Bye-bye An-Fe

 Aunt Fanny visited us this weekend - and Leo was so so so happy to have her here.  Each morning he'd run to the "guest room" (it's actually our office/tv room/craft room/play room with a pull-out couch) and exclaim - "An-Fe!  An-Fe!" while jb tried to steer him away to allow Aunt Fanny a couple more minutes of sleep.

We had a packed weekend - we ordered Thai food on Friday when Aunt Fanny arrived.  After dinner it was off to bed, but the next morning Leo and jb woke up early and baked banana bread while Aunt Fanny and I slept in for a bit.  After breakfast we headed over to Earth Cup for their doggie strut - Talula, of course, joined us.

During this outing Leo had a major kid rite of passage - he skinned his knees.  So when we got home we cleaned them up and put some bandages on them.  He was very brave and didn't cry, but did say "ouch" over and over.

 After all that excitement Leo took a nap to recharge and then we headed over to Linvilla Orchards.  We took a hayride, just like last year, but this year was a totally different experience.  Apparently a year is a loooong time in baby/toddler time.

 

He still loved the hay, but he managed to look up from it for a bit to enjoy the ride.  He loved all the trees, sunshine - but most of all he was impressed by the tractor.

We rounded out the outing by picking out a few pumpkins and a bumpy gourd (he just learned the word bumpy - so it was clearly meant to be) and sharing some apple cider.

I can't believe how gorgeous the weather was - so sunny and warm.  I want it to stay like this until Thanksgiving - then bring on a little chill - then a touch of snow for the holidays - and then right back into Spring.  Please?

 When we got home we had some barley-lentil soup that jb made and put Leo to bed.  This morning we got up and Uncle Jared and Miss Mallory joined us for breakfast.  jb (once again) cooked us an awesome meal of eggs, bacon and potatoes while Leo and Aunt Fanny scooped out the seeds from our pumpkins. After breakfast we ate the roasted seeds and then it was time to say good-bye to Aunt Fanny.

Farewells have been tragically dramatic lately, so I was braced for Leo to have a meltdown - but instead he and jb waved to Aunt Fanny from our porch as she got in her car and drove away and Leo kept meekly saying "bye-bye An-Fe".  Then when she was out of sight he laid his head on jb's shoulder and sighed.  It was *more* heartbreaking than the usual waterworks. 

So to recap - Leo loves Aunt Fanny like Whoa.  We all really enjoyed the visit.  jb is a fantastic cook.  Pumpkins and fall activities are awesome.