My Girl

While the boys had a day packed with sporting activities, Allison and I decided to plan a fun day of our own.  To start our day, we headed downtown for a foamy milk and pumpkin bread and enjoyed a stroll through the farmer's market.  It was still foggy and cool, but the promise of a dry day and sun breaks encouraged us to find another outdoor activity.  The pumpkin patch beckoned us.

The parking lot a Schilter's Family Farm seemed full, but once visitors spread out, there really wasn't that much of a crowd to contend with.  Allison and I enjoyed the hay maze and playground.  But, we liked cuddling on our wagon ride to stay warm and visiting the animals more.  Allie fell in love with the baby kittens.  They were so tiny and cute.  Who wouldn't?  No trip to the pumpkin patch would be complete without a pumpkin.  Allison still favored the little pumpkins, but she decided that her little one was, in fact, bigger than her pumpkin last year.  We wondered, more than once, if it would be all smoothy at Halloween?  Time will tell, I guess.

For lunch, we visited Vic's Pizza.  To pass the time while we waited for our pizza to bake, I read to Allison.  She was determined to finish the chapter book she checked out from her school library, so we spent much of our down time during the day reading.  We found that we were both pretty tired after a long week and an eventful morning outdoors.  It was loud and busy at Vic's, but it created sort of a white noise background and our reading time still felt peaceful.  

Our next stop was home, to catch up on a few chores and enjoy a little bit of quiet time in a, well, quiet environment.  It didn't take long to feel rested.  Allison wanted ice cream.  I wanted to get exercise.  The sun had come and gone, but it was still pleasant enough.  We made a compromise and rode our bikes to Baskin Robbins so Allison could use her gift card.  

While she licked away, I read.  I noticed the families around us became kind of quiet, listening.  It was a pleasant experience.

We made one final stop to play at the nearby park.  Allison had the place to herself and let her mind fill with creative ideas.  She drew me into her imaginary world and boy did the time fly while we played!

Home at last, we were ready for chillaxing.  The weather was changing and made it easy to cozy up  up for dinner and a movie.

Time with just my girl alone is so fleeting.  I cherished today.  This is one of those special days that I will always remember.  There is no one else in the world like Allison, and I am so thankful that she is my daughter.  I love YOU, Allison Howe.