As I write this, it’s 6:08 a.m. and pretty much pitch black outside. The darkness, combined with the cool temperatures at night, is making it fairly impossible lately to get out of bed in the morning with any sort of conviction.  Compounding the problem is that Ava’s been sleeping soundly through the night for the last couple weeks, and waking her early is way down the list of things I want to do.
There are lots of nice things about fall in Iowa. Even after two years, we have plenty of fond memories of our time with Ava in the fall, collecting pumpkins or walking the trails with her at Squire Point. Our waking hours always seem more precious as autumn comes on, and the weather’s so gorgeous, we find any excuse we can to be outdoors. Ava collects acorns and pretty red and yellow leaves. This past weekend in Decorah we saw a fuzzy caterpillar crawling purposefully across the walking trail we were on.
We’re off to Madison in another week to see Aunt Rachel and Uncle Kevin. I’m looking forward to the drive and the chance to get out into the Wisconsin countryside, maybe even to the pumpkin patch (if the pumpkins are anything like the apples this year, there’s going to be a bumper crop).
I can actually see some light in the sky now, and Ava will be up soon (maybe Leah will even be up, too). I can’t wait to see what the day looks like.