Pumpkins 2011

Compare, contrast:

Pumpkins 2010

Pumpkins 2009

Pumpkins 2008

Pumpkin Push 2011: total meltdown

This year's Pumpkin Push -- not without challenges. It started out great! Tristen was chit-chatty, and we really had fun lining up for the race. It was the first year Tristen could appreciate the costumes and talk about what he was seeing and thinking. But it was also the first year I didn't take the stroller. I thought we'd walk/run. Mostly walk. Just two miles. But about a mile in, Tristen was really tiring out. Yet he lost it when he found out we weren't doing the long route, which included the big hill. So he laid down in the middle of the trail and threw a fit. A big one. I pretty much dragged him over the last mile. What a mess.

Gorgeous fall hike in Discovery Park

World's best hikers. Three miles, no problem.

Flying Squirrel

Scooch over Pies and Pints (just a little). There's a new restaurant in the 'hood, and it has thin-crust, fire-roasted bacon and arugula pizza. Welcome, Flying Squirrel! We tried it out with Amye and Abel a few weeks ago: unanimous thumbs up! Been back a few times since. ;)

Amye and Abel meet Tillie.

All the way around

Tristen made it the full 2.8 miles around Green Lake on his scooter! Tillie and I could just barely keep up.

Two-thirds of the way around we stopped for healthy snacks, treats, and yoga on the dock.

Such a beautiful day!

I can't go back to work

As I told my friend Dawn, I'm too busy making pointy hats for my baby.

Merely cute

Walked the zoo with my mom when she was here in September. Our family has a tradition of taking pictures of each other trying to imitate animals (see the flamingos here). Tristen makes a pretty good meerkat! Tillie is merely cute.

Jake and Tillie

Pumpkin patch

Our house has become known as "the pumpkin patch" to the neighborhood. We even made the Maple Leaf blog!

Haunted

This year we did our usual window decorations and made ghosts out of a sheet we found at Value Village (not pictured; I got lazy on the picture-taking). Tristen and I spend hours on these little projects. It's a sweet, chatty time at the kitchen table.

Tillie, 12 weeks

Multitasking

Mom caught me knitting with Tillie on my lap.



Really looks like Chris here

Tillie, about 10 weeks

Damn done

The deck. It is FINALLY done -- except for finishing the trim on the windows we had to replace and weatherizing the new door. Chris asked for time to finish it up for his birthday, so Tristen and I made that happen -- along with a shirt, a belt sander, and rootbeer floats. Happy birthday, Krumm! :)

Below, pix of the finished product -- more than a year's hard labor after two years in the squabbling and planning phase. There's a high deck for grilling, a patio for enjoying the yard, a gate to keep the kiddos in, and an arbor so that we can nurture grapes, hops, passion flower, and just a bit of privacy.

Previous posts mark the progress:

• The very beginning.
• Chris and Washington frame it up.
• Almost done.

Now, doesn't it seem like a great space for a hot tub where the two decks meet?

The decks, the arbor, and the next project: chairs to paint.





We've added solar lights to the post tops since we took this.



Some handiwork at the junction. John Kelly's idea!

Playdough sucker

Tristen, Elana, and I made playdough. Here my mom contemplates a playdough sucker.

Pony-tailed tomato picker

Grandma meets Tillie