Pumpkin Patch

Pajarito Trail Fest

Last Saturday was the Pajarito Trail Fest. I ran the 10k, which has 1600 feet of elevation gain (and then loss), so "running" the race may be a bit of an overstatement. I jogged when I could and hiked the rest. I wasn't in as good of shape as I wanted to be in, but I finished it 5 minutes faster than my goal, so I guess that means I was successful. And as Aaron pointed out, I could still smile for the camera at the finish line, which means I must have had fun.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Daddy celebrated his 35th birthday on September 30th. We were so happy he celebrated with us! For a birthday dinner we had tomatoes and basil from the garden with soft mozerela cheese and grilled sausage from the farmer's market. Daddy's cake was angel food cake with two layers of praline whipped cream and ganache on top. Alanna had trouble keeping her hands out of the cake, as you can see. In fact, she got rather upset that we had to eat dinner first.

 Daddy's present was a box-within-a-box wrapping job, so it felt like he had lots of opening to do. We decided to have fun with it since his present, an iPod shuffle, was about 2 inches cubed and not very impressive as a present to be opened.

I think these grins sum up the evening pretty well.

And finally, Daddy got to blow out his candles and we ate cake!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

We love you!

Autumn Colors

 Last weekend's hike was in the Sangre de Cristos outside of Santa Fe, where we went to see the changing leaves. The aspens are always so gorgeous at this time of year. Even though Alanna and I had colds, it was worth the journey and the experience.

This is Daddy's self portrait with Alanna. Lookin' good!

Dancing on the Chairs

Alanna is Rhys's little imitator. She loves to follow what Rhys is doing, step by step. Apparently, he decided to start dancing on a chair, so Alanna had to follow suit. And make silly faces, too. I missed the actual occasion as I was sick in bed, but I imagine it was as hilarious as it looks.

Cuke till you Puke

These are lemon cucumbers. We discovered that the lemon cucumber vine is particularly... productive. I estimate we've harvested 150-200 cucumbers this summer (from just one plant!), with more still on the vine. They're starting to go at this point, but I think we're going to make some refrigerator pickles with them this weekend. The skin is a bit tough, but the inside is quite delicious, juicy and sweet. Much, much tastier than the traditional kind.