happy halloween!

homemade costumes: salt + pepper shakers

thank you jane for the idea - this isn't the first time we've used this costume!!

the mckays in nyc

jonathan's sister jessica and her cute family moved to philadelphia this summer, and we are trying to take advantage of having them so close to us.  on saturday we met up in the city - scott and jess did a session in the manhattan temple, and anne, megan, riggs, naomi, jonathan and i played in central park's playgrounds.  we had so much fun collecting acorns (megan found over 50 acorns...and kept them in her pockets!), playing catch (riggs has an arm!), swinging on the monkey bars (i'm pretty sure anne is a monkey) and eating fruit snacks (i couldn't feed naomi fast enough!).  later that afternoon we met up for yummy pizza and pasta at patsy's.  we love having family on the east coast!

camping with the millers

last weekend we went camping at clarence fahnestock state park (about 2 hours north of the city) with our dear friends, mark and libby!  our adventure started friday evening, and after a dinner stop at a yummy greek restaurant in tarrytown, we finally made our way up to pitch our tents in the dark.  the next morning we awoke to a peaceful, gorgeous scenery of fall leaves, and later that afternoon we headed west to harriman state park for one of new york's favorite hikes.  during our little adventure we enjoyed...

 hot chocolate around the campfire.
  

 beautiful trees and landscapes.

good friends.

lib and i are wearing twinner jackets!

mark miller photography.
 their camera ran out of batteries, so we were lucky to let them borrow ours!

breakfast by whisper light. 
(instant oatmeal has never tasted so good)

taking silly pictures. 
(and wearing 3 layers of clothing)

hiking through harriman state park.

quality time with mark + libby.

ice cream at the blue pig.

best of both worlds

this past sunday we attended stake conference in ossining, new york [about an hour northwest of where we live in connecticut].  rather than driving i-95 to get there, we decided to take the more scenic route - and it was absolutely beautiful!  breathtaking, really.

later that day we drove into the city to spend the rest of the afternoon wandering through central park.  i love that in one day we can experience the best of two completely opposite worlds.

mystic, ct

we're a little city sick at the moment, so we're trying to find and do fun things that will help us fall in love with connecticut. don't get me wrong - we like it here, we're just still finding our groove. this past sunday we took a drive to a quaint, historical coastal town called mystic. it was a gorgeous day and fun to spend some quality time together.

 

apple picking in new england

fall is definitely my favorite time of year.  i love all things associated with it - the colors, smells, food, spices, holidays (minus halloween...i'm not particularly fond of this one), weather, clothes, everything!

yesterday we celebrated the new season with our friends jt + lizzie by picking apples at a local farm in connecticut.  while there we ate delicious apple cider donuts, walked through the pumpkin patch, rode on the back of a tractor (to get to the orchards) and picked a variety of apples: sun crisp, candy crisp, cameo, mutsu and autumn gala.

i must admit, these apples are absolutely amazing, and who knew there were so many varieties?  (at this farm you pick different kinds each weekend...perhaps we will have to go again).  our kitchen is now busy with all recipes apple.  i love it.

now if only these leaves would turn a little more!