It is hard to believe it is already the middle of October and in the next few days we will be coming up on the one year anniversary of our trip to Kazakhstan. We've been keeping busy enjoying what appears to be a brief stint of Fall like weather, a visit from Saba and Safta, and just generally busy with an 18 month old who rarely sits still!

We'll start with an update on Rylie's Garden. We've already used a lot of our basil. Still waiting for some tomatoes and strawberries. Our favorite little gardener
After all of my complaining about how Arizona does not have a real pumpkin patch, in fact, I was wrong! We found a fabulous festival in the far south east part of the Phoenix area. We headed down there while Saba and Safta were visiting.The festival was like a real Fall Festival- complete with a hayride, petting zoo, corn maze, rides, good food, and of course, a pumpkin patch.
Rylie took the lead on guiding us through the corn maze.And as seems to often be the case with Rylie, she frequently opted for the path less taken.I'm not a big fan of carnival/ fair rides (and it certainly didn't help that while we were waiting in line for this ride, we noticed the ride next to us has broken down with kids stuck on it.) But this ride seemed pretty harmless, and Rylie is very into bees lately, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity! The second the ride started, Rylie starting giggling so loudly, and of course flapping her arms and "buzzing."Surprisingly, Rylie was not very interested in the petting zoo. She was fascinated with being up close with the animals when they were on the other side of the bars, but once we went in with the animals, she was less intrigued. We ended our visit to the farm with a stop at the pumpkin patch.
Once again, the path set out by the people at the farm was not really on Rylie's agenda. She preferred climbing over the pumpkins. Until she found the perfect one! (We opted for a smaller one to bring home.)
Feeding the ducks at our local train park.
So life is good here in Arizona. New fascinations....
1. Spiders/ants/any bug crawling on the pavement at the park (Rylie usually gets down on her knees, waves and says "hello" and follows the bug. When they disappear into a crevice in the pavement, her arms go out to her sides in a questioning position and she says "Zis it?" Which is Rylie's way of asking "Where is it?")
2. Rylie is very impressed (as she should be!) by her new skills at the park- she can climb the entire playground- even to the very top level. When she accomplishes something, she usually says, "Did it!" I think she learned this from Dora. Wherever it came from, it is unbelievably cute!
3. Shadows- Rylie had been intrigued by these a while ago, but over the past month or so she has become really into her shadow.
4. Realizing that her big bird chair can be used as a step stool and dragging it clear across our house from the playroom to the kitchen, opening the door to the pantry, bringing her chair into the pantry, standing up on in, and reaching for her favorite treats- Nila wafers! Considering Adam and I are both relatively tall and neither of us use step stools, we're not sure where she learned this. Once again, we'll just look at it that she is a good problem solver :-)
5. The Moon. For the past month or two, Rylie has been obsessed with the moon. It is the first thing she asks see in the morning and she loves looking for it at night. On the rare occasion when she sleeps past the time the moon is visible in the morning, she is very disappointed.

Love to everyone...