It was a beautiful kinda chilly day here today.

I’d passed an open space the other day that looked like it might be fun to walk around.   There was a little path, and we followed it around for a loop that maybe was about 3/4 a mile?  We really enjoyed it.

Davey picked up a stick, and he led the way.  He told us that he needed to clear the path.  He cleared it so much that he had a blister on his finger when he was done.  His skin is so soft, but it didn’t occur to me that he’d get a blister waving that stick.  He was waving with vigor though.

Such a pretty fall day.

And then David wanted to get a picture of Davey and me.

When we got home, Davey’s friends from across the street came outside to play in the leaves.  They have a beautiful red maple, and its leaves have already turned and fallen.

Davey liked burrowing into the pile.

So fun to watch them play.

Davey has been so funny lately in the things he says.  I have got to get some of them down, so I don’t forget them.

Yesterday he told me that he could not get the song by Mr. Rogers Federer out of his head.  You know, “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.”  I told him that it is Mr. Rogers, but he disagreed.  David follows Federer closely and talks about him so I think that is how the Mr. Rogers/ Roger Federer morph occurred.

After Davey’s meltdown the other day at the post office, we talked about how we felt about it for a few minutes.

I told him that it made me feel kind of bad.  He scooted closer to me and said, “Mommy,  I know how you feel.”   Then he said, “Did it make you feel nervous?”  My little therapist.

Yesterday we went to a yarn shop.  There is a nice little area with toys where he likes to play while I look at yarn.  So I was actually picking out some buttons yesterday, and when I was done I told Davey that it was time to go.  We needed to pick up the toys and I offered to help,  but Davey said, “No Mommy.  It is my responsibility.”  He insisted on picking them all up by himself.  Now if only he felt the same responsibility at home!

And finally, we were driving yesterday and Davey said, “Mommy.  I wonder who I will marry some day.”

I was a little flabbergasted and wasn’t sure what to say.  But he continued, “I guess I could marry Olivia.  Olivia says that she is going to marry me.”

I told him that he had a lot of time before he was 40 and needed to think about getting married.  Ok maybe 30.

He just catches me by surprise all the time with the things he says.

Today we went to a pumpkin patch.  We thought we’d look at the pumpkins and then there are usually some kids’ activities as well.

The pumpkins were not actually in the patch anymore, but Davey picked one out that was just his size, and he decided he wanted to bring it home.

There was also a dried corn box (as opposed to a sandbox).  We’d never seen one before.  It was fun to get in it for a few minutes and play with the corn, but we weren’t sure what to do after that.  You can’t really build with dried corn.  You can make a corny mountain and then let corn rain through your fingers.  That was about it for us, but it was neat.

My favorite part was the mini corn maze built just for kids.  It was just my speed.  Last fall we went to a big corn maze at the botanical gardens.  I blogged about our experience in the maze.  We were not crazy about that corn maze.

I think I learned that I may be a little claustrophobic.  I could not wait to get out of that maze.  I didn’t realize that I may have not been too happy to be completely surrounded by corn.

Today’s maze was green growing corn and it was about as high as little Davey’s eye.

I could see all around us at all times.  This made for a great maze experience.  We also didn’t fear that we’d be lost in there for days.

Twenty minutes later we’d found our way out.

I’ll look forward to going through that maze again!

Yesterday we went to Davey’s first soccer game and practice.  They actually started a week ago, but Davey had a fever.  He still had a cold yesterday but he was feeling a lot better so we decided it would be ok.

And he was.  He learned a lot on his very first day of soccer ever.

His team has a thirty minute practice and then a thirty minute game.  They practiced with another team yesterday and  had a special coach who I don’t think is with them all the time (I’m still figuring this stuff out myself).

Coach Pete, I think his name was, showed them some drills.   He had a strong maybe Irish accent (which I think the kids were fascinated by – they really listened to him).

And so anyway,  I didn’t quite get what the drills were called.  But  they were yelling out names and then the kids would do something different.

I think this was “Green Bean” (I tried to verify with Davey but  he didn’t provide me with much guidance).

This was perhaps “Baked Bean”?  (Davey just assured me that it was indeed Baked Bean and that yes Green Bean was also correct.)

This was “I fell down and then decided it was time for a little rest”.

Davey really looked like he knew what he was doing here.   He was practicing moving the ball around.  He was doing great.

Then after a short snack of grapes, they started the game.  The field is very small and they played 5 on 5.  (I have no idea how many are in a full big kid soccer game.   Apparently there are 11.  I just googled it.)

The opposing team, however, was having trouble cajoling enough kids out on the field to play.   They did get them out there, and off the kids went.

This was one of the most fun things I have ever watched.

Davey loved to run and run and run.  He was not all that interested in the ball.  Every once in awhile they’d start running, then he’d remember “oh!” and off he’d go often with his arms outstretched like this.

Sometimes they just ran in a long line.

There is no goalie in 3 and 4 year old soccer.   Until Davey decided that he was going to be the goalie.

So they ran around for awhile and it was all great fun.  At the end, they huddled up.  Davey was still focused.

Afterwards, we made a parent tunnel.  It was my first parent tunnel.  I’ll need to get a picture of that somehow.  The kids ran through.  Then they ran through again, and then once or twice more.  They enjoyed this immensely.

Davey’s team is the Lions.  As he relaxed afterward with his juicy juice he roared for me.