This morning Esperanza and I took a stroll to the neighborhood park after breakfast. It was a warm and somewhat dry fall morning so we didn't need to bundle up. Esperanza is so clingy to me most of the time , especially when it's just us. I almost gave up at the park and headed back home b/c she wouldn't let me put her down. What's the point in going to the park to play, when she won't let go of me to play? Instead, I sat on a bench and nursed her while I enjoyed my cup of coffee and the scenery (we must have been there early enough cause the park crews & their leaf blower hadn't arrived to take the leaves away yet). After we nursed, Esperanza wanted down and started running around the park laughing and having a great time - without hanging onto me! Yay! She had a ton of fun and stained one of her last pairs of unstained pants as well as her 'new' used shoes. She climbed all over the play structure, went down the wet and muddy slide, enjoyed the tire swing, and chewed on acorn tops. All the fun wore her out and she went to sleep with no kicking and screaming matches when we got home.
I discovered the 'continuous shot' settings on my camera today...super cool feature!
We go to parks quite often. Armando will take Esperanza once or twice a week. It gives me some much needed alone time at home and it gives the two of them some time together without me. He usually takes her up to Crown Park. He doesn't take pictures. He's always 'in the moment' rather than viewing the world and Esperanza from behind the camera lens like me. I went with them the other day and and of course, brought the camera. It was really chilly and I didn't get many good shots cause I guess I wasn't prepared to be cold, but I tried.
And then there's Hathaway Park. So many of my own childhood memories drift to this little area of Washougal. It is much different today than it was 20+ years ago, but still pretty neat with all the added play structures. Esperanza and I went to the upper Hathaway Park play area a few weeks ago on a sunny afternoon. We did play on the play structures, thats why there aren't any pictures of that, cause I was actually 'in the moment'. And then we sat up by a tree and bench to eat lunch and take pictures...
One afternoon while at Geneva's earlier this month, I packed a picnic lunch, picked Anycia up after her school got out and we went to the coolest park ever! This place is park heaven for little ones of all ages. There was the neatest and biggest sand 'un-boxed' area with a combined water feature where water flowed through a rock structure and emptied out into the sand which formed a small stream through the sand. Awesome! I'm determined to find a way to make a mini-version of this in my backyard one day. It was really cold that morning so we were all bundled up, but once we got to the park the temperature literally rose at least 15 degrees and the clowds disappeared. We peeled off a few layers of clothes and enjoyed the afternoon.
Anycia is up there in the trees 
A couple of weeks ago my mom found an apple orchard up the gorge to pick apples at. Mom, George, Mary, Yoshi, Esperanza and mom's dogs all headed up the gorge one evening with a ladder, rakes, buckets and bags to get the apples. It was a nice place and I got enough apples to make a few quarts of applesauce. I think my mom got more. I spent a day and a half peeling, coring, cooking, pureeing then freezing applesauce. I was going to can them, but I had run out of jars and lids from canning tomatoes (more on that below). Next year I'm going to start my search for apples earlier in the season, as these weren't the best apples, but they were free.
Next up are persimmons! I know very little about persimmons but I have access to some at a friends house and plan to make jam I think...if I don't eat them all. I just saw persimmons at the store for $1.00 EACH.
The kids and their pumpkins
After we all picked our pumpkins, Esperanza turned into one on the hay ride back