Fall in the Bailey House

 It's amazing how fast time seems to fly these days.  You know the saying - "The days are long but the years are short!"

The fall started out with some Labor Day fun in Great Island Pond with cousin Maddie.  

Unfortunately, we lost two family members this fall.  First, my brother-in-law Gordie's mom passed away, followed closely by the passing of Todd's Uncle Billy.  We went to their wakes and funerals, which were only days apart.  Uncle Billy's post funeral get-together was at the Winthrop Elks Lodge, where he was a lifetime member.  This building is no doubt in the VE zone, but it has a nice view of Snake Island!

Many years ago, when Todd and I first got married, Uncle Billy and I used to drink Bud Lights together (that's before I moved to bourbon and he moved on to Mic Ultras!)  So I had one to toast to the old days.

We had some fun in September too - we were able to attend the Boylston Schul Verein Oktoberfest! (Shoutout to both of our Uber drivers!)

Lots of people showed up with chairs - the place was PACKED!  They sold all kinds of yummy food, German swag and obviously, BEER.

Well, at least this part was a lot like the real Oktoberfest!  I appreciated that they were all dressed in their Trachten!

The band was having a grand old time.

You must drink this delicious German beer! Now!

After a fun Saturday at Oktoberfest, Todd surprised me with tickets the following Sunday to see one of my favorite comedians, Tony Baker live in Boston at the Wang Theater!  He was hilarious!

I didn't get to celebrate my birthday ON my birthday because I was starting my year long Thursday night German class at the Boylston Schul Verein (same place we had Oktoberfest a few days before).  I love a class where you can drink beer and learn German!

So we celebrated my 46th birthday the following night!  This is me thinking of a REALLY good wish before I blow out my candles.

Awww, these are really my bestest presents!

This was actually a pretty awesome birthday - I got the REM Chronic Town hoodie AND this awesome Largo Packers hoodie!  Class of '94!

In the fall, we always have the neighborhood block party, which featured the ice cream truck, pizza, games, a dog costume contest and later... a fire pit for the adults!  Kelsie, Grant and Natalie took full advantage of the ice cream truck!

We live in a great neighborhood with TONS of kids! I love Natalie's face here, ha ha.

Grant ran cross country again this fall, even though he claims he hated it.  He ran with a couple of friends but seems to just dislike running long distances now.  The kid that is out front, Luca, lives a few doors down from us and I believe he won every. single. race.

Grant naturally improved as the season went on - if he would start training in August, he would do so much better.  He's so good when he trains!  (Also: Luca is literally in the home stretch in the background - and Grant is about halfway done with the course.  He came in middle of the pack though!)

Todd enjoyed his annual guys weekend on the Cape - first visiting Tree House in Sandwich for some drinks with his friend Ryan before heading to Falmouth for the golf and Cape Cod Brewfest weekend.

This is EXACTLY what happens when the Wilmington crew gets together. Every. Time.

Mike, Cooch, OB, Rob, Kern and Todd behind them with their little cups of beer at the Cape Cod Brewfest!

And of course, Mike took a selfie back at the house they rented with Rob, Kern, Rybo, Todd, Cooch and OB with their drinks and snacks.  They played some golf this weekend too, I hear.

Meanwhile, Natalie went to her sophomore homecoming. Eeek.  When we bought this house, I knew I would take these pictures on these stairs!  I think it's my favorite feature of the house.  Nat had fun going with her friends Liia and Maggie.

Meanwhile down in Florida, my family was hunkered down due to Hurricane Ian, which was a category 4 hurricane that made landfall down by Sanibel Island.  Initially, it was supposed to go farther north (hmmm, Hurricane Charley, 2004 anyone?) but it stayed a bit south, thankfully. My mom was in Ireland, and my brother and his family went a bit south to Brie's parents house, who live in Palmetto.  Cory took this picture, in honor of the greatest!

My brother ran over to my mom's (who wasn't in the country) place to grab the important things, like... my dad and the Wild Turkey. This may be my favorite picture ever. Posthumously, my dad is still preparing for the hurricane! (That's my dad in the box!) The Rosary beads are a nice touch.

Meanwhile Natalie continued skating, and she passed her Pre-Alpha and Alpha tests!  Here she is with her coach Barbara and her Holliston bestie Kaavya! I love that they skate together.  Despite how hard it was during those months we lived in Holliston during the pandemic, her friendship with Kaavya is something amazing that came out of it!

I particularly enjoyed this race at Hopkinton because toward the end of the race, there were two kids that were right along side of Grant and he totally turned it on and beat both of the kids by a mile.  He really pushed it and I was really proud of him!

This was Grant's last race of the season at our home course, Ashland State Park.  He really improved throughout the season - did I mention that I'm so proud of him??? 

OH and he became a teenager.  We went out to Bill's Pizzeria in Natick to celebrate!

The leaves fell too, and I take GREAT pride in leaf cleanup every fall.  Just let me enjoy this for like 5 minutes before a thousand more leaves fall.

I went to London for a few days with my friends (as you know) but while I was gone, Todd and the kids enjoyed the Pumpkin Fest at Ashland High School. The Student Council really did a good job setting this up!

I finally remembered to scratch off all of the foods I ate in Iceland and Portugal! I kind of forgot to do it after last summer's adventures in Reykjavik. Hmmm. I just realized I didn't tackle Belgium or the Netherlands (because this map was on a boat back to America when we went there in 2019! I'm not sure I ate any of those though, now that I think about it.)

 Grant turned 13 YEARS OLD in October, and The Crew threw him a little party in Kelsie's garage! It was so cute, they even made him a cake (we won't talk about how they almost set the garage on fire with the number of candles they put on the cake!)  This was literally the sweetest thing EVER!

This appears like it might light the dining room on fire, but the birthday boy promptly blew them out.

Grant got some good presents this year, but still no virtual reality set that he has been wanting for a couple of years.

The kids went with Todd to Spirit Halloween and picked out these hilarious costumes.  I mean really... Grant as peanut butter???? No coincidence there!

Naturally, they went trick or treating with The Crew - here they all are, minus Kelsie. I think Ava is excited!

We ALMOST missed our realtor Craig's AMAZING haunted yard on the other side of town. We were just super busy this October, but we managed to sneak a peak after the kids got back from trick or treating!

Nat's not taking any of this guy's funny business.

Don't mind us, we're just hanging out in this tree.

On Halloween night, Craig himself is out hanging out candy bars to the kids.  Grant got two, because Craig remembered that the day before Halloween was his birthday! I swear this display gets bigger and better EVERY year!

My friend Bethany (Minnie Mouse) posted this pic on Instagram of me, her, Kelly, Heather and Darlene dressed up for Halloween in 1988 or 1989.  It's actually QUITE funny how life mimics art. I always DID want to be royalty, apparently. And Darlene is actually a Deaconess in Philadelphia now!

Todd got to see Silversun Pickups, one of his favorite bands with his friends Rob and Mike.  They sat upstairs while Todd went down into the crowd. I hope there were no short girls standing behind him!

Ugh.  We have to do this again? Why do we have to keep doing this?

Natalie and I are FIRM believers that the holiday season starts right after Halloween.  Todd and Grant do not believe in this very German theory that we have.  Since Germans don't celebrate Thanksgiving, they start their holiday decorating (and Mariah Carey playing on the radio) very early in November. Todd compromised by allowing us to put up the tree the weekend before Thanksgiving ha ha.  We actually got two new fake trees this year since our old ones were falling apart and the built in lights stopped working. Todd took a Glühwein break after setting up the big tree.

We managed to get down to the Plymouth Bailey house for Thanksgiving this year!

Don't worry, we still brought our Out Post Farm apple pie that our realtor Craig gave us!

I still love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. They all watched it with me for about 20 minutes.

After the parade (and a shower!) Todd, Grant and I walked down to Great Island Pond so we could get some steps in before Thanksgiving dinner!

When we walked back from the pond, Todd continued on to his parents house but Grant and I kept strolling around near the clubhouse. Grant decided he just wanted to lay in the grass.  Meanwhile, some man walked by and (half jokingly) asked, "Should I call 911?"

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was Todd's 32nd high school reunion/everyone is turning 50 this year party in Tewksbury.  Our friend Joe, and one of my former coworkers and friend Dave played with their band.  (Go figure that Todd and Dave graduated together!)

Hey Joe, looking good with your blue bass!

When the band ended, a DJ took over and everyone was having a good time.

THE funniest part of the night was when Karen disappears and returns a few minutes later with a whole box of wine and champagne.  She was very concerned there was going to be an afterparty and that there would not be enough beverages, so she went into the restaurant and made this purchase! Only Karen!  (Side note: someday I will get a picture of Karen that isn't blurry!)

We had a good time catching up with Todd's classmates (me, as the first lady of Wilmington High School's class of 1990 of course.)

We had some pretty windy days too - good thing no one was in the yard when this bad boy came down!

We stay true to our German traditions and celebrate St. Nicholas Day in early December. The kids received plenty of treats in their boots!

Ahhh, and we're on to the holiday season!  Hope you had a great fall, too!