Falling Into Fall

It happens every year.  I fight the start of school, the coming of fall, and then as soon as fall starts I become entranced in the colors, the smells, and the feel of fall all over again.  Each and every year I fall for fall.

New England is known for their brilliant fall colors but Wisconsin is much the same.  There are not many things in this life that can live up to the beauty of a warm, fall day in Wisconsin.

Knowing the weather was predicted to be sunny and 70 and that the leaves would be at their peak this weekend we decided to make the trek to the cabin in northern Wisconsin.  Todd went up on Thursday night to get all of his busy work done, and I stayed home and waited for the kids to get out of school on Friday so the rest of us could join him.

Despite the fact that I woke up Friday morning with a nasty cold, and the day was jam packed with getting the kids ready for school, a trip to the store, running back to school to drop off forgotten paperwork, a doctor's appointment for Ben (he is completely recovered- a miraculous recovery as the doctor has never seen such a quick healer), a doggy haircut, another trip to the store, and packing everyone's bags, I was still looking forward to being up north and soaking in some fall.

I was still in fairly good spirits, despite the fact that I was sick as a dog, the traffic was backed up over the Green Bay bridge, Ben got a massive bloody nose in the car, and a three hour car ride took 4 hours. I was a little less enthused when Todd was not at the cabin (he was in "town" getting a bite to eat with Uncle Greg) when we had finally arrived which meant I had to unpack the whole van by myself.  But, I managed to do it all and still had time to collapse on the bed for 5 minutes before it was time to feed the kids (again) and then get them off to bed.  

After a nice, big heaping of cold medicine I woke up to this.

Not a bad way to start the day.

Grace and I took our time getting up and getting ready while the menfolk were busy getting the chainsaw, wood-splitter, and four wheeler prepped for a day in the woods.   The plan for the day involved removing dead trees and stocking the wood shed for the long winter ahead.

When Grace and I finally ate and got dressed we joined the gents across the road in the woods.  I relaxed my achy back and stuffed head on the four wheeler while the rest of the crew hauled wood back to the trailer.  The boys super duper impressed me with their determination and hard work.

With everyone joining in it only took a little while to split and stack all the wood.  So much wood was split that the pile towered over the boys' heads, and another pile of kindling was stacked on the other side of the shed.

When all the work was done the kiddos and I took a walk down the road to see the beautiful color.  It did not disappoint.  Even Molly admired the view.

The color was so beautiful we couldn't decide which tree was the prettiest.  Reds versus oranges versus yellows versus rusts.  Just too much beauty to take in.

All day long the colors and smells of fall enveloped us and made even the most mundane chore special.

Standing at the kitchen sink, my hands soaked with bubbles, I had to grab my camera one more time and catch the picture right in front of me.

Even with my cold, it was a wonderful way to fall in love with fall.