The Last Week Or So (and It's More Pictures Than Post)

Hey y'all,

September 22nd is officially the first day of fall; yet down here in the South, the weather will declare otherwise until as late as November some years.
Oh, we will decorate with all of the pinecones, acorns, and fall leaves; and we will light those orange, red, and russet-colored scented candles as soon as the kids are back in school. Those of us that are more stubborn will even break out the flannels and black leggings complete with suede booties, though we will be drowning in the humidity and dying in the heat.
Southerners await the first real day of autumn like we await Christmas morning. Except there's an added level of mystery because we have no idea when that first crisp fall morning will be.

I am ecstatic to inform you that that first glorious fall morning greeted us here in the South this very morning, Thursday, October 11, 2018. Mid-50's temperatures while sipping my cup of coffee over my book on the back porch this morning, watching the sun rise; and we are peaking in the mid-70's this afternoon. Hallelujah, praise the Lord for the change of the seasons and the relief from an oppressive summer! (Clearly this was written with the best of intentions a couple of days ago. #momlife)

The kids and I took full advantage of such wonderful weather. We ran errands around town and finished the morning outing with a romp at the park down the street.

Another reason I haven't been posting as much: a new computer.
I discovered a brand new HP touch screen laptop complete with Windows 10 in the "electricals cabinet" when I was looking for a cord to a television. I haven't had a newer computer since my college Asus I received upon graduating highschool -- and that didn't last a year due to moving furniture upstairs during my freshman summer.
I went computerless my sophomore year (don't even ask me how I did it) and then I received my grandmother's hand-me-down, then 8 year old HP giant laptop. The disc drive falls out, some of the keys are missing, most of them don't work (I use a bluetooth keyboard my husband bought for other purposes), it takes 3 years to load a web browser, and sometimes it crashes.

So imagine the feeling I had upon finding my father-in-law's unwanted brand new laptop. TOUCH SCREEN, SMALL, NEW, AND WINDOWS 10.

Now imagine how much I'm having to relearn, going from Windows Vista to Windows 10 and you're beginning to realize why I haven't been blogging this week.
Also, I upload a lot of pictures to keep you in the loop, and I'm slowly transferring all of our memories from the Dinosaur to discs -- but the disc drive falls out.... yeahhhhh It's slow going, to say the least.

Also: we went to the zoo! (Pictures to come in another post. sorry.) Our first time to the one in Hattiesburg (my kids' first time to a zoo, period). It's a smaller zoo about an hour's drive from home; but well done and perfect for my kids! They were disappointed at the lack of elephants (as an Auburn fan, we're going to have to talk about the obsession with elephants... this just will not do); but they loved all the different kinds of monkeys and birds that were featured! The sloths were a big hit, as were the zebras we saw while riding the train around the perimeter of the zoo.
We stopped in the gift shop at the end because zoos and aquariums have always been a thing Jacob and I do and we always get a memento. Within 5 seconds, Katie had picked out a fluffy pink flamingo ("Flamingo and John! Sarah and Duck!") and Mason had snagged an elephant while I was looking at yo-yos and refrigerator magnets.
We went with Marmie (my mom) and Aunt Caroline(12) and Uncle Micah(8); we shall soon visit again with Dada -- especially before Katie's next birthday, as she gets in free until she's 2.

Wrap up (so I can go ride horses in this wonderful weather just as soon as I go talk to my almost-2-year-old about the necessity of nap time): I got a new computer, the kids are living the life, we went to the zoo, AND IT'S FINALLY FEELING LIKE FALL IN THE SOUTH. That is all.

My hair is finally long enough for curls!