Living at the foot of beautiful mountain ranges for decades, we are used to absorbing the palette of fall colors from the valley floor. Scrub oak changes quickly and, before we knew it, the colors were gone. Here in Madison, the experience is quite different. We're surrounded by a variety of mature trees, changing at different times from green to the trees' choice of yellow, red, orange, or a combination thereof. Leaves fall in droves from the huge trees, until most are suddenly bare. The preparations for winter have begun. The geese, however, are optimistic in their migration, as many still float in chilly Lake Mendota.
The girls have loved playing in the leaves, finding pumpkins, and watching their favorite trees undress their coats of leaves.
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| Lots'o'leaves |
This time of year is Beebs' birthday, so we drag out Halloween and birthday time for a good 10+ days. Jess wanted a princess cake, as usual, so Lisa got creative and constructed this:
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| She still doesn't know how to blow. Mostly moisture. |
And these witch fingers:
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| Those lasted, oh, 5 minutes. They're basically an excuse to buy Swedish Fish, a fat-free food. |
Almost 1 week later, we're still eating this cake. Yum.
For her birthday celebration, we went to
Ella's Deli here in Madison. Absolutely fun for the kids. The ceiling and walls are covered in motorized gizmos and gadgets, the favorites of which were a yellow submarine, juggling clowns, trapeze artists, Spiderman, and countless others. Jess loved her sundae, and couldn't wait to go on the yellow horse on the merry-go-round.
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| A view of some of the motorized goodies. |
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| Such a nerd. She loves to make weird faces. Hmmm. |
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| Such a cute back of the head. |
We carved one of our little pumpkins, but its face only lasted 1 night outside. We suspect crows or chipmunks. Little fetchers.
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| This was Kate's drawing for the above Jack-O-Lantern. |
Our community center sponsored a "Wisconsin Day," featuring the best the state has to offer. We saw owls, snakes, cows, and ate yummy bratwurst, pumpkin ice cream, and a selection of Wisconsin cheeses and wild rice. We also had a surprise visit from this guy:
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| Woody the owl. |
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| Monty the Python. No, for real. |
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| Lots of people w/o personal space requirements. |
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