hoarding our toilet paper rolls so i did have a plan b.

punkins!

cossette got ticked when ellery started the thumbprint stems. she got a turn too. haha patience child!

we were on such a roll we did a couple extra for hodgman grandparents & us.

i like the thought of 4 little projects a year to put on the bookcase. best start brainstorming/scouring pinterest now. :)

burke lake park

on saturday afternoon, in the greatest weather since we've moved here, we met some friends at burke lake, just down the road from us.

there's a little jungle gym nestled in what seems like the middle of the woods. that's how everything feels here. 2.5 seconds out of the city & you'd swear you were in the rural backcountry. it is so densely filled with these gigantic trees, there's not a building in sight. that right there has to be my favorite part of the dc area.

none of the adults could really figure out what these 2 slopping poles were meant for but miss e adores having daddy around to play.

cossette was a little too good at climbing up the slide,

jellybean wanted to be held up to the monkey bars,

& as always cossette just wanted to keep up.

ellery is not a shy thing. she promptly introduces herself, her age, & her sister's age (the 3 questions she consistently is asked) & then calls to mom that she has a new friend. austin took this picture after her little buddy swung around & accidentally kicked ellery square in the gut, flinging her onto her butt. she cried, looked for us, then rubbed her owies & said "all better!".

then started laughing hysterically again. like, hysterically.

...

we were serenaded the whole time by a charming picnic wedding, in true 1940's jazz fashion. the band was awesome, especially the guy on bass!

we didn't realize until we went exploring that burke lake was roughly 100 yards from the play area. there were so many trees we literally didn't see the water til we were right on the shore.

it was sooo gorgeous!!

i love changing leaves, even if it is a little early in the season for everything to be changing.

we followed this bird for a bit but it was spending more time under the water than on top so it took an attempt or 2 to get a good picture of him.

seriously?! incredible!

hiking around the peninsula

& throwing rocks in the lake.

autumn makes me smile. cossette wasn't as easily impressed but she does love love love the outdoors.

...

they'd live outside if i'd let them. lame mommy just won't have it.