Fall 2025

There were only 3 of us for apple-picking this year because Erin picked with her other family, the cross-country team

As usual, we picked 95% honeycrisp

The next weekend we visited the Davis Mega Maze. This is an aerial photo of the actual maze. They provide this to you upon entrance, and having spent many teenage years playing dungeon crawler computer games, navigating the maze in first-person view was a piece of cake.

Tessie and her friend needed a little coaching to get through

I took a work trip to Sweden and found a Swedish candy store that sold the Bubb's sour skulls that our kids love

I brought home a couple kilos of sweets and a giant pillow

Back home Erin and Heather saw Shawn Mendes in concert

and we took Tessie up for parent's weekend at Dartmouth

Erin stayed back for an XC race in Rhode Island and we followed the live results

Caroline's mail-order dresser for under her bed required a family effort to assemble

Claire and I met in New York to visit my parents and we headed up to Mohonk for a perfect day of hiking

What's this rubbing medallion on the Hudson River School Art Trail? Partially sponsored by the Thomas Cole National Historic Site (not an official NPS site, despite the name), there are 20 of these medallions at locations painted by members of the Hudson River School of American landscape art. In addition to this one at Sky Top, we found 2 other ones on the Mohonk property. Could this be another collectible quest now that the Junior Ranger badges are completed?

This year my pumpkin garden was its best ever, delivering 4 of carving quality and 6 in total

While at my parents, Claire and I visited the Pumpkin Blaze near Sleepy Hollow, aka Tarrytown. I remember playing high school sports against Sleepy Hollow High School, whose mascot were the headless horsemen

There were hundreds of jack-o-lanterns on display. Some were real, but most were made out of plywood

but the designs were mesmerizing

At our local Wilson Farm, their constructions are less fabricated

For Halloween Caroline attended multiple parties and required multiple costumes

Tessie and her friend disguised themselves to go booing around the neighborhood

She dressed up for her riding lesson alongside Gracie

The cat was inspired by the ones at Sleepy Hollow. NXN is Erin's cross-country goal: the Nike Cross-Country Nationals race