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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Fall Festivities

Crisp air, apple cider, pumpkins, foliage, football, chili... Fall has definitely arrived in New England. As much as I love summer, I do enjoy this time of year as well. The weather has been great!

We have been very busy this fall. School is currently in full swing... so between that and work we stay pretty occupied. We have still managed to get out and engage in some of the fall festivities going on around here though.

A few weekends ago we went to Portsmouth, NH for a Chili Cook-Off which was really fun. More than a dozen restaurants from the area served up their best chili in decorated booths for all of the attendees to sample and cast their votes. Redhook brewery was also there with beer to complement the chili goodness. You have to come with an appetite... after about 6 bowls of chili I could barely move! They also had some animals and other entertainers there on site.



We also went to a pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. There was a GIANT pumpkin that wieghed 109-lbs!! I don't think we could have gotten that one home with us. =) They also had a petting zoo for kids and fresh homemade apple cider, apple crisp, and cider donuts. We sampled all of the above!



We found a new park by us on the water where we can take Kenzie for walks. This has become a part of our typical Sunday routine... walk through the park, play some frisbee, and get groceries. I like this park because its never very busy and it has a great view of the Tobin bridge.



The weekend before Halloween we carved our pumpkins... Julie and I. The guys wanted nothing to do with the pumpkins. We carved them before the Vikings game on Sunday. Then we watched the game and ate some of Julie's homemade chili. The Vikings lost, but at least our pumpkins turned out cute! I carved a couple more pumpkins during the week when Adam was at class... I might have gone overboard with the pumpkins this year! Haha



On the Saturday night before Halloween we headed out to Conner's Farm in Danvers, MA. They had a haunted corn maze we wanted to check out... yes believe it or not, they have corn fields out here too! The haunted corn maze was fun. We took some pictures with the creepers lurking in the corn. It wasn't much of a maze though, more like a path through the corn. They had a different corn maze you could do - the flashlight maze - that you could actually get lost in. My favorite part of the night though was the Jumping Pillow. It was a giant trampoline-like pillow for kids during the day, but they let the adults jump on it at night with a strobe light and some music. It was actually really fun and quite the workout! I wish I could play on it everyday! I busted out a few front and back handsprings on the thing... yep surprisingly, I still got it! =)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Leaf Peepin'

It's Columbus Day weekend and all the leaves really started changing colors around here. So, we decided to ventured to NH to hike Mount Monadnock and do some "leaf peepin'" as they call it out here. It was perfect weather for a hike... not to hot, not too cold.

At 3,165-ft of elevation it made for a 4.5 mile round trip hike... 2.2 miles up, 2.3 miles down. Monadnock has become known as one of the most frequently climbed mountains in the world. With nearly 125,000 hikers a year it is just second behind Mount Fuji in Japan.

It was a moderate hike with lots of views on the way up. The last 1/2 mile on the ascent was challenging though... it was steep and involved lots of scrambling up and over rock faces. But it was worth it. The bare, isolated, rocky summit provided expansive 360 degrees views of the entire surrounding area. You could even see a tiny silhouette of the Boston skyline in the distance (about 62 miles away!). It was extremely windy at the top however... it was a good thing we brought our jackets!

We made it back down to the bottom just before sunset. Then we went to Olive Garden to reward ourselves with the never ending pasta bowl, salad, and breadsticks after our long day of hiking. So good!



PS... Happy 10/10/10 Today!! =)

Monday, October 4, 2010

Blake & Krissy Got Hitched!

Just got back from a short but very sweet trip home. I flew in Friday night and got to spend some time with the fam, talking until till the wee hours of the morning. Saturday I went to help Blake and Krissy celebrate their wedding day. It was so much fun! I got to see a lot of friends and roommates from college that I haven't seen in YEARS! I am so glad I got to go... congrats again Blake and Krissy! Sunday I met some high school besties at Panera for some much needed catching up, then took a flight back to Boston that night. I wasn't kidding when I said short! That's okay though... I truly cherish every minute I get back at home. Here are some pics from my favorite moments at the wedding: