kaleidoscoping chaos...: Autumn At last!

This weekend we welcomed Autumn - Fall - the season of brilliant colors, sexy boots, snugly jackets, sensuous scarves and crunchy leaves under your feet and some pretty great holidays!

I love FALL! (truth be told I love all the seasons!) I love living in a place that has seasons. I lived for three years in Austin, TX and I really missed the seasons. It feels good to be at one with the changing of the seasons... even better was the year I spent in Israel and we literally ate the foods of each season from the central market in Jerusalem... no imported fruit or vegetables... just the ones that were in season - I really liked that!

So this weekend we did what any good kaleidoscoping crew would do on the first weekend of Fall! We went to FALL FESTIVALS! You know we love good festival!

We kicked the weekend off with a jaunt over to Capitol Hill. We don't get there much, but when we do we usually have fun. We went to the Barracks Row Fall Festival. It was a little Main Street USA right here in the middle of our Nation's capitol, literally on Capitol Hill, just steps away from the actual Capitol's steps! Go us!

It was totally fun. There were arts & crafts, a little petting zoo, booths of all types, arm painting, arial gymnastics, kid games, and musical entertainment. We hung out with a random street performer and his electric guitar for quite quite a while... Jonah even got to strum the guitar. Then the highlight of the day was the performance by Batala - the all women Afro-Brazilian percussion band! It was absolutely completely awesome! Jonah & Vera were entranced and dancing up a storm... and well, when we got home, I looked them up on the Internet and tried to join the group... (seriously that is how superfantastic they were!!!) but alas they are not accepting new members right now... I will check back later. If you ever get a chance to see them - go - it is sort of a life changing experience - well it was for me. Next week, we may need to check out the drum circle at Meridian Park because I am all into drums now!

We had a fall festival meal: Appetizer of cotton candy, Main meal of ice cream sundaes, and dessert of fancy cookies! Again, all I can say - Go us!

It was the perfect way to begin the new season - even if it was sunny and close to 88 degrees???

It's all about getting your new season groove on - new clothes, new shoes, new thoughts, new foods, new holidays - some of it isn't really new - just the "cycle" of the year continuing. But each time we get to a another holiday or date that I can mark, I look at my kids and think - wow, another year, another memory, another blessing. That is the real benefit of noticing the day, the month, or the season and the time of year - stopping to make sure you are able to make a mental note - how lucky I am and how I am going to do my best to make the most of every second of it all and enjoy it the best that I can!

FABULOUS FALL WE ARE ENJOYING YOU ALREADY!

Happy Monday Everyone!

And yes... spoiler alert - I did see Madonna last night (without the kids) and it was a religious experience!!!! One of the best nights I have had in my life - not that I am dramatic or anything like that... I will find a way to weave it into one of the posts this week - I just could not do it today... the concert finished after 1am!!! I LOVE MADONNA!!!