Fall finally found us...

It was bound to happen :)

Z, watching the rain.

Honestly?  It's a tad relief.  If it was sunny (which it has been, every day, for months) and we were not out, enjoying the sunshine (that I knew would end, that I could feel the impending end of), I felt we were wasting the fall ;)  Silly, yes. Exhausting, totally.

But we've had a lovely few weeks, making merry in the yard or the woods.  And now, we can do the crafts and projects and grey day reading that I had actually started missing.

I've been a bad little blogger (and I don't see that improving much in the near future :)  So here's a gathering of some shots from the last month or so.  Sorry if some are repeats, I can't remember what I've posted and what I've meant to post...

We enjoyed various hikes in Washington Park and Forest Park. Alicia joined us for one hike... that turned into a longer hike... that then morphed into a tour of the Japanese Gardens... and then a roadside picnic... Nothing like wearing out the totally pregnant lady (Sorry, A!)

Z was OBSESSED with the koi.

And attempted to run out into the carefully maintained zen garden.

We visited the Audobon Society, saw some birds, hiked a hike.  (Where Z was a TOTAL toddler disaster.  Dashing off down stairs and trails and then, suddenly, taking off into the ferns at top toddler speed where she flew off of a mini-cliff (about her height) and was actually AIR BORN.  She fell into the soft grass with a tiny thud and was relatively unfazed, but it was enough to upset me;)

We went to the zoo, over and over again.  I forgot my phone, each and every time. Sigh.  Z was unbelievably, adorably excited by the great cats (signing, what else, DOG.)  We took the train ride through the zoo and the nearby park (near disaster, expecting a toddler to sit still for its entirety...) P is totally into the zoo of late.

We played in the parks.  Swinging, listening to drum circles, bands, watching dogs.

We spent tons of time in the backyard.  Trying to save our freakin garden (caterpillars, ants, aphids oh my!) that is climbing an uphill, almost sunless battle, now that the sun has dipped below our house's roofline...  There's no way to set up a "safe space" for P back there, so inevitably, he gets into some awesome project and his bothersome little sister wants to join.  So playing in the backyard isn't quite as peaceful as the house or the park, but we give it a go every day :)

And sometimes they play really sweetly together.  For a second or two ;)

I realized this is really my first fall in Portland.  Between bed-rest and being too embarrassed/overwhelmed to take my screaming infant out and about last year, I missed September and October.  And I hear this year is unusually warm and sunny.  But so far, we're still loving living here.  And after a summer of go-go-going to suck up the sun, I'm excited for a fall of finding all of the nooks in crannies in this house.  Maybe even tackling a project or two ;)