Really, today was just an ordinary day but at the same time…it was the best.  The bug and I woke up, I worked for a little bit and then we took a trip to the DMV (gag) and then, since we had the afternoon free, decided to mill around the outlet mall.  As soon as we walked into the mall area, Hailey says, “Mama.  I smell something…good.”  “I smell…a muffin.”  I don’t bake muffins very often but ok, if she thinks she smells a muffin, so be it.  She was actually smelling the scent of roasted cinnamon peanuts coming from the booth in the center of the mall.  Our daughter has a nose for sweets, like me.

After we left the mall, we decided to hit the neighborhood park for a bit.  I’m so glad we did because there are fallen leaves all around now.  Since we don’t have many trees in our subdivision’s common area, I took full advantage of showing the bug how to gather up leaves and jump, throw, and roll around in them.  I’ve been dying to do this for years weeks now.  Yesterday, I even contemplated randomly pulling over on the side of the road, just to run and jump into all of the red, yellow and orange leaves in a nearby neighborhood.

Today was so fun.  It brought back a lot of memories for me…playing in the leaves with my parents, friends and brothers.  We used to have piles and piles of leaves in the yard that we would rake up and just bury ourselves in.  I know those leaves were a pain for our parents to clean up but they were what Fall was all about to us.

I often complain about my phone’s camera but thank goodness I even have one, because without it, I wouldn’t have captured these fun shots of Hailey’s first time playing in the leaves.  She loved it (and so did I).

gathering…

throwing…

laughing…

rolling…

It’s raining now.  Thank you, mother nature, for holding off and letting us be kids today.