October

October 1st, a Saturday, was a big day in the Mullen household. Landon finally crawled for the first time! We also had Chris's parents fly in that day to visit us.  But of course the only pictures I have from that day are ones that I took of pumpkins that were made by students at MIT in the glass blowing club/class or whatever. They were so pretty, but they came with pretty high prices, we chose to look instead of buy.

After seeing Chris's parents for one day, they took off to go leaf peeping through the Green Mountains and White Mountains. While they were gone, we helped get a baby shower ready an our little friend fell asleep.

 

When Chris's parents came back, they were thrilled to watch Landon while Chris and I got to go leaf peeping in Vermont. It was so nice to spend some time together, but it was the wrong year for leaf peeping as the fall season was way to rainy!  We were gone for 1 night, but we got a lot in.

First, we stopped at Quechee Gorge and went out on this bridge.

 These next pictures were taken from atop the bridge. Oh man did that bridge shake when big trucks drove across!! Maybe because the bridge is like 100 years old...

Then we briefly stopped in Woodstock for a little stroll. I love the mums and the picture windows!

Then we drove up to Stowe to enjoy pizza, once again, out our beloved Pie in the Sky restaurant. Yum!

We spent the night in Stowe and the next morning went out to go sigh seeing.  The "resort" ( a very loose term) that we stayed at had boats and other things you could use for free on the pond out back.

Very pretty at least!

I love red barns!

The next place we stopped was the Trapp Family lodge, begun by the Von Trapp family (yep, like The Sound of Music--the hills are alive--Von Trapps!) After they left Austria, they moved to Vermont.  One of the Von Trapp granddaughters talked to us on our tour.  A lot the plants, animals, and details were reminders of their homeland. The original lodge burned down a couple of decades ago, but they have rebuilt a new, larger lodge!  We got there late, so we missed the first 10-15 minutes of the tour, but it was a fabulous tour! Definitely recommend it!

These long-haired cattle were really cool!

Shots of just a small part of the lodge.

The family had a small cemetery on the property and this is where "How Do You Solve a Problem Like" Maria, yea that Maria, is buried with her husband Georg, Captain Von Trapp.

Next we drove around some other towns and took in the Vermont beauty!

That night we drove home to see our little man and his grandparents. The next day we drove around and started our sight seeing at Mt. Auburn cemetery.  I know it sounds creepy to go to a cemetery, but it it SO beautiful.  We climbed the tower in the cemetery and got great views of Boston!

In another direction we could see the Boston temple in the town of Belmont.

 Afterward we all went to Cambridge to visit Longfellow's house. It was a fabulous tour as well! Our guide was so knowledgeable and allowed us to touch one of Longfellow's original books!

George Washington once resided in this same house when he was commanding the army during the Revolutionary War.

I can't remember the story behind the door, but it was significant, but I think that is the original door, which means George Washington used it!

 The gardens behind the house were beautiful! I'm sure in Spring and Summer they are even more amazing.

This was a huge plant that was completely covered in bees! Can you see the bee?

We finished the day with a nice hot chocolate at Burdicks. We were sad to say good-bye to Ann Marie and Michael after that.

The following Saturday we finally made it Castle Island!  I had been wanting to go there for awhile and it was the last tour of the season. Castle Island is a fortress island, and I think the Fort Independence, the current structure, is the 5th to be built on the piece of land and it was built in the early to mid 1800s.

Landon was so cute while we were waiting for our tour. I LOVE his blue eyes!

Walking down into an ammunition hold

Things we could see from up on the fortress walls.

Standing by the fortress doors

        We enjoyed laying out on the grass in the beautiful sunshine and enjoying the  gorgeous fall day.          

 

Like father, like son? 

Apparently they both really like to pick at leaves. The funny thing was Chris had his back to Landon and had no idea that he was doing the same thing.  We drove from Castle Island to Honey Pot Orchard to go apple picking. We got there just in time to do a pit of picking before they closed! Their fresh apple cider was AMAZING it tasted like eating an apple. So good! The fresh apple cider donuts were delicious too.

Can you find Chris in the tree? Can you find the ladder?

The following Monday was a holiday for many people, but not Chris, so Landon and I were adopted by the Christensen family for the day and we went apple picking up in Vermont or New Hampshire (I can't remember which).

 After we went apple picking, we headed over to Robert Frost's house in New Hampshire.  We took a little tour of the house and watched a film about him.

Landon was present too, he was just sleeping!

 Afterwards we stretched on the lawn of Robert Frost's house before we had to pile into the car to drive home.

I love the colors of fall! This picture is unedited, that is the true red of the leaf.

AJ was winding down as Landon was re-energized from his nap.

My next big adventure was baby-sitting my youngest 3 siblings who still live at home while my parents went away for a week.  Landon and I stayed with my siblings, while Chris stayed at our house so he could get to work easily.  My siblings loved Landon and Landon loved spending time with them. It was fun to see them all interact! I think they left on a Thursday or Friday, so Chris spent the weekend with us and we took my siblings to the zoo over the weekend.

Landon thought these pigs were pretty funny, especially when they would snort.

The zoo had a farm section and Alyssa was so excited to see the horses! She loves horses and she was so sweet to hold Emma up so that she could pet the horse.

The zoo was really small so we could see the whole thing in an hour or two. Afterwards, we took the kids to a nearby park.

Landon enjoyed playing with the kids too!

Loving to crawl all around.

The next day our friends came down to Lakeville so we could walk around the Ocean Spray headquarters and look for cranberries in the bogs.

 Afterward we went to go see some Clydesdale horses (don't worry, Landon didn't get too close!). Since we were in the open air, Landon was just fine and his allergies didn't bother him!

We spent a few more days watching my youngest siblings. Landon had fun getting into things, getting tangled in purse straps and eating apples as well as playing with his aunties and uncle.

 

 About a week before Halloween, we went to go buy our pumpkins. As soon we got there, I realized my camera was completely dead! So sad! Thankfully, a friend from church happened to show up and was so sweet to take some pictures of little Landon for us.

Landon really enjoyed playing with the little pumpkins! He would arrange them and roll them and move them around.

 Fall is one of the best times in New England because the leaves turn amazingly brilliant colors.  This year was my least favorite of the 3 falls we've been here as there was too much rain, which isn't good for the colors of the leaves, but there were still some pretty ones!

The only way I could get him to look up and not at the leaves, was to tease him with the binky.

Landon loves that little wooden hammer! A lady that I visit occasionally was kind enough to give him a wooden toy that came with that hammer and he LOVES it! He crawls with it, eats with it and sleeps with it!

I had fun dressing Landon up in his Halloween costume and after playing around the house, we met up with friends to take some more costume pictures.

I love his little "paws" holding onto the pumpkin stems!

He's a friendly lion!

Whoops!

 

 Landon definitely went through the whole range of emotions while taking these pictures. Mostly he was sad but there were a few happy pictures!

 Poor little Lion! What a cute, sad lion!

My friend Christy captured some fun photos as well:

That night we went with the Cammacks to the Halloween festival at the YMCA. It ended up not being so great for someone as young as Landon, but it was good for Chris to get to see Landon dressed up since he was going to be out of town on Halloween.

 The next day we went down to Lakeville to get my dad's surprise party set up! Luckily he was gone for a few hours with my mom and so we had plenty of time to get the food and decorations ready! My poor sister and brother-in-law coming from NY had to brave a freak snow storm and a flat tire! My dad was definitely surprised! Luckily the neighbors were also having a huge party, so all the extra cars disguised all our party guests' cars.

Can you figure out what it says? Our present to my dad!

Landon and I stayed with my parents through the weekend, while Chris went out of town. On Monday--Halloween--Landon and I drove back up and met some friends for pictures and a little trick-or-treating through a mini-mall.

Afterward, some of us headed downtown and met up with a bigger group of friends to go Trick-or-Treating in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. This is one POSH area! It is the old money area of the city right next to the State Capitol.  Oh man was it crowded! Since the previous Saturday brought a freak snow storm, some towns canceled Halloween since they still had downed power lines. I think many of these people had the same idea we did! Beacon Hill is known for it's amazing trick-or-treating since the houses are all so close together, it's family friendly, amazing candy, and you get a rare view into these amazing homes!  

We even trick-or-treated at Senator John Kerry's house! He wasn't home, so his maid was handing out candy.  

Landon practicing his "roar". I know my dad has a better video, but this is the one I got.

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And a fun craft with my friend Melanie!