Fall has fallen. There were green leaves on the trees when we wrote our last blog. However, in an effort to complete our Fall adventures checklist before the last leaves fall from the trees, we have to stay away from the computer. We enjoy the changing of the seasons; we love fall particularly. Consequently, you have to try to hang on to it quickly between summer and winter. There isn't much in between as far as the temperature goes, and the leaves at their peak. There are many musts that make our fall fun list including, eating a lot of apple, pumpkin, and gingerbread goodies; hiking and parkway leaf peepin', Halloween festivities, make wine, fall display, and a corn maze. Nevertheless, the surreptitious Summers managed to sneak a few other surprises in as well.
Hiking has been a pretty low priority to us this year (which we are ashamed of). I think we managed to sneak in one hike around these parts. We went on several out in Yellowstone, but with these beautiful mountains in our back yard at home, there really isn't an excuse as to why we didn't go on more. We made it up to Sam Knob right when the leaves started to turn. The weather was still pretty warm. It was nice. We had both been there, but never together, so that makes it special.
We also made it to the State Fair in Raleigh. It has gotten rave reviews from Matt and Tanya. Sam has been; I never had, so we went to check it out. It pretty much lived up to its hype. There was a lot of fried food, people, and fun things to check out. We ate some yummy falafel, a chicken gyro, roasted corn, and a fried pumpkin pie! The food feature this year were Kool-Aid pickles and Krispe Kreme bacon cheeseburger which are not for the weak (or the healthy and sane). We also didn't ride any rides which are also not for the weak. So I'm pretty much saying we are weak. We did see some fun stuff like an 800 lb. pumpkin, and Sam learned how to grow a pineapple, a project in the works. I did not know that 1. pineapples grow from the ground, and 2. each plant only produces one pineapple. Sam also impressed me with his manly attempt at the Marine challenge of 20 pull-ups. He got 19 and a half! Swoon!
I have had a few exciting breakthroughs where school in concerned. We had spirit week, and on one special day, I was able to let my inner nerd shine.
I was successful, if you ask me. I also helped my homeroom enter a door decorating contest against drugs. The theme was "Don't let drugs haunt you." Each door had a saying. I have been waiting for an avenue to premier my genius idea: pun on spirits and exorcise. So our slogan was "Lift your spirits with healthy choices...like exorcise" accompanied by a ghost lifting weights. Award winning. My homeroom won ice cream.Halloween endeavors were not as lofty this year. We did not have a Halloween party which was a bummer, and I am sure left many souls unsettled. We did, however, take part in some pumpkin carving with Mathew and Becca. My current obsession with owls inspired my pumpkin design, and Sam let released his inner wolf man. Mathew did a spooky bat, and Becca did a cat. I guess our theme was creatures of the night, and they turned out just dandy.
Ours, unfortunately, didn't last very long, so we didn't get a good picture with them both lit up due to a lack of candles.
We just really dropped the bomb this year with our All Hallows preparedness. But, since we didn't have a party of our own, we did attend one. We didn't spend a lot of time this year coming up with our costumes, but sometimes the simpler the better. What can I say? We are pretty classic and awesome: salt and pepper- homemade costumes. We can definitely shake our money makers.
For the big night, we watched a few spooky Halloween movies, order pizza, made rice crispy treats and awaited trick-or-treaters. A whopping 2!In other exciting news we went to a fun corn-maze that took us 2.7 miles and 45 minutes to complete. I will be honest, I was beginning to freak out a little bit!
Thank goodness we went early enough in the day and there wasn't a chance of it being dark and turning into the haunted corn maze! Yikes! 
We also trained and completed the 4 miler Power for Pink breast cancer run. We amazed ourselves! We completed this hilly run in 47 minutes. That is the farthest we have ever ran; it was also cold and had a lot of incline. We felt very accomplished.This weekend we made Sam's wine. We are anxiously awaiting the process to finish so that we can see how it is going to turn out! ::Crosses fingers::
October 28th was our 3 year dating anniversary. Can you believe it? 3 years and we still like each other! We celebrated by making a tasty, hearty meal together and opening a bottle of wine we got when we were just beginning to date. Oh the memories!
In the meantime, we are looking forward to the holidays! Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Christmas is just behind it! We also have a few more things to check off on our fall to do list: pumpkin spice latte, and pumpkin pancakes from Ihop. Anyone want to join?
Until next time- stay warm...exorcise.
