Raking Leaves Rochester Style

 Raking leaves here in Rochester is not an easy job.  It takes an army to handle all the leaves in our backyard.  We borrowed the neighbor's leaf blower a few times which makes things so much easier.  To rake leaves "Rochester style", you have to rake/blow/sweep the leaves into the tarp and then carry the tarp to the front and dump them by the side of the road.  The city has certain leaf days where they come and scoop up all of the leaves.  It took multiples times of filling up the big blue tarp to actually make a dent and just when we thought we got them all, there were more leaves.  One raking day, Lee and Tommy had a very wet bunch of leaves.  This caused Lee to have to put on his cleats so he could get enough traction to drag the heavy tarp to the front.



Lake Ontario

Samantha and I finally made it up to the beach with some friends.  Lake Ontario was beautiful.  The sky was clear.  The sand was soft and the air was warm.  Sam was in heaven.  She loves, I repeat loves to play in the sand.  JD liked the way it tasted.

JD was still army crawling at the time.  He was completely covered in sand.



Stokoe Farms

Stokoe Farms is a local farm here in Rochester.  Every year they have a fall festival with lots of activities for families.  In the winter you can even go to pick out your own Christmas tree.   I think all of Rochester must have had our same idea because everyone and their uncle was there.  The weather was unusually warm that day and spending as much time as you can outside before winter comes, is a must.






This picture was taken right before JD tried to eat a piece of grass.  He gagged on it and then barfed up his bottle he just drank.

Tommy waited in an extra long line just to ride the "big one".

 

 

 What can be better than a huge colorful bounce pillow.

 The tallest haystack we've ever seen.



I've Got Curls and I Know How to Use Them



Soccer

Kass and Tom played soccer this fall.  It rained almost every practice/game.  Tommy had his hood over his face the first few practices but eventually played. Yes, they still played in the pouring rain.  And yes, I spent most of the time in the car entertaining Samantha and JD. 



Samantha's First Day of Preschool

Hold the phone!  Look at this sweet face!  My little girl is growing up.  Samantha finally got to go to school like the older kids.  She loves it.  We still have clothing issues in the morning.  I can get her to wear underwear which is good but the sock thing has been challenging.  I will say, I use bribery almost every day so she will get clothes on.  Ok........every day.



First Day of 1st grade and 3rd grade in Rochester