Fall Fun!

he just asks for more and more and more owls!  One of Matthew's first words was owl and one of his first animal sounds was "hoo hoo".   When we talked about going to the Raptor Fest this weekend he was very excited to go see some owls and insisted on taking his "pack pack."  I think we can squeeze at least another half season out of the frog hat so it came along too:

(As James noted we've at least gotten our money's worth on comments we get about the Frog hat.  It remains a crowd favorite - though this year Matthew's a little more leery of all the attention.)

It was a gorgeous day up at the Ski area and the season's snow is definitely creeping down the mountain.  Matthew wanted to hike to it but I think we'll wait until we're up there when it's not nap time and/or the snow gets a little closer.  We're at such a great stage where Matthew wants to hike on his own but his pace and stamina still leave a bit to be desired.

The owl and rough-shinned hawk were the same ones we've seen here and here and my photos this time were even worse than before.  This is not surprising considering I was trying to bounce around with Catherine while James was working with Matthew to develop a third volume level that's not super extra loud or extra loud as he shouted "Owls! Owls!  Heavy!  Heavy!"  This boy loves his owls.  Daddy still has to draw the (heavy) owls, but Matthew has started adding "hats".  What a weird cute kid! 

 

We then went on a short nature hike to learn more about the area's raptors and to run some energy out.

Here's hoping we get a break in this dreary weather next weekend as well.  The colors should be perfect and it was great to get out instead of just house hunting so I'm looking forward to doing it again!  We have an offer in on a house and should hear soon (it's hard to use time-based leverage in a buyer's market when the house you want is unlike anything that's been on the market in the past 9 months!)  If this one doesn't work out we're taking a much needed fall/holiday break from the search and/or waiting this seller out.