Fall Y'all

April 18, 2020

Fall Y'all

Fall came with a Florida Springs getaway, an Aunt Mary and Sawyer visit, lots of beaching, girls weekend, and of course Halloween, our favorite!

Graham and I never get away without our kids, but we were really craving some time away from family duty. For us, that means some quiet time in the woods and exploring on the water. It was too hot to camp in tents, so we found this cute little camper on Airbnb that perfectly fit the bill.

We were so stoked to be out in the woods, so we hung hammocks immediately upon our arrival, had a happy hour, played guitar/harmonica, and sang songs for a few hours. Getaway perfection!

We went spring hopping, picnicking, and exploring on our paddleboards. We made it to three springs in the Ocala-ish area: Silver Springs, Silver Glen Springs, and Alexander Springs. If you come to Florida for the beaches (I mean, they're nice,) but you are missing our greatest gem!

A quick island stop.

Each spring is connected to a river. Rivers can be sketchy in FL if you're skittish, but we were hoping to see some gators! We ended up finding three gators. So cool!

This water is an absolute dream to swim in. Plus, it was at least 90* out and the water stays at a cool 72* year round.

Morning coffee at the campsite.

Second day of spring hopping.

Pumpkin carving

The kids took their own liberties with design. Alastair was going for scary.

Maisy went with an owl.

Francis went with a midnight galaxy.

Francis forever doing gymnastics in the sand.

Sea grapes tasting.

Another day, another board.

Aunt Mary and cousin Sawyer came for a long awaited visit. The kids had never met Sawyer (he was 13 months when they came.)

Of course we threw him on a paddleboard right away and paddled out to an island beach.

Our fave pizza joint.

All three kids competed in this year's Old Naples Surf Shop Skim Jam. The girls division had five competitors, our girls being the youngest by a lot.

France has the skills. She shies away from her full potential during competition, but she is learning about that pressure and gaining her confidence. She has an unwavering will to master the skill at hand and I couldn't be prouder of this little lady.

Maisy shines in a competitive environment. She just goes for it! She only has a few tricks up her sleeve, but she runs them hard and shows her stuff. This is probably what landed her in first place!

So proud of our first place girl! She got a serious prize bag with tons of super cool gear!

Since turning 12, Brother moved up to the 12-15 age division. He's up against some super talented kids, so we weren't sure how he'd do. He placed in 3rd and competed beautifully! He's so much fun to watch and is consistently improving.

Mister Sawyer is a handful for Francis. He was a trooper at the beach all day while the kids were competing!

Look at this little cutie!

On one of our favorite park trails.

Teach 'em young!

Our costume designer (Graham) really knocked it out of the park this year. These costumes just came out of his brain. No patterns, no tutorials, just him making amazingness from scratch. All of the clothes portion of the costumes came from thrift stores; Alastair's was a women's suit for $1.75 that Graham tailored and hand painted the white stripes. Our masks were made from cardboard and paper mache and hand painted, of course.

Alastair was loving all the attention his Beetlejuice costume got him! He played the part well.

The role of Lydia couldn't have been more perfect for Maisy. She loves making this face for every photo anyway. Her Handbook for the Recently Deceased is a cereal box covered in brown paper and hand painted.

Our little sand snake turned out so cute! Every bit of that hand sewn hoodie/mask and tail straight from Graham's imagination.

The masks were absolutely beautiful! Halloween was so incredibly hot this year, so we didn't end up wearing them much.

Ready for trick-or-treating in the infamous Victoria Park neighborhood.

Their haul.

Right after Halloween, I had a few of my high school girlfriends in town for a girls weekend. What a treat! It's hard to get away from family and jobs, but we finally made it happen and SO glad we did! First stop = Mexican food and margs at Felipe's Taqueria.