October = Fall is for Family

There is something about fall that makes our family come together. When my kids were younger we’d have quite a few weekend adventures, picking apples, going to cider mills, visiting a local farm to pick out their pumpkins. We’d spend evenings designing and making their Halloween costumes, s'mores over backyard bonfires and roasting pumpkin seeds.

As they got older, those weekends turned into travel soccer days where our entire family, including grandma and our dog, would pack up a lunch and hit the road. We'd talk and eat along the way, enjoy the afternoon watching a fun soccer match, and treat ourselves (or warm up) by going out for dinner. I have friends that instead of their family being involved in fall sports, they tailgate and attend collegiate football games - again their families make a day of it all together. Some parents may think that travel sports aren’t necessary (I sure didn’t think our family would go that route either) but those afternoons or entire weekends of togetherness were precious, especially as time goes so fast and soon kids are grown.

Now this fall is filled with camping trips and rugby tournaments, trips to the farmers’ market and apple orchard and afternoons of canning applesauce and making jam. Yep, we actually do that all together. I never would have thought that my teens would ask to do these things, but with the scent of fall in the air, they feel that pull to come together too.