We have had an absolutely delightful fall. The average temperature for November is running about 5 degrees above average, with one day above 70 degrees and many days above 60 and many of those pleasant days on weekends. We've been taking advantage with lots of outdoor activities.
It hasn't all been rosy - we did receive several inches of snow on October 30 and some towns west of us were without power for as long as a week. It was heavy, wet snow and it fell while the trees still had most of their leaves. We only lost a few medium branches in our neighborhood.
We had our friends the Wiessmans over for brunch the day after the snow and we told them to come in their pajamas. Sophia and Mia did but their parents wore regular clothes. After brunch all four girls went out to play in the snow in pajamas, boots and coats and they built several snowmen and forts.
The girls have a couple of activities each at the moment. Charlotte is taking gymnastics at the Y and Audrey is taking figure skating lessons at a rink in nearby Medford. Charlotte is getting good at cartwheels and handstands and is getting close to walking on her hands. Audrey is listening really well to her skating instructors and is learning to skate backwards and make tight turns. We bought skates for Charlotte and Carol, too, and I'll get some. We're going to try to go skating a lot this winter. We have tried but have been stymied so far - the warm weather has prevented a lot of the rinks from opening.
On that 70 degree day the girls didn't have school so Carol took them to Crane Beach. Audrey and Charlotte actually got in the water! Not all the way, though.
We had a weekend outing into the city on the T and revisited out favorite route to the Esplanade and then to the Public Garden and the Common. We stumbled upon a brand new playground on the Esplanade that is very cool. It's not all safe like most modern playgrounds (if you're not up on playground news, there's been a bit of a backlash against too-safe playgrounds). We played there for a long time and then continued on. Both girls love the playground at Frog Pond on the Common so we spent a long while there, too, before making our way back to the T and home.
Once in a while I give Carol a weekend afternoon off by taking the girls on an outing. Last time we went to the Children's Museum and the girls were able to play in the climbing tower as long as they wanted. It was after the time change so it was dark when the museum closed. Charlotte and Audrey always like being out after dark - it's a treat.
Finally last weekend we visited the Ipswich RIver Audubon Sanctuary with our friends who introduced us to it: the Giuliana-Latta's. Audrey and Zack chased each other around the Rockery while Charlotte and Linus fed birds. Then we took our usual walk to the Old Stone Bridge before heading back to the visitor center. On the way home we all had ice cream even though it was almost dinner time. We told the girls we were having dinner backwards.
Today we raked leaves since they are all down from the trees. Time to settle in; winter is almost here.
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