Fall Favorites

Back in the beginning of October, I woke up and told Kari how excited I was that Fall was finally here: college football, cool weather, the Saturday Morning Market, holidays, etc. Then, I got sad that October would be over soon. She said, "What?! It's October 1st! Don't worry, you have the whole month to go."

It's hard to believe that it's now January. And that I haven't blogged since September. So, here is a recap of some of my favorite things from this fall. And I'll tell you up front, although college football is one of my favorite things (especially when I get to make a special snack, like Ultimate Nachos or chicken wings), it will not make the list because I did not get to watch one Gator game that we won. Not ONE. I heard that we beat Ohio State today, though, so I will take that as a consolation and wait for next Fall.

Here are the Fall Favorites, in no particular order:

1. We got bikes! After a few days of test-riding, we decided on the Trek Neko S. We had to wait a week for the bikes to come in, but were at the store 2 hours after they came off the truck. I hadn't really ridden a bike since 1993, but that didn't stop us from riding to the Saturday Morning Market (9.5 miles round trip) for our first ride. In our 2 months of being bike-owners, we have ridden downtown multiple times, which includes a meandering path right along the water for about 2.5 miles. We even got to ride downtown for First Night, the St. Petersburg New Year's Eve celebration, and avoided the crazy traffic and parking.

2. This is also about biking, but deserves it's own slot. Over our break, we woke up on a Thursday and decided to ride to Weedon Island (approx. 14 miles round trip). The weather was perfect with clear, blue skies. Kari packed us a picnic and planned the route. We did a short hike to a 45-foot overlook tower, where we ate our lunch and enjoyed the views. On our way out we even saw a huge gopher tortoise.

3. Sister Weekend in Orlando! My sister, Jen, and I took a weekend trip to the Caribe Royale in Orlando in mid-October. I got to order French Toast from room service and the room had two TVs! The pool with a waterfall was warm enough for a swim and a trip down the 75-foot slide. We went to Downtown Disney to see Cirque du Soleil La Nouba - an incredible show that everyone who comes this way should see. I hope to take Kari to see it one day.

4. We went to the Saturday Morning Market's opening day in October. This was unusual for us because October is still normally too hot for me to be outside for very long. But this October started cool and dry. I love buying local organic produce and perusing all the food vendors. Kari picked out a great fig empanada from Empanada World.

5. On both Thanksgiving and Christmas break, we put some effort into home improvement. We painted the kitchen bright orange, which we had bought the paint for back in July. Kari did an amazing job reaching all the hard places above the cabinets.

And we just finished up hanging up pictures on our hallway wall. We've lived here over two years and finally have some pictures up! We are just waiting for Snapfish to deliver a photo of Kari's sister's kids for that one empty frame.

6. We took our last trip to the Lowry Park Zoo with our annual zoo passes. It was a longer than usual trip because we don't plan on getting passes again until our children are old enough to enjoy the zoo. I said goodbye to my Siamangs at Primate World, but didn't spend much time there because that's where I spent most of my time this year. My favorites from this trip were the Clouded Leopard cubs, which were chasing, playing, and climbing all over the place, the frogs in the Discovery Center, and riding the camel. If you ever get a chance to ride a camel, do it! And sit in the back. The camel's hump is very soft and it is so neat to sit up that high. (It makes me think that a goal for 2012 might be to ride a horse for the first time.)

7. We went to Jen's annual Pumpkin Carving Party before Halloween. It is always a fun event to kick-off the holiday season.

8. The week after Thanksgiving, we put up our Christmas tree, decorated the house, and made Christmas cookies.

9. Nature-running near Tallahassee! We visited Kari's dad for a long weekend and got to run the trail at Leon Sinks with Kari's step-family. It was fun and challenging to run on a trail instead of our usual neighborhood road and sidewalks. It kind of felt like boot camp, jumping over roots and pushing it uphill through sand. The many sinkholes along the trail served as picturesque resting points. We also ran and hiked about 6 miles while Kari's dad rode his bike through the woods to find Shepherd Springs. There was not another person in sight or sound of traffic in earshot. And the night stars at Shell Point (quite far from a busy, bright city) were incredible.

I loved this Fall, and already look forward to next year's - I'm especially hoping that the Gators can win a good game or two. But in the meantime, I sure do love this cold Winter weather!