Today Tom and I tossed around the idea of Chicago getting the Olympic bid... and we quickly calculated that Rachael and Lawrence would be 7 & 9 years old... old enough to understand... and we decided to hold on to the condo.. and shackout there in sleeping bags when the time came... Unfortunately Chicago lost the bid... but I've spent the entire day thinking of Rachael growing up. She's already reached the age where she's now a little grownup and I suddenly thought of first holy commnuions, and her growing up. And I'm excited and terrified all in one. I want to do this right ... I want to bring her up right.

We went apple picking on Sunday. We did everything but apple pick which is funny... we didn't apple pick cause each bag cost $40 and really .. we're not that health conscious... so we'll save apple picking for next year at a cheaper spot when both the kids can get their fill. We went to Apple Holler this year. Somewhere around wednesday I start telling Rachael what we're going to do on the weekend so she has somehting exciting to look forward to. The weekdays are hard on all of us.. so having that joy to hold on to makes it somehow bearable. So we went on a little toy train, Rachael sat on a great big horse... (she was definitely part excited part terrfied), and then we just hung out.. had some grilled hot dogs... Rachael must have been hungry cause she ate the bread too.. and then all of the cinnamon twist..lol.. This weekend Tom is working so we're going to plant some bulbs (tulips red and yellows). After apple holler we stopped at Jewel and bought a pumpkin.... It's our first pumpkin ever... I shut off my mind and let them carve in in the house while lawrence played around with the guts... sometimes I can manage to quiet the nagging in my head that tells me just how much cleanup there will be....The pumpkin is gorgeous though. Tommy did a great job on it... all pretty with flickering tea candles and all.