The world turns orange

Most people who know me well know how I feel about Fall.  While I profess often that it is my least favorite season, and that my relationship with it is complicated, I also firmly believe that every season and every change each of them bring, carry with them joy and beauty.  And this week, Fall has really been putting on a show.

The weather has been perfect with temperatures in the 60s most days, with a couple days creeping into the low 70s, and night time temperatures staying in the 40s and 50s.  That's slightly above average for this time of year, and I'm loving it.

Sadly, our sunsets continue to get earlier and earlier.  The sunset on Monday was at 6:50, but by Saturday it was at 6:41.  That means it's getting harder every day for us to get in a good walk before sunset.  It's nearly impossible to get in a walk and do anything else outside after work.  

I've focused on making the most of the daylight hours we have, though.  With the nice weather, the girls are able to spend lots of time outside during my workday, and they seem to really be enjoying that.  I've caught Mina lounging in a sunny spot in the yard on several occasions.

It's also forced me to walk away from my computer at 5pm, even on the days I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by work and think I could use more time to get things done.  The work will still be there the next morning, and I am happy to prioritize my need for fresh air, sunshine, and a nice walk with the girls.  

We are also focused on finding pretty places to walk that are within a few miles of home to maximize our daylight hours.  On Monday, that meant a trip to the Bear Lake Pathway.   The color along the trail was beautiful, and both girls were happy to be out enjoying all of the new smells Fall brings.  It was a great walk!

Tuesday's walk was at Anderson Park.  It's so close to us and the trails are usually pretty quiet.  We hadn't been there in a long time, and we all enjoyed our visit.

The leaves were beautiful with the sun shining through the trees, and the girls once again had lots of new things to smell.

I especially love the views along the river here.  It's always so pretty.

After our walk, we made a quick stop at Panera for a meet up with some fellow geocachers before we headed home for dinner. 

On Wednesday, we were excited for the annual event one of our geocaching friends hosts every October.  While it has been at Fenner Nature Center in the past, this year it moved to Laylin Park in Mason.

There was food and conversation, and Mina took advantage of the extra people there wanting to give her some love and attention. The picture is terrible because of the glare from the sun, but you can tell she was pretty content.

Laylin Park is pretty small, but we needed a walk, so we did a few loops around the park before the event ended and it was dark.

The week was flying by, and before we knew it, Thursday arrived.   The girls had no idea what fun was in store for the evening, but I was excited about our plans.  It was going to be a fun night!

As soon as I ended my work day, we were in the car.  Our first stop - Benjamin Davis Park.  

I wanted to get in a quick mile on the trail that loops the park, so off we went.  

After the mile, it was back in the car for a short stop at the South Lansing Farmer's Market. 

I had to pick up some egg rolls for Nicol and Tyler. Plus, since it was the final market of the year, the girls had to visit their market friends one last time this season.

And most importantly, they had to get their special treats from Fur Real Dog Snacks. 

After hurrying through the market, it was back into the car for the drive to Mason where we would be meeting Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona for dinner followed by a trip to the fairgrounds for Jack 'o Lanterns Unleashed. 

Fiona was so excited to see the pumpkins and the girls.  Plus she was excited to wear her Fairy Penguin costume. 

We love dog night at this event because we can all enjoy it together.  Fiona loves that the girls are there with us.

After walking through the entire display, we stopped for a few pictures.

Getting two four year olds and an old lady to all cooperate and look at the camera at the same time is no small feat.

But I think we did a pretty good job, for the most part.   

My favorite picture of the night is the one I got with all of the girls, although I wish I would have had Nicol joins us too.  

It was a good night and we had all enjoyed the quality time together.  On the drive home,  we saw this cool house so I had to stop for a picture. 

Friday may have been the busiest day of the week, and while I had hoped to finsih my work for the day a little early, that didn't happen so I scrapped my original plans and decided to visit Moores Park for our walk.  Boy am I glad we made the change.

The trees at the park were absolutely spectacular and with the sun shining on them, the colors were so vibrant.

The orange maple trees are always my favorites every fall, and there were so many here.  It was amazing.

The views were beautiful, the weather was perfect, and the walk was relaxing and enjoyable. 

I couldn't stop taking pictures of the beauty that surrounded us.

Finally we headed back to the car to make the drive home because I needed to mow the lawn before it got dark.  I'm happy to report that I finished with time to spare, and then we headed inside for dinner and a relaxing Friday night at home.

I was up early Saturday to get some things done before we headed out for a full day of Fall fun.

 

We started the fun in downtown Mason at Doggie Trick-or-treating.  This is one of my favorite events every year.  

Vanessa joined us for the fun, and we had a great time visiting all of the businesses around town. 

We walked 1 1/2 miles around town gathering our goodies and eneded the fun with visits to the businesses set up on the courthouse lawn, including our favorites-Amanda's Grooming and Patterson Veterinary Hospital.  Mina was especially excited to see Dr. Jason. 

Afterward, we headed to Jackson with Vanessa for a visit to Ella Sharp Park for a little geocaching adventure.

Peaches was so excited and so happy to be out on the trail.  It made me so happy to see her enjoying the day so much.  It's always nice to see her truly enjoying the adventure. 

When we were finsihed,  we had walked another 2 1/2 miles, bringing us to 4 miles for the day.  I was happy to see Peaches going strong the entire time, especially with the temperatures near 70.  It was the perfect Fall adventure day and a good time was had by all.

Peaches finally relaxed on the drive back to Mason.

Vanessa dropped us off at our car, but before we left Mason, we took one quick loop around the Courthouse to make sure both girls had a potty break before we made the drive home.

It was the perfect end to our fun-filled day.  We all really needed this adventure today.

I made a couple of stops on the way home, heated up some leftovers for dinner, fed the girls, and settled in for the night.  

The girls got a pretty good haul of treats and toys from the adventure too.

Today, I had a whole list of things I needed to get done around the house from laundry to dropping off recycling and cleaning out the fridge.  I also hoped to make time for a visit to the Apple Butter Festival at Fenner Nature Center.  All of my to dos kept me busy, though, so we had to miss the Apple Butter Festival this year.

By mid-afternoon, I had gotten my list finished, and I was ready to leave home to make the drive to Farmington Hills for the night in preparation for my Momday morning flight for a work conference I'll be attending this week.

Before checking into our hotel, I made a stop along the way to get the girls out for a walk along the I275 Bike Path.  While it isn't the most peaceful spot for a walk, we enjoyed our 2 1/2 miles on the trail.  After our walk, I got checked into our hotel room before grabbing some Mexican for dinner. 

On the way back to the hotel after dinner, I decided to stop in downtown Farmington to visit Riley Park and check out the Grand Raven Fest around town.

It was just before sunset and a beautiful evening for a walk downtown.   The girls were especially interested in all of the new things to smell.

We even ran into Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona as they were leaving the local movie theater's showing of A Nightmare Before Christmas and the girls were so excited to see them!

We finsihed our walk at dusk, made a quick stop at Nicol's house to drop off some things I had for Fiona.  I also got some love from Picasso who was so happy to see grandma. 

Then I was back in the car to get to the hotel so the girls could have dinner and we could all get settled in for the night.  These two definitely know how to take full advantage of a king sized hotel bed.  

Very soon, I'm going to squeeze in to join them for the night because I have an early morning and a long few days ahead.   I'm already looking forward to getting back home with them in a few days!