Since the Steelers don’t play until Monday night this week, and it was forecasted to be a beautiful afternoon, we declared today to be Pumpkin Day! Thanks to a trip to Trader Joe’s last night we had pumpkin cinnamon rolls for breakfast before church and pumpkin ravioli for lunch. (the cinnamon rolls were a bigger hit with the kiddos). Then we crossed the Bay Bridge for some pumpkin patch fun on the Eastern Shore.

Our local fire station had an open house this morning and we took the kids. I always appreciate the demo they do where they have a fireman get into his full uniform and mask so that the kids know in the even of a fire to go towards them, not hide away from them. In addition to climbing on the trucks and sitting inside they had several educational experiences for them.

Well, it’s pretty much official. I think I will pull out the fall décor this weekend and start lighting my beloved pumpkin spice candles. Summer has come and gone. But before I take my first sip of a Pumpkin Spice Latte (I always hold out for that one till the kids first day of their tutorial….), I do want to look back on our summer. I did a lot of deep cleaning this summer and attempted to reign in the chaos and instill some order in the circus house.

I think one of my favorite things about our annual Labor Day weekend away with our friends, is the fact that it has elevated Labor Day to the status of super special holiday. Prior to our tradition (14 years in the making) Labor Day was just a three day weekend at the end of the summer, or a reprieve as you adjust to the routine of school back in session. Because my kids have literally grown up celebrating Labor Day with a 3 day weekend away with friends that feel more like family, they assume Labor Day is right up there with Thanksgiving.

Since going to training camp last year, my oldest has been scheming and planning exactly where he would stand to try and get Ben Roethlisberger’s autograph. My parents got him Ben’s jersey when he was a baby. Ben was our rookie quarterback when our son was a newborn and he has proudly worn his #7 jersey for the past 11 years. And more than anything, he wanted him to sign his jersey.

Lest anyone think our life is some picture perfect world where everyone always gets along and the sun is always shining… It isn’t. We had some moments like this. And truthfully our vacation didn’t start at all like I had planned. We were supposed to leave early on Friday and drive to Latrobe to see the Steelers Friday Night Lights practice. One practice per training camp the Steelers play a scrimmage practice under the lights at the local high school.

We woke up Monday morning and one of the kids asked, “What the plan for today?” Our response: “Nothing” We figured we’d end up at the pool at some point that day but other than that, we had nothing on our agenda. Some of the kids were better at self entertaining than others, but they all ended up enjoying themselves. We ended up with a fabulous camp site. We were close to the bathrooms and the water spicket.

Most of the time we use camping as a cheap way sleep on vacations. We have the goal of visiting every National Park and the way we approach it is by spending pretty much every ounce of our time exploring the park. Most days we usually end watching a sunset, and often the best spot for viewing the sunset is not from our campsite, which gets us to our camp site in time to set up camp in the dark.

My family came for a visit this week. My brother wanted to take his kids to the beach, so we spent two days playing in the sand and waves of the Chesapeake Bay. The weather was perfect. Low humidity, blue skies, and temps in the 80’s. It was perfection! I can’t really even put into words what a joy it was to watch the kids play with their cousins.

Because our kids all left for one place or another on Father’s Day, we decided to celebrate the week after. I had originally planned a low key afternoon followed by a family picnic at a park for the evening. But, Saturday ended up being an incredibly LONG day…. 8 hours total of driving in the rain to pick up our campers and bring them home, plus a soggy basement to sop up once we got home….