Enjoying the Beauty of Fall

In the orchard
at Great Country

Zach - Of Note

• A windy walk home with Zach. “Do it again, Windy!” 
• We put my watch to bed every night now. 
• Still playing "eye spy with my little eye," and "Tell me something silly." 
• One morning, Zach played nicely at home as a “work man.” I called him a “handyman,” but he corrected me. He used his toolbox to put screws in the bathroom door and used his hammer as well. Too funny!
• One night while Zach was dishing out fruit for everyone, he didn't have as many bowls as he needed, so he walked over with a full spoon to the cabinet and got out a bowl. A miracle that he didn't spill any!
• Zach got two hugs one week: 1 from Merrick and 1 from Jack!
• So many birthday parties!

• New babysitter, Lauren. After her first session, Zach said, "I miss her." Before she came the second time, he said, "I love her," and after that second visit, "We should invite her to sleep over." 
• Zach woke up on Halloween and said, “This is going to be the best day ever!” He trick or treated as Gekko with Christian. 

• A warm day trip on the Metro and ice cream! Zach said, "let's go to a coffee shop and get hot chocolate," and I said, "It's more of an ice cream/milk shake day." He agreed.
• Zach prefers the cheeseburger at Dogfish, but the fries at Red's Table. 
• We drove past a cemetery and Zach remarked on the beautiful flowers and how he wanted to go there. 
• Zach is loving pretending to be an animal. He is the baby and I'm the mommy or vice versa. We've done cheetahs, kitties, and dogs.
• We all went to the polls together on Election Day. See his sticker!

• Zach got a catalog from Amazon, and he loves to read his "recipes." We've told him it's a catalog. He has a lot of wishes for his birthday. 
• He's been having a great time with his trains, and when he got three new Hot Wheels, we got his track back out.
• Baking soda baths and cream continue!

  

  Just because

Grateful for
Felipe: he remembered to ask about Emily

Sleep Update
No changes!

Zach's Words & Songs, Dancing, Music, Soccer, and Spanish

• Zach has been singing the "999, gonna be there on time" and he loves to sing the PJ Masks song, "I can't think of a rhyme."
• He's been rocking out with Frank in his car, and he has been loving the Counting Crows, especially Mrs. Potter and Mr. Jones. He sings! He asked why Adam Duritz was crying at the end of one of the songs. I think Anthony would agree since he always thought they sounded whiny. :)
• Zach said how much he loved the “meat Daddy made.” “It was really good,” he said! 
• We have fun imitating the GPS and how it says “Fairfax County Parkway”! 

Susan & Frank

• Making time for each other
• Date night at Two Silos. They had the late 90's early '00's music going strong and an outdoor fireplace!
• Coffee dates at Weird Brothers and Amphora
• The Wailin' Jennys!

The makings of special dinners

Good Food

• Special dinners! On 10/15/19, we started having special dinners 2-3 nights/week. What is it: 
• We all eat together at the table.
• Zach picks our seats and napkins. We use our name cards from Emily and Andrew's wedding.
• The "best behaved" person from the last dinner gets the red chicken.
• Some surprises show up like gourds, Zach's magical fruit salad, or cinnamon apple straws.
• We often pick songs to listen to. 
• Sometimes Frank and I will stay at the table to chat while Zach watches his shows. 
• Emily's waffles and baba ganoush
• Stops for lattes at Bikelane Brewing
• Emily's faro grain bowl!
• Saturday lunches at Crooked Run/Senor Ramon's/Daybreak. Zach loves his cheese quesadilla. He enjoyed playing with Lucas. 
• Sprinkle cookies from Rachel, Teddy, Jewell and Erik
• Frank's chicken in wine, his rice, and my veggies. Yum!

Visits with

• Auntie Em (We burned sage to cleanse on one visit.)
• Mary Kay
• Kathleen
• Mom & Dad
• Bettie and Van and Hot Wheels cars for Zach!
• Katie

Fun Stuff (Personal and Professional)

• Reading Insight and worked on "my life story." Shared Tasha Eurich's TED Talk on LinkedIn and MKC appreciated it. Joined Tasha's Beta class. 
• Many wonderful walks and runs! I love Lake Fairfax Park! A really beautiful Oct/Nov 
• Watching "Trapped" and loved "Northern Rescue," set on the Georgian Bay
• Kate and Tammy's Zumba class! 2 in one day! Corrina's class!

• Magical day at Great Country Farms. Zach had a blast. We picked apples and ate the Fujis in the orchard. We went to Henway Cider and had an awesome lunch. Fire pits, fall color, sunshine! I then took the Metro and listened to Second City Works, “Get to Yes, And…” with Lydia Slaby and her book, “Wait It Gets Worse.” Kathleen and I met at the National Gallery of Art, and we had dinner at Jaleo. Awesome!

Henway Ciders

• A beautiful sunrise on a run. The sky was pink and with all the reds, yellows, and oranges, it was beautiful!
• We went back to Great Country Farm two Sundays in a row! We played and had lunch at Henway. I then took Zach to Woodstock, and I went hiking to Tibbet Knob at Wolf Gap. Awesome!

At Tibbet Knob

• In the quest for more fun and funny things in our life, my colleague Lindsey found this gif for me. Tee hee!
  

Not So Fun Stuff: 

• A sick month, though it doesn't feel that way to think back on it. As I read through my journal, though, it was! Zach was sick with a stomach bug and gave it to all of us. Then, we all got a cold, and I got a cough that lingered and lingered!
• The news about Jim. Some great Jim memories: magical fruit salad, peanuts and blue jays, growing lettuce, his drinks, generosity - Grandad’s truck and Seabring. Carpet picnics in college. Texas Instruments gifts.
• Genetics appointment with Mom and Dad and my own results :(

Zach the Photographer, Bubble Joy, Fire Safety, A Teamwork, and More

Zach - Of Note

• Played with Zachary Bear and pretended the bear was a baby. Pretty adorable!
• He keeps telling on himself, for example: "Ms. Randy wouldn’t let me use the iPad b/c I didn’t help clean up the kitchen, but I did help clean up the couches, etc."
• Building bridges in dirt (on walks home)
• Zach has gotten very into taking pictures

  

  He took this one of me!

• Poor hygiene (itchy bottom and, so, daily baking soda baths and cream), injuries (cut by his eye brow and swollen lip - I nailed him with a frisbee), and sickness (stomach bug) - a rough month! He got sick; we got sick. He and Frank did get a flu shot! I'll get mine soon!
• When he got the stomach bug, I gave him his Halloween costume early!

  

  Zach is Gekko!

• Zach has been meowing and ruffing a lot this month
• Zach and Frank laughed like witches
• Week of Oct 7 was fire safety week and Zach lived his best life!
  
• Playing with the cluster kids: Logan & Cora and Teddy and Jewell
• Running a race in his Gekko costume! He came in second!

  

  Making a break for it
  (in green)

• We played at "freeze" at Crooked Run and later in the month Zach played the Freeze Dance song - I think this is from dance class. Zach asked Alexa to play it, and we had a blast!
  

Grateful for (some excerpts): 

• Susan: Zach, my coffee, dancing, Auntie Em's birthday, walks, runs, Rae's content expertise

  

  As seen on
  a walk to school

• Zach: Mommy and Daddy, yummy food, Thai food, Sean and Niko, and his teachers, the train, "It doesn't hurt to poop."

Sleep Update

• Zach has been doing some smiling and laughing in his sleep this month. 
• Otherwise, same old, same old!

Empathy Corner

• Zach is very perceptive. 
• He asked about Owen, Joey, and Wyatt from Michigan, and we texted Julie. She wrote back: "He’s a sweet, thoughtful boy."
• Frank talked about how Zach suggested that he put his visor down, and Frank said, “Is the sun in your eyes,” and Zach said, “No, it’s for you, Daddy.”
• He said, “Have a good day,” with no prompting as we left the Zumba gym one Saturday. 
• Zach suggested that “we need to get bug food” to lure the bugs away from me. 

Zach's Words & Songs, Dancing, Music, Soccer, and Spanish

Who can throw the
ball furthest?

• One day when I left for work Zach said, "Make sure you have a great day!"
• He is loving music lessons. He took a couple piano lessons too, and is excited to play the piano at Chuckie's. 
• Zach commented on the musical instruments in the music at Crooked Run. What?! He also tells Frank he wants him to keep the music loud in Frank's car; this is new. And, he started singing a Carbon Leaf song that he'd heard in Frank's car, and I could tell what he was singing!
• "This is a teamwork," referring to when we needed to work together to go up the hill (to the summit) on American Dream Way on the way to CT! We rode is tricycle a lot to/from school this month!
• One of the vendors at the farmer's market told Zach he liked his shoes. Zach said, "My Mommy got them for me." Teehee. 
• Soccer Shots sent home that Zach has great dribbling skills and he embodies "try your best."
  
   
• Zach closed his eyes and bopped to Mrs. Potter by the Counting Crows and said, "Rock it out, people."
• Zach wanted to join Spanish class with Ms. Randy, and they send videos that are terrific. See here. He also said, "Buenos dias" to me one day unprompted!
  

Zach's Birthday Wishes: Fireman Sam, Elivis, Penny and a pole and Venus and Jupiter (emergency vehicles from Fireman Sam) and Spider Man (What?!) and a Paw Patrol cake

Susan & Frank

• Frank and I hugged this morning, and Zach said, “Aww…” or something like that. He is the SWEETEST boy! 
• A nice hike at Seneca Regional Park and dinner at Finn Thai
• Ran/walked a 10K+ (Frank and I did the old loop - from before Zach was born - from Lake Fairfax Park on Colt's Neck to the Cross County Trail and connecting with the W&OD to come back)
• Nice dinner and discussion at Red's Table

Good Food

• We made a raspberry milkshake and Zach added applesauce. Hmmm...
• Zach enjoyed Gamma's 'grass (lemongrass??) soup at Auntie Em's birthday party. 
• Dinners (and a lunch with Tammy's Zumba crew) at Tacos and More
• Zach and I had a blast at the Vienna farmer’s market. They had a donut truck, and we got him a breakfast sandwich - just sausage on a crummy bun, but he liked it!
• Vanilla latte at Bikelane Brewing
• Zucchini hash
• Sigga's apple cake
• Zach wanted to go to the coffee shop and get hot chocolate, so we did!

Visits with

• Kathleen and Brian; Zach and I met them at Stone Tower on a VERY hot September Sunday, but still fun!
  
• Mom for her birthday in Woodstock

  

  Zach took this pic too!

• Lunch at La Ong with Auntie Em
• GoCanvas picnic
• Parties: Mila and Chloe
• Auntie Em's birthday! Cake and Thai food. Zach took this picture of all of us toasting!
  
• Call with Kathleen
• Nice encouraging messages from Mary Kay
• Aliana and family and new friends at Emily and Andrew's wedding

  

  Zach at the wedding

Fun Stuff (Personal and Professional)

• Tammy was the sub at Zumba one Monday night, and it was AMAZING! I really needed it. Then, I went to her first class at Lifetime. I miss Tammy.
• Zach told me he loves my Mother's Day necklace, and he also complimented my hair one day!
• Values! Mine are knowledge (experiences, growth, information, etc.) and Caring
• Good leadership institute. I really do love those folks! What, not why! I loved Sam's takeaway!
  
• Reading Insight by Tasha Eurich and doing the book's exercises, finished Brene Brown's online leadership courses, and met with Brian from the Table Group
• Turtle screen shot of one of my walks with Auntie Em!
  
• Appointments with Auntie Em - glad I could be there

Childhood Favorites Revisited
Things we did as a family: musicals, ice skating, Star Trek: The Next Generation, movies like the one with Cher and Dennis Quaid. Hiking with Dad, family reunions.

The Tetons. My favorite photo from my sister's vacation

End of Summer, including Northern Michigan Vacation

View from Empire Bluffs Trail
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Zach - Of Note

• Was convinced that sticks were stronger than rocks. We experimented one Friday evening.

• At home, he was super-keen on building “trophies” out of his big blocks, and he made one for me and himself, and one for Daddy. Super cute. In the morning, he tiptoed into Frank’s room and left it for him. Adorable!
• I have been going to the library and getting Zach lots of books. (They were a hit on the trip.) Those Level 1 "Step into Reading" books can be very strange. Now in mid-September, it's the book fair at school. He pines for books every morning!
• In Michigan, Zach had a blast at Julie's:
• He remembered and loved playing with Owen, Joey, and Wyatt. 
• He and Wyatt played volleyball with a balloon over a baby gate! They built forts inside. 
• No naps, though! He went to bed earlier and slept later to make up for it. 
• He got soaking wet every day. He enjoyed the purple squirter and her hose.
• He loved a motorcycle helmet and also wanted to play with instruments.
• I played classical music one morning over breakfast, and Zach thought the classical music was “scary” or something similar; I said it was dramatic, and he didn’t like it. So, he asked Alexa to play the Fireman Sam theme song, and then he loved that I played Disney music. He impressively belted out songs from Frozen.

• Zach and I started walking "the long way" to school the week of September 9. It is a 2-mile endeavor and takes an hour. We go through the forest and the tunnel, down to the valley of yellow flowers. We throw flowers and leaves in the stream. We walk up the hill and see the kids waiting for the school bus. We walk along Wiehle to the fire station and chase each other down the W&OD. We see the CT bus with Mr. James or Vanessa driving, and finally, we walk past the loading dock and up the hill to Childtime. It's a blast! The first day, Zach thought part of the walk was smelly, and he said, "Something smells 'not delicious.'"

• Zach wanted new shoes, and they needed to be orange and light up. I found some, and he loves them. He said, “they’re awesome.” They were also on a list as his top favorite thing as they shared at school!

Funny dress up pictures:
postal carrier and fire fighter

• Zach made fruit salad (grapes, apple sauce, banana, pear) for his breakfast and wanted to save some for Daddy, but ended up eating it all. :)
• He is really not into drawing or writing his letters! 
• Zach drew scribbles, which he called mountains, and I told him I was grateful for his mtn pics!
• We decorated Bob's card, and he said, "I'm not good at this," or something like that, and I had to remind him that it was colorful!

Grateful for (some excerpts): 

• The pool, “all of it." I told him I was grateful for him over multiple nights, and he said, "You can't always say the same thing!" He also didn't like my answer of "reading a book."

With his cousin

• Zach is grateful for: the boat, his cousins, me and Daddy; Mommy is grateful for Zach, Amanda (at work), small acts of kindness, zucchini hash
• Grateful for: Emily sent me flowers, nice card from Judie (work), walking, Zach, yummy food, Yvette
• Grateful for: Andy and Noelle (at work), my sister, Mom and Dad, and Z said MOD Pizza

Sleep Update

I'm still going to sleep with him and getting up and doing 1-3 hours of other stuff (reading, watching Netflix, and even laundry one night).

Zach has had a rash this month since we got back from Michigan, and he's been waking up in the middle of the night more often, so sometimes he wakes and notices I'm gone. That's a little challenging.

Empathy Corner

• He wanted to get together with Evera and family and wondered about Esher and how he was doing! Really?!
• He asked Mom and Dad about Woodstock. "How's Woodstock?" "Tell me more."
• I also told him that Gamma and Bob bought him a new Michigan shirt, and he, unprompted, thanked them for it.
• Zach and I were getting ready to go to the farmer’s market, and he got with the program when I told him he'd get to see Auntie Em. He said, “I love her.”
• One morning I tried a bunch of dresses to wear since it’s to be 95 degrees! Zach really liked my black dress with beading. When I stood on the stool, he said, “Mommy, you’re going to hurt your ankle again!” and he looked pained and worried for me.

Zach's Words & Songs

• Pool, school, cool, and stool - two syllables, sounds so funny
• Zach got another haircut and said, "Mommy, I like my haircut."
• Greg = Break, and if we try to pronounce it Greg, he corrects us. (From PJ Masks)
• Zach said something like, “I’m a big boy; I can turn on the sink and peel a banana!”
• Zach enjoys colored rubberbands, and I "hung" them up in the car. He called them "color handlebars."
• He reminded me that it was dance class day and he would need to wear his dance class uniform. I had found his white shirt, and he said, “Where was it?” as if he’d been looking for it! Cutie pie!
• He used the word "ridiculous" yesterday and asked what it means "to interrupt."

Good Food

• Cooking: roasting potatoes, green beans, and shoshito peppers and sometimes garlic and eggplant 
• For Zach anyway! He enjoyed my mac and cheese (made with American cheese slices left over from the beach), and he put Clementine oranges in with the mac and cheese. What a creation!
• I took myself to lunch at Lake Anne and had their briney chicken sandwich. Very yummy. 
• I love Senor Ramon's!
• My Territory meals of salmon and the tempeh with beets and butternut squash were GREAT! On Thursday, I had the tempeh/beets/butternut squash and some of Auntie Em's yummy upstate New York cheese. Thank you for sharing, Auntie Em!

Visits with

• Tim, Ralph and Chuckie, and Leah's family at her mother's memorial service.
• Aliana and family; we took a walk and enjoyed the train at Burke Lake.

Zach's first
ice cream cone!

• My colleague, Ashley, and her daughters Carter and Chloe. Ashely made a wonderful dinner, and Zach got to have ice cream in a cone. The first ever cone experience, I think!
• Ran into Janette (Fields) from GHCC days at Lake Anne
• Lunch with Jenifer

• Family on the Michigan trip and in Charlevoix

At Lake Anna

• Frank took Zach on the boat at Lake Anna with Michael, Leah, and family
• Auntie Em on several evenings after her breast cancer diagnosis, and connected Auntie Em and Yvette
• Dad's birthday! I made him a peach cobbler, and we all went to Cafe Sano

Fun & Not So Fun Stuff (Personal and Professional)

• Went to see the movie, Luce. I found out after that it was based on a play. Makes sense. It was so over-the-top!
• Lots of support. Very grateful.
• Calls with leadership/OD colleagues: Brian from the Table Group and Stacy
• Finished the book, “Getting Naked,” by Pat Lencioni, enjoyed reading "Sum It Up," and finished the latest Maisie Dobbs book
• Deployed e-learning module, Meetings the GoCanvas Way

Volta!

• Finished Stranger Things. Loving the latest released season of Heartland.
• Very not fun - another round of layoffs, and that included a couple people who I really liked a lot. :(
• Nice runs in Lake Fairfax Park and lots of walking.

Vacation to Michigan Highlights

See all photos and videos here.

At Blackstar Farms

• We had some truly delightful weather, which lent to two beautiful evenings outside. 
  
• The day we arrived, we stopped at Midlands Brewing Company. We had a picnic outside and a band was setting up for a Saturday night concert. I got a video of their warm up to "Livin' on a Prayer." 
• The other nice night was at the end of the trip. On Friday evening, I went for a walk and ended up on the Empire Bluffs Trail, and it was a perfect night, beautiful light. 
• On Sunday, Zach and I went to the grocery and farmer's market. We were trapped outside Empire waiting for the Ironman triathalon to end, and I did not handle it well. That afternoon, Frank took Zach to the Lake Michigan beach at Empire, and they played on the playground and in the water of South Bar Lake.
• It was really nice to stay in Empire and be able to go out for runs in town. I did that a lot. We went for walks and Zach rode his scooter around Empire, and we ran races-tag-dinosaur tag-ambulance game outside the house on the quiet road.
• Zach got into "tell me something silly," while we were in Michigan. His was often "How would you like to ride on a blueberry chocolate tractor." I asked about eating breakfast with crocodiles. 
• We talked about silos driving to Julie's, and called the route "Silo Highway."
• Frank talked about how creative Zach is getting. They built sand castles and Zach put in rocks as windows.

• Mom and Dad took Zach to Moomer's, and he got ice cream all over!
• I went rollerblading on the Leelanau Trail.

• Mom, Dad, Frank, Zach, and I had dinner at Black Star Farms, and Zach loved "riding" the bear.

• Visited Saint Ambrose Cellars (rainbow), which was great (aside from their lame food truck). They had a lovely outdoor area and great libations.
• We had a great time at Grand Traverse Commons as always. We got food from Spanglish and drinks from Left Foot Charlie's.
• We made our way over to the East Arm and had a really yummy lunch at Bonobo Winery.

• The weather cooperated, and we went canoeing on the Platte again and had a picnic from Mary's Asian Cuisine food truck.
• Frank took several baths with Zach and they had a blast.

• He got many-a-Super Wing.

• Zach crashed a birthday party at Lake Ann again, and got in the photo!
• We got pizza and beers from the Lake Ann Brew House and watched the band for a while.

• We took Zach on the Pierce Stark Drive Sleeping Bear Dunes driving tour, and he loved the last stop of the dunes and lake overlook. There was a para glider, and he played in/on the sand dunes.

• We enjoyed some beach time.
• On our way to Charlevoix, we stopped at Oryana. I love that place. I got lunch and breakfast items, and the scone was very tasty even when it wasn't warmed!
• Zach played at a Charlevoix playground I'd never been to and played with a lot of other kids. One kid, a big kid, said "See you later, kid," when he left since they hadn't introduced themselves!
• Stayed overnight in Charlevoix, and got to meet Till. We also chatted with the Silbergleit's and it turns out Alice(?) is really good friends with Susan Sheahan, one of my SCORE leaders.
• Zach loved playing with the ancient fire truck, and he put his Super Wings on it.
• He also loved playing on the beach and on the dock. He jumped in to Frank too, which was a BIG and COLD jump.
• We had dinner by the water all the way downstairs, which was nice.

• Zach got to go out for a ride with Sara Gay, and she let him steer! I rode too; what fun!
• Zach was a great traveler on two 12-hour drives! We played a lot of "I spy with my little eye."