Fall

Anyone else ready for fall?  I am.

We've had a wonderful summer, weather-wise, but I think I'm just about ready for some fall weather.  It's hard to believe that we're already one week into September, and the forecast is still for a high of 30C every day this week!  I don't want to complain, but I'm almost done with the heat.  I love the beginning of fall - the cool, crisp weather; the trees start turning colors; new routines start up.  If only fall didn't have to turn into winter - that's the one bad thing about fall!

We have a bunch of exciting things to look forward to this fall:

• Annika is starting preschool!  She'll be going 2 afternoons a week.  I'm excited to have a little "time off" from her, but I'm also very excited for her and all the new experiences she'll have.  And she's also excited for school - she's been talking about it, playing "school", and counting down the sleeps till she starts.
• I'm going back to school too!  Okay, well not really, but I am taking a "learn to sew" course.  It's one evening a week for six weeks, and I'm very excited about it.  I think my project might be sewing a Halloween costume for Annika.
• Y Neighbours is starting next week!  Definitely looking forward to this - I love getting together with these ladies. :)
• Annika is taking swimming lessons!  I'm looking forward to see how she does this time around (she's repeating the level she did in spring), now that she's had more exposure to the water over the summer.
• We're going on a vacation!!  Just me and Carey!!!  It's really just an extended long weekend (thursday-sunday), but we're going to Chicago later this month.  We had enough Airmiles to get our plane tickets for free (just had to pay the taxes), and we found a pretty good deal on a hotel on www.hotwire.com.  Now I'm watching the Chicago Groupon and LivingSocial sites to see if I can score some good deals on restaurants or attractions.  We went to a bunch of the museums, etc when we were there 4 years ago, so now we're looking for some different things to do.  But we'll definitely be getting some deep dish pizza, some Garrett's popcorn (caramel-cheese mix, yay!), and going back to a neat little piano bar called "Howl at the Moon."  I'm so excited.  Did I mention that it'll just be me and Carey - no kids?!? ;)
• I got some new clothes!  I haven't taken much time to buy clothes for myself since having kids, and my wardrobe was in desperate need of some updating (especially after losing weight, getting pregnant, and losing weight again).  I went shopping a little while ago, and I have 4 new tops for fall that I can't wait to wear!  Also, I tried on a pair of pre-Emmett pants the other day (which I wasn't able to zip up in spring), and they now fit again!  Yay. :)
• Pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks!  These are a favorite of mine.  I was tempted to get one this morning when I was there, but it just didn't seem right yet, so I got a caramel frappuccino instead.

So as you can see, we've got a lot to look forward to! :)