It's finally autumn!

Gus' preschool bag-the front (thank you for your iron-on decal selection, Michael's!).

One of many walks out to the lighthouse in Ludington, MI

On a hike in Ludington

My favorite season is here, and that makes me one happy little lady. Fall always perks me up a little. I just wish it wasn't so fleeting. I've already put up some Halloween decorations, and I want to do more. We will go to the pumpkin patch soon, too.

Our vacay to Michigan was awesome. We've been many times to Ludington, but this was probably the best time yet. We had so much fun, and the kids had a blast. Gus still asks about "the cabin"--"When are we going back to the cabin, Mom?" I felt bad leaving it. We rented a cabin right on Hamlin Lake this year, and it was fantastic. The front patio was huge and looked over a little cliff on to the lake. Couldn't have asked for a better view. Andy's parents were up there, as was Lindsey, and we all just had so much fun relaxing, hanging out. The kids went on hikes with us and Gma and Gpa, and Gus even got to drive his Great Aunt Ginny's boat. Good times. When we lived in Chicago we would visit Ludington 1x a year b/c it was a mere 4-hour drive. Now it's a much longer drive (12-13 hours), but we'd like to try for every summer. The kids love it, and it's a lovely break from the hot as balls weather in KS (yes, I said "hot as balls"--I love that phrase. Such a guilty pleasure).

Since getting back from Michigan, our world has been so busy these days. Let's see...quick updates in bullet points, b/c that helps me stay concise, which is hard for me (I know, shocker):

• Gus loves preschool. He talks about his teachers, who are amazing, all the time and he's slowly making new friends in class, too. It takes our little guy a bit to warm to new kids. He's a friendly little guy, but like his father, it just takes him a bit to warm up to folks. But Gus really loves school and has learned so much already. I'm really glad we put him in this year. I took him today and a little boy named Owen told him Mom, "Mom, look, that's Gus!!!" It was adorable.
  
• Cleo is like her momma...not introverted. :) Cleo is our crazy, fearless little lady. She speed walks everywhere and breaks out of most things you strap her in, including her high chair. I need to find a better high chair for her to use, b/c she climbs out of hers and tries to literally climb down it to the floor. It's stressful. I've been feeding her in her exersaucer so she's trapped. We never even used straps with Gus b/c he was content to just "be." Not Cleo! There are things to do, see, mess with. She will be a very active little monkey. She's all smiles, all the time. And still super affectionate. She's a social butterfly. The more activity and the more people, the better. I took Gus and Cleo to work the other day and Cleo walked right up to this opera professor I work next to, and hugged her for the longest time. No stranger danger here. That probably won't be so good when she's older, but it's cute right now.
  
• Work for us is still crazy, but for me it's starting to level off a bit. I finally got a little help from some students, so that has been awesome. Andy is basically traveling throughout the month of October, so it's that time when I mentally prep myself to be a single mom. I'm getting used to it with 2 kids now. Finally. It's hard when you are outnumbered! But I'm managing.
  
• I'm teaching myself how to run. I'm really proud of myself, to be honest. I NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS thought I could do this. I'm doing this podcast called Couch to 5k through coolrunning.com that teaches folks who have never run before to run 3 miles without stopping on a regular basis within 9 weeks. I'm on week 2 of the podcast, and so far it's going well. My goals with this are to 1) learn how to run 2) run a 5k after training 3) lose 10 stubborn lbs. More than anything, I just want to be active and healthy. So far I love it. And during all this, Andy is training for the upcoming KC 1/2 marathon. Hilarious...I'm learning how to run 3 miles, and he's training to run over 13 miles. A wee different, but that's okay! You have to start somewhere, right?

More later...