I can’t believe we are going to be on the road out of here in only three days. The movers come on Monday. It’s been a weird experience to not have to pack anything. But, packing enough clothes and Legos to last for a month (until our stuff gets there) has kept us busy. That and trying to clean the house while still living it. Which, quite honestly, is impossible on a good day, let alone when it needs to be clean enough to get our deposit back.

Z had his last Super Hero class (OT) with Miss Karen yesterday. It was so sad to say goodbye to her. She’s made such a difference in our daily lives. Life with Z is so much better now. He spent almost the whole session pretending that he was packing a big trip with “all our a lot of stuff” and taking it to his “new strange house.” I guess he does realize what is going on.

A and J had their last day at their great little school yesterday. I’m going to miss that place. Good friends. Amazing teachers. Staff who care about them. We went to the school auction last night where I discovered Mr. D* is crazy serious about winning what he bids on. My mom will actually have a birthday present next week and J was thrilled we won his class project. Wine, tacos, and great people – it was such a nice way to go out.

We get one last night with the Wiltsee Crew on Monday night. Pizza and beer. It should be a great time. And I’m not thinking about how hard it will be to say goodbye.

After 18-months of sunshine and life in the Bay Area, Mr. D* accepted a job up in rain of the Pacific Northwest. We just can’t seem to stay in the same place for too long. That’s how we roll.

This time it feels like we are going home.

My favorite part of the move is that we have movers and I don’t have to pack a thing. My second favorite part is that some friends offered us their ginormous house that sits on an acre of land. Z will have room to run. A and J can ride their bikes again. Everyone is looking forward to ferry rides, old friends and island life.

The sad part is saying goodbye to some great friends and a school community that we love. J is already sad about saying goodbye to his best buddy so we’ve been getting as many sleepovers in as we can. I don’t know how we are going to find a new OT for Z. No one can compare to his Miss Karen. We have friends at church who we love and will miss tremendously. I don’t know how I will survive without Heidi, my go to BFF for last minute kid pickups and nights out at the wine bar.

Bittersweet seems to be the operative word.

This year we managed to hit not one, but 4 pumpkin patches.

Z and I got invited to go along with the kindergarten classes because he has “Pez” (J‘s teacher from last year) wrapped around his little finger. After some hay bale climbing, cow milking, farm animal petting, tractor riding and potato digging action, he got stung by a bee. We hit the road shortly thereafter since he quickly developed a fear of anything small and flying. Although, at one point, Z managed to highjack my camera and take some pretty amazing pictures of me…

This may be my new favorite picture of myself.

This is definitely one of my favorites of him. Love those boots!

Last week J‘s class went to another pumpkin patch and Z and I tagged along. I’m not sure if the highlight at this one was feeding the horses or watching the kids scream in disgust as they tried to feed the cows…

Those cows had some seriously huge, slobbery tongues.

This weekend we managed to make it to two pumpkin patches in one day. The first one was near our house and involved…

an incredibly expensive session of bounce house jumping,

crazy wooden cutouts that have nothing to do with fall,

and pumpkins that were even more expensive than the bounce houses.

After a few tears when we informed the kids there was no way we would be paying $25 per pumpkin, we headed up the highway to farmland and the best pumpkin patch yet.

The pony rides were the highlight. (Really, how could they not be?)

Z tried on a pretty stellar hat.

Biggest pumpkin she could carry!