One of the best parts about fall is going to the cider mill. One of my fondest childhood memories was going to the cider mill every year. The cider mill we always went to was Apple Charlie’s. I don’t remember details of what we did there. I just remember we HAD to get donuts and cider. I’m assuming we ate them there and looked around, but I don’t remember the little petting zoo, I don’t remember looking at pumpkins, and I definitely don’t remember the Barn of Blood. But what I do remember is the feeling I had. The trip to the cider mill was a summary of what the fall season was. Everything fall was compiled into one spot with cider and donuts as the stars. The cool crisp fall air, the dry colorful fall leaves, fall jackets, everything imaginable made from apples and pumpkins, fall decorations, fall produce, and polka bands. And now that I have my own family, I’m very excited that I get to show Ellie why the cider mill rules! Continue reading “THE CIDER MILL RULES”
HAIR!
Gimme head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen…
My friend Amy’s niece was in town from Florida. She’s just a few weeks younger than Ellie and has hair. Not just a little bit of hair, CRAZY amounts of hair. Ellie doesn’t have much which I think is why she loves pulling on other babies’hair. When she met Zayna, she grabbed her hair. At the library she grabs all of the other babies’hair. Now, with a play date with Corryn set up, I knew someone was going to get their hair pulled and it wasn’t going to be Ellie’s.
FRIENDS WALK TOGETHER
It had been awhile since I had seen my friend Meghan. We used to be coworkers and worked on a lot of projects together, so we got to be pretty good friends after awhile. When we sat next to each other, every day she would ask me, “do you wanna be friends forever!?” Yes Meghan, that sounds good. Then she would specify, “not BFFs… just FFs. BFF’s would be too crazy.” Right Meghan, that would be too crazy. Meghan is my unique exotic friend. She’s from an exotic country where they eat ketch-up chips, and things named “poutine.” Yes, you guessed it, Meghan is from the Great White North. She’s Canadian. Eh. Meghan was going to be in our friendly country and wanted to come by and visit me and Ellie. We originally had planned on taking a walk down by the river but the weather was cold and rainy. So we did the next best thing, we headed for the mall. I was excited because this would be Meghan’s first mallwalking experience.
FOOD AFFAIR
I have a confession to make. I’ve been having a food affair. I didn’t mean for it to happen. It kind of snuck up on me. It started with my anxiety of being a stay-at-home dad. I’d go through a whole day of Ellie not sleeping and then I’d reward myself with some ice cream, or some chocolate covered almonds. But then it started to escalate. I started wanting anything chocolate, anything sweet. I’d go through a whole jar of peanut butter in 4 days. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I realized I had a real problem. It’s time I come clean, it’s time I get this out in the open. Hi. My name is Matt, and I’ve been having a food affair. Continue reading “FOOD AFFAIR”
THE STORM OF THE CENTURY
The day was to be the Storm of the Century. The news stations had warned everyone of the damaging winds and the possible tornados to come. It was to be the worst storm the Midwest had seen in 70 years. It also happened to fall on library day. Should we even go I wondered? What if I got stuck in the storm with her? What if we were trapped in the basement of the library? I even got the worried reminder phone call from my mom. “Make sure you have a weather radio on. We have a tornado watch today. We are supposed to get severe storms.” Not only was it the Storm of the Century, Ellie also hadn’t been napping well. Well, she hadn’t been napping at all, for a little over a week now. Ten or fifteen minutes in the car on the way home from Meijers does not count as a nap. Also, story time is at 11:00am which is a tricky time for us. Ellie usually eats at 11:00am or 11:30am, and if I’m lucky she’ll hopefully fall asleep afterwards. So between all these things, you could say I was a little distracted in the morning. Continue reading “THE STORM OF THE CENTURY”