Elliot has his turn in the leaves.

After Elliot woke up from his nap, it was his turn to try rolling in the leaves...
...and hanging out by the dock.

Out for a walk in the leaves

The race...

The girls spent some time running races up and down the driveway.


...in the end, everyone's a winner!

Raking and rolling

Uncle Wayne did the best he could to rake up the leaves...


...but the leaf fairies kept coming along and rolling in them and scattering them.

Down by the beach

We had some fun down by the beach. But it was a bit cold for a swim.
Note that mom is blissfully unaware of the child about to fall into the water in the background (thankfully Rachel has the good sense not to go diving after whatever she saw. If it had been Elliot, we might not have been so lucky. His current nick name is Captain Headlong).

Alas, the VanRuleduinen's did not get out for one last canoe ride. But Uncle Wayne managed to get some last minute fishing in.

Thanksgiving at the cottage

We were doubly, incredibly blessed to be at the cottage this year for Thanksgiving. First, because Dennis' parents are so welcoming and let us come to visit. For which we are grateful and thankful. And this year, we had fantastic, unbelievable weather.
The quality of light was amazing and it made everything beautiful.

Raking leaves

Here is our first pass at raking up the leaves from the gigantic oak tree in the back yard (the linden's leaves always fall much later. Often after compost truck season). The kids gave us a hand. They loved packing the leaves down into the bucket.
Rachel's glamourous rakish look.
Elliot absolutely absorbed in the process. We just have to make sure he doesn't eat the leaves while he is at it. He looks like a roly-poly baby giraffe when he does...and he always has that devilish grin on his face when he does something he is not supposed to.

Autumn on the porch.

Some pictures from one of our last lunches on the porch until the spring. We sure will miss sitting out there (Rachel already is asking for picnics in the snow).
Close ups of kiddies who need a face wash.

Having a "nap"

Here are Rachel and Elliot pretending to nap on the couch early one cold Saturday morning.
Mmmm. Fluffy blanket...

Rachel makes a face

Rachel had her face made up at the Sunday School picnic in September this year. It is kind of hard to tell, but it is a princess painted on the side of her cheek.
I posted this one because it shows one of the many faces of Rachel - and this one cracked me up. She has really grown into her personality - not quite sure if I have figured it out yet, but it certainly is interesting.
A side view of her "princess." Actually, I was really impressed - the girl who did it is a young tween who was helping out the grown ups.