Fall - out of the city

I've realized that I miss "getting back to nature" in the fall. Although Chicago has definitely got it going on, it's during this season that I most miss Minnesota's towering trees and rolling fields, and Door County's cool lakes and beautiful rocks, and the beauty of leaves falling, stalks waving in the wind, bright sun on a crisp cool day - what autumn feels like out of the city.

We've found several ways to get outside this season, including feeding ducks and kicking up leaves at Gomper's Park, visiting Peterson Nature Center, and enjoying bike rides, walks, etc. in our neighborhood park. We've also had fun hanging out at our ward's Fall Festival (which was held on an 80 degree Saturday!), and heading out to get pumpkins, see animals, and take a wagon ride with Danielsons this weekend.

Maybe my favorite escape from the city happened a few weekends ago, on a crisp sunny fall day when we trekked out to Rockford's Rock Cut State Park for a hike, paddle boat ride, picnic lunch, and trip to the kid's museum in town. It reminded me of childhood locales we used to visit like Quarry Hill and Oxbow Park, and we had a wonderful day. Eva is a pretty good hiker too - especially when we meet dogs on the trails. :)

We are planning to head out there again this season... soon!

Eva-isms - two more

I forgot a couple additional standard Eva sayings:

- "puter" - computer, pronounced just like computer minus the first syllable
- "Pee-caw-joh" - currently how she is pronouncing Chicago. :) This word has gone through a couple derivations, this one is my favorite.

Eva-isms

I've noticed certain vocabulary "isms" that are particular to how Eva talks at 3 1/2 yrs. A couple friends at church were even commenting on a couple oft-repeated words of hers, which made me smile and realize that even in the name of accuracy, I don't want her to outgrow the certain way she pronounces some words - not yet at least.

The most common Eva-isms these days include:

- "actually," said correctly and all, but just used - A LOT (I've noticed how much I say this word - correlated?)
- "excuse me," said again, correctly, but very, very often - when she disagrees, wants to talk, wants you to do something differently, etc. etc.
- "cans" - her version of because, or 'cause
- "I begot" - her version of forgot or forget
- "bemember" - remember
- "just joking'" - when she is being funny, or says something incorrectly, she laughs and says, "oh, sorry, I was just joking"
- "I'm uh ladee" accent; she LOVES accents of all kinds, and hearing me imitate various accents lately, and has even developed her own accent called "being a lady" - it's pretty funny. :)  

Grateful for this Fall...

- Baking fresh peach and apple crisp
- Beautiful fall wedding on University of Chicago's campus
- Boots, sweaters and wraps
- Warm sun on the porch in the mornings
- Pool, pretzels, drinks and laughing with twenty-somethings who graciously included our three year old
- Family-made empanadas and truffles just down the block
- Soft blankets, nose nuzzles and cuddling
- Bedtime with Eva
- Finally making friends with the local UPS store
- Puddle jumping
- Morning prayer in Celtic prayerbook
-12 years of marriage to an amazing man
- Berenstein Bears books
- Lots of new babies being born into the world this season
- Crunchy leaves at the playground
- Eva's declaration that she wants to be a ballet teacher when she grows up
- Free training sessions with fun strangers at the gym
- Lasagna, chili, and homemade soup
- Striped umbrellas and jean jackets
- Discovering Almond cake
- Afternoons in Evanston
- Eva putting her arm around my neck on the couch to pull me close
- Laughing in bed in the mornings
- Getting into a preschool routine
- Bookstores and lattes
- Fresh new season full of fall energy