{weekends are meant for girls to throw leaves in the air}

As I drove away from my home this weekend I thought, "Hopefully something doesn't happen to me because it would be a darn shame for some help to arrive and observe my home in such a condition"..BUT then again on the flip side using my positive thinking skills I thought about the fact that if a robber were to get in while I were away they would probably turn around and raid the neighbors house because mine already looked like it had been ransacked and looted. Either which way the mess was going to have to wait because I wanted to give my girls the moon and the stars. Without any planning I booked a cheap hotel and we hit the road and made it just in time before the orionid meteor shower showed itself. I had never been to the Lowell Observatory but I knew I wanted to go so what better opportunity than to share it with 2 little girls who thought it was the most magical thing to look through the 5th largest telescope on the continental U.S. We were the very last people to look through the telescope that evening. After we were through we took our shivers over to get ourselves a hot cocoa..nights are cold this time of year in Flagstaff.

As we took the scenic route home I asked the girls what their favorite things were that we had seen and they both noted that they loved a quirky old mining town named Jerome (next time we go we go back we will bring the boys and pan for real gold with a skinny man that has a beard down to his belly button..true story..the town feels like it has characters straight out of a movie).  I myself loved it because it had a shop that sold all things copper..it was so unexpected, quaint and charming. If I had a little extra money to spare I would have taken some of those gorgeous copper bookends or sculptures home with me. When we were in the shop there were lots of talk about the hippy artisans and one in particular who lives in his VW Bus and makes things out of copper when he feels the notion. As we made it down the road Maile asked, "What are hippies?" Try answering that question to a little kid without making hippy-ism sound like the best thing ever. I tried to explain that real hippies usually like minimal work and minimal worries..SEE what I mean. Then all of a sudden I spotted a few walking in the streets and said, "Look girls there are a few examples of a hippy". Maile then said, "Oh they don't like to wear shoes when they walk in the streets just like me" I then felt it necessary to talk about the whole concept of contributing to society......I know, I know all hippies are not created equal.

Anyway hippy or not here are a few discoveries that made us feel like celebrating fall:

Fresh pressed apple cider in Oak Creek Canyon. (I dare you to link over...the photos are beautiful)
Beautiful colors from Sedona to Flagstaff on highway 89A.
A fun pumpkin patch by Prescott (Freeman Farms)
Pumpkin macaroons
Big coats and boots needed to observe the moon, Jupiter and over a million stars in the sky

I hope where you live you can gather up an armful of leaves and throw them up in the air...

Have a most happy week!