Lovin' Me Some Fall Foliage

It is absolutely beautiful here in Massachusetts right now. Really, I must say twenty times a day, "Look at those trees, guys!" I can't remember another year to top the foliage this year - everywhere you look it is red and yellow and orange. I love it. Plus, the weather has been great. I went for a bike ride on Saturday afternoon, and it was around 70 degrees and sunny... as I was riding along, admiring the foliage, I kept thinking, "there is no where else in the world I would want to be right now". At the time, my little brother Ryan was in Hawaii, and I will say that I wouldn't of minded being there as well, but fall in New England is hard to beat, in my mind.

We had a very fun weekend. Brandon had soccer on Saturday morning - always good entertainment - and then in the afternoon we went to the Reebok grounds with our friends Paul and Sheri-Lynne and their kids. We took bikes, soccer balls, and tennis gear, so it was great fun just to run around and play with the kids. After that, we went back to Sheri-Lynne and Paul's house for pizza.. such a lovely way to pass the afternoon and evening. And as long as they don't get deported back to Canada, we hope to pass many more such evenings with them. You have to keep your eyes on those crafty Canadians though... you never know what they might do. The next day we met Jen and her family at the zoo, and unbeknownst to us, they were doing a Halloween-themed day. That was a blast, as the kids got to trick-or-treat around the zoo exhibits, do an arts & crafts project (a leaf crown - pretty cute actually) and there was also a big tent with all kinds of games for the kids - stuff like a beanbag toss and mini-golf holes. We ended up being at the zoo for 4 hours! The kids were loving it, but it definitely wore them out, as they both fell asleep on the ride home. We only went home for about an hour before we left to go back to Jen's house to have dinner there, which was fabulous. I loved that we got to spend so much time with our friends this weekend, and I also loved that I didn't have to cook! Looks like I might be hosting some dinner parties in my near future though so that I can return all the hospitality.

So, here's a question, I've been mulling for the last week or so... when we potty-trained Parker, we started giving him a lollypop everytime he pooped. Well, now that the whole potty thing is established, how do I ditch the rewards system? I remember that it was easy with Brandon because he just kind of forgot to ask for a lollypop after a while. But now, when Parker goes, both he and Brandon get a lollypop... and since Brandon is 4, he's a lot better at remembering this kind of stuff. Maybe I can downgrade it to a jellybean and then phase it out from there. I just don't want Parker to be heading off to college with a bag full of lollypops to reward himself for pooping. Just kidding, I know it's not quite that dire. Perhaps I will hide most of the pops and then just say that we ran out. Yep, they'd probably buy that.

Go Red Sox!!