When the dawn begins to crack.
It’s all part of my autumn almanac.
Breeze blows leaves of a musty-colored yellow,
So I sweep them in my sack.
Yes, yes, yes, it’s my autumn almanac.
“Autumn Almanac” by Ray Davies, The Kinks
Yesterday, the sun rose brightly on a crisp, dew-sparkled morning. The call of early geese carried on the wind. Leaves swirled from the large maple in the neighbors’ yard, drifting down to grace our late summer garden with a scattering of golden yellow, flecked with brown and red. The cats lazed on the window sills in the dappled morning light as our household awakened lazily without the aid of alarm clocks or a crying child in the dawn hour. Seven o’clock. Blissful awakening.
It felt like a good morning for a family adventure. So off we went in the picture perfect autumn weather to the Fall Festival held by the same folks that hosted the Peach Festival in August. It was busy in a small town sort of way —just enough to entertain but not too much to overwhelm.
There were children’s mazes made of hay bales, a giant maze cut through the corn fields, pumpkin painting (which we skipped as Nik isn’t quite into that yet), a petting zoo, hayrides and pick-your-own-apples and pumpkins, as well as corn and soybean “sandboxes” and fresh pressed apple cider. 
Nik exhausted himself in the fresh air and sunshine. His favorite things were the sandboxes —total sensory delight, and the animals.
And he even managed to bring home about a quarter cup of beans; imagine “The Princess and the Pea” —in his shoes! They somehow got up under his pant leg and down between his orthotics and his foot. OUCH. Poor kid. No wonder he didn’t want to walk or stand after he got out of the beans. And here we thought he was just tired. But that wasn’t as bad as another kid who I watched end up with a diaper full of beans!
And, reminiscent of the peach ice cream encounter in August, Nik managed to surprise us by tasting and actually enjoying fresh pressed, mulled apple cider. Ordinarily, Nik won’t drink anything but water. If he has a single sip of juice or milk he pushes the cup away and makes a face as if I poisoned him. My drama child! Not only did he not push the cup away, Nik actually kept pulling my hand back to give him more. Needless to day, there’s a half gallon container of the stuff in my fridge right now.
I love the autumn; it always feels like a fresh start to me. And after all we’ve been through recently, we’re certainly ready to put it behind us and move on.
That last photo—too sweet! I love fall best of all the seasons and this post says why (especially thanks to those photos of one busy boy).
I love that last photo as well! BUMMER though…WE were there yesterday and missed you…two kiddos had soccer and another was at a spinning workshop at the Ag museum, so we didn’t go until around 3pm. Sounds like Nik had a great time! My children would have loved to enjoy those activities, but we may have needed to use epi-pens if they had…so we opted to just get a hundred pounds of apples and some pumpkins instead.
The soybean and corn sandboxes are a great idea. I’ve never seen that, but I know three boys who would be rolling around in them.
That’s amazing about the apple cider. And how wonderful that he is noticing other children!
Sounds like Nik had a great time at the Festival. We went to a Pumpkin Festival yesterday too. Given that SB couldn’t handle this kind of commotion just a couple of years ago, it’s amazing to see how much he enjoyed himself yesterday.
Those sandboxes sound wonderful! When SB was two he had a mini-sandbox filled with rice, and he just loved it.
That last photo is beautiful!
Sounds like it was a great day! I love fall festivals. With all our crazy birthday and train weekends, we’ve yet to get to a pumpkin picking or apple picking event this year. Soon, I hope. Great photos!
oh! all those photos are wonderful, especially the last one. i’m so proud of Nik.
fall has always felt like a time of new beginnings. here’s to a calm and joyous one for you and yours.
M2R, sorry we missed each other! Are your kids allergic to the grain, the hay, or the animals? Or all of it?
BTW, I am *still* finding soybeans in the famiy room! LOL
Depends on the child, but it’s probably safe to say that someone would be allergic to all of it. We have one with a definate soybean allergy, three with a corn allergy…we’ve never seen reactions from contact with them, but I’d still rather err on the side of caution and not have them playing in piles of it. They all have environmental/animal allergies…they still enjoyed going though. The children and I had never been there before and it was just on a whim as we headed out for some shopping. It was my 3yr olds birthday and he thought they were having a party for him…lol
Looks like I’m not the only one who is loving on that last photo. Definitely frame-worthy.