Fall in PA

Hello there,

It's good to see you again.

It's amazing how time flies. Weeks and months have passed since my last blog post. There have been so many things going on of course; the challenges, victories, ups and downs of life with two young, non-stop, spirited, curious, questioning, stubborn, feisty and adorable daughters while I single-handedly run our family's household. :) Every day a new adventure, although sometimes blending together making them a blur of sorts.

David returned from 7 months of Deployment and was given 2 weeks of official leave in which he flew out and spent time with us here in PA. It was wonderful to be a family of four again. Alison was in quintessential "daddy heaven". The extra set of hands was undoubtedly nice for me, too.

After two weeks together in Pennsylvania, the four of us traveled to San Diego. David had to return to work, but since he only had to work half-work for his first week back, we thought that we could squeeze out a bit more time together.  We saw family and old friends, made lots of trips to Sea World, made a trip to the beach, and had plenty of authentic Mexican fare when we hit up some of our favorite old spots. While there, Alison also had half year Oncology /endocrinology check-ups at the Naval Hospital. (the tests that have come back thus far have all been normal, although she is still due for her abdominal ultrasound when we get settled in Charleston in a few months).

After almost 3 weeks of together time, it was not easy  to say goodbye, of course. But, a few days later, David's ship had to return to Sea in order to complete an ongoing month of underway exercises.

Alison, Chloe and I flew back to Pennsylvania and I wont deny that it took a full week or more to recover and fall  back into our PA routines.  Despite Daylight Savings time and the days growing shorter, my own days have sometimes seemed anything but. I think we are all ready for a change. Ready to be living together under one roof again and having some sort of "normalcy" return to our lives. But, on the flip side, we have been enjoying the beautiful sights, smells and activities that a place like Western Pennsylvania in the Autumn can provide . Although I don't care much for very cold weather  I really enjoy 3 out of the 4 seasons. One day I'll have to figure out how to make that work. And in the meantime it has been nice to experience these changes again. Somehow, wearing sweaters, boots ands scarves when there is a slight chill in the air has grown on me.  A hot cup of coffee always tastes better, and my favorite music always sounds sweeter. And, as you will see in the below photos, my girls seem to enjoy the colors of the Season and play time in the leaves as well.

By the time we leave Pennsylvania headed for South Carolina at the end of January, we will have been living here almost exactly a full year. (!) That is not how we intended or thought it would go in advance, and had not prepared for such, but how it has happened nonetheless. This has it's own set of pros and cons of course, but getting to experience a full year of defined seasons has been a joy. It's hard to believe that in just 2 weeks we will be celebrating Alison's 5th Birthday, as well as Thanksgiving.

I'll leave you with a few photos taken at various times, from Mid September, to Halloween. And, in case there is any doubt in the photo, Alison was "Rapunzel" and Chloe a black Cat. Of course, "Elmo" probably would have been Chloe's first choice of costumes, but I was a bit late in the search for costumes this year, (to be honest, as crazy as this year has been I'm just happy I had the wits about me to get them costumes at all!! ;)..)

Enjoy.

Yes- that is a REAL Pumpkin. This 1,400 (!) lb pumpkin sits on front porch of a local neighbor who has made a yearly tradition of finding a larger-than-life pumpkin to carve and put out on display. It has become a mini tourist attraction during Halloween in our little neighborhood and in the photo above, Alison and her preschool class stopped by for a visit while on their preschool's Halloween Day Parade.