Family Bike Ride

I don't know if you all keep up on the weather in Colorado, but after a cold, blustery, snowy, temperatures in the teens sort of weekend, we were happy to see the sun and feel its warmth on our backs again. The snow's all melted except for in the shade now and we spun out for a family bike ride, our second in a week! Usually, Josie's in the bike seat and Anna and Ruthie hang out in the bike cart. But since I gave Anna a little treat on our last ride while she was in the bike cart, today Josie decided she wanted to ride in the bike cart so she could have a little treat, too. Mitch got to pull a few extra pounds around and I got to ride with a grinning, laughing Ruthie who fell asleep before we had gone very far, her second nap of the day.

The Clements do like to ride.

The girls like the change of scenery and watching the praire dogs, dogs, walkers, the creek, and other bikers go by. They will enjoy it for over an hour before they start to complain, and that's enough for Mitch and I to get a pretty good ride in and for our bodies to get a good workout if you factor in the extra weight we're each carrying on our bikes. Brings back lots of good memories of other fun bike rides.

New Black Boots

They may not be quite as stylish as my sister's new black boots that she got for Christmas, of the sleek, high-heeled variety, but they sure are fun for puddle-stomping in the spring rains that are headed our way!Four pairs of puddle-stomping boots on four sets of feet, headed out to find the deepest puddles around.

As you can see by the wool mittens on those hands, the first of the spring rains are definitely not as warm as the barefoot ones to come. But they are a sure sign that spring has arrived! It was rain, after all, not snow!

Finally! A Leaf Pile!

I know you might think that winter has already hit Colorado if you have checked out our recent postings, but our weather is such that we still get sunny days in the 70's interspersed in between the snow storms. Yesterday was a beautiful one of those. I loved it, even got to hang the laundry on the line and enjoy some quietness sitting on the stoop in the warm sun:) The girls' favorite thing was that we were finally able to rake up a leaf pile for them to play in!

There is so much regularity in the seasons, so much that we expect and count on that adds comfort to our days and expected change to our lives. But this fall has been full of the unexpected for me. I saw things that I don't remember ever seeing or noticing before. Maybe I have just been watching with new eyes as I watch fall unfold before three little girls. But part of it has been how unexpected early snow storms and freezes effect the season. The maples and other trees that I usually think of as the most brilliant in the fall were not what impressed me the most this year. They were only starting to change when the first snow hit and they dropped all their leaves in a hurry beneath a string of storms, both snow and rain. (Never something we could build a leaf pile in.) The oaks, on the other hand, had more color and brilliance than I ever remember. The early, freezing temperatures brought on their color change in a way that surpassed anything in my memory. Their hardiness enabled them to not only withstand but be perfected by the cold. Amazing. Every time we step foot outside we keep stopping numerous times to pick up another oak leaf, and then another and another, or to stare at the oak tree in all its glory, literally glowing in the fading evening light.

And finally, we had a day that was not so windy that all the leaves had blown away, not so wet or snowy that you couldn't rake them, and lots of oak leaves and leaves from the last hardy maple and Kentucky coffee bean tree all over the ground just calling to us to rake them into a pile for all the kids to play in. Lots of laughter, jumping, leaves flying through the air, kids exploding from underneath the pile of leaves, rolling in the leaves, and even a little bit of contemplative sitting in the glorious pile before the energy levels had geared up. And then the beauty of these days was that the sun left, the chill returned to the air, and we all went inside with plenty of time to make dinner, eat and go to bed early.

Fall Treasure Walk

With treasure bags in hand we set out today looking for fall treasures. We headed first towards a new picnic spot the girls wanted to eat at that we had seen on our walk yesterday, a large rock 'table' of sorts. We passed under a raucous flock of crows by the creek, tromped through as many crunchy leaves as we could find, ran down a slope of colorful leaves, found sticks, acorns, rocks and lots of beautiful leaves, threw things in the creek, saw some trout in the creek close to the surface of the water and watched their strange behavior for a while (one kept 'attacking' another one', Anna said they must be friends), touched, hugged and smelled almost as many trees as we passed under, crawled into a culvert, saw our swimming hole-now much deeper with all the rain and snow we've had- listened to the wind in the tops of the trees, felt the warm sunshine on our skin, made Ruthie laugh, and generally had a good time. We spread out our treasures on the grass once we got home so we could look at what we had found:

Then we went inside, some to nap and some to craft with their treasures.

First Snow

That's right, we've already had our first snow of the season. Not more than 2 or 3 inches but then it lasted for quite a few days which is unusual for around here. Normally it gets sunny by ten o'clock the next morning and anywhere the sun hits it starts melting. We've actually had a couple of overcast days in a row that kept the temperatures down enough that the snow stayed on the ground the whole weekend for us to enjoy. Poor Hashim, being from Saudi Arabia doesn't exactly accustom you to 19 degrees. He was a trooper though and was going to ride his bike home in the snow until Grandpa Bill and Nona Judy talked him into letting them drive him home:

A Puddle Stomping Day

It's a gray, overcast, rain coming down, put on your puddle stomping boots and run outside to play sort of a day!

Anna and Josie had fun and got soaking wet, as you can imagine. Ruthie had more fun playing with the umbrella handle and touching wet leaves.

We even followed the rain puddles and the trail of fall leaves all the way down to the creek, which was pretty high, the water swirling rapidly downstream. Not the lazy clarity of warm late summer water. At the creek autumn has definitely arrived, the water is chilly and dark and splashed with the color of brilliant fall leaves. The girls had fun throwing sticks in the water, watching them float upstream caught in an eddy for a moment, then getting caught by the current, spun around and whisked away.

They were chilled to the bone by the time I talked them into coming back inside so of course we had to make some hot foamy milk.

Josie took a turn frothing:

And then Anna:
And the results, with a dash of cinnamon, were delicious and warmed us all up right down to our toes!
Even little Ruthie tried a lick:

And liked it!
What could be better?
I hope your day is filled with fall, both the outside fun and the inside times of cozy comfort. Throw a stick in a creek and watch it float upstream, and then continue to watch as it gets caught, swirls around and around and floats away out of sight downstream. Somehow in that space of watching and stillness there is room to hear things that we forget to listen for in the chaos of our everyday lives.

Change of Seasons

-An extra warm, cozy blanket on my bed last night (made with love by my sister Becky). I loved snuggling down under the weight of it with cold air on my cheeks.

-Find all the winter jackets in a hurry! Bundle up, vests on underneath, hoodies up. Ruthie wasn't quite sure of what to make of all these layers.

-We covered the tomato plants with a tarp last night. Josie and Daddy went out after dark and tied the corners down . We have so many green tomatoes on the vine still and we didn't want to lose them all.

-Grey skies. Clouds fogging up the top of Green Mountain and the Flatirons.

-The last of summer's hot weather bounty from our garden, brought in before it freezes.

-Chard and Kale still going strong! Cold weather won't hurt these yummy veggies for awhile. You can't even tell we've harvested two huge bunches for dinner in the last few day.
The season is definitely changing around here. I am enjoying it. Hunker down, get out all the pants and sweaters that have been hiding in the back of the closet all summer long, actually wear shoes, feel the chill in the air, watch the leaves just starting to turn... I like the change. I'm sure I'll be tired of the cold weather and layers of clothing long before we are done with them around here, but I like the new freshness of it right now, the excitement of watching the cycle of the seasons happening right before our eyes experienced with every sense in our bodies.