Out with the old, in with the new… which applies not only to the beautiful coloured leaves of fall, but also to our schedules. Now that summer is over, we’ve headed back to the city for the turn of the season. Rylie has started preschool two afternoons per week, and Josh is now committed to some regular van days, which leaves Zoe and I to work on getting some sleep (sleep training that is) and Rylie to challenge her mom with creating some home based toddler entertainment.

Rylie also celebrated her 3rd birthday mid-October, with non other than a Paw Patrol themed birthday, which I confess was really just adding cake to two different thanksgiving dinners. We like to combine holidays and get togethers where possible… at least now that she is young and doesn’t have a hefty collection of little friends she wants to have over. Maybe next year we’ll have to conform to a real party!

We also headed out into Glenmore park and Fish Creek to take advantage of the leaves a few times to catch some family photos before the cold crisps them right off the trees. I think it took us three separate occasions to get some decent photos as a family of four.

The girls are growing quickly, and time seems to pass extra fast these days. We’ve started to plan our trip to New Zealand, though we want to wing it as much as possible, so its more of a list of places to check out rather than an itinerary. My packing list is getting longer and longer, and the challenge of limiting four people to two suitcases is getting pretty real.

Although we try not to think about the flight over and how 3 of us will cram into the sky couch (2 kids and mom) and actually get some sleep, we have estimated hours of darkness, air plane meals, announcements and the time the lights will be on in the cabin, and it doesn’t look good. We have even considered calling to book a second sky couch, but with a budget conscious mind we could not commit. 

Halloween has come quickly as well, and we have enjoyed cookie decorating, pumpkin carving, and a couple of festivities at school and dance class. Looking forward to seeing the girls in their costumes!