Weekend Recap (Fall Bucket List Accomplishments Edition)

So...this weekend...we were able to have so much fall fun...squeezed in so much of it and checked off several things off of our Fall Bucket List...check it out!!

Thursday Night

Yes I know not the weekend yet but I am including it to show you all the fall fun....As I shared on Friday...Cass and I sat down for our Annual Risotto Night!  I make this Autumn Chicken and Squash Risotto and break out the Caramel Apple Martinis....and we devour it all while spending quality time...priceless and one of my fave nights all year!

Friday Night

I went to my friend Donna's house in the next town over for another wonderful OPIS reunion.  OPIS is a company I managed about 20 years ago.  Long story but I will make it quick for this post.  It was a division of our larger staffing company.  This division placed substitute teachers and it was struggling.  My organization's President came to me and asked me if I would head it up and turn it around.... I was 26 years old and scared out of my mind but I bit the bullet and did it...hired the best team (the team I saw on Friday night) and we turned the company around in less than a year).  It still remains my favorite professional accomplishment and one that changed me personally for the better....and the bonus was making lifelong friends in this bunch.  Donna built a pool house last year so we were wow'd by how amazing it is and had a ball catching up in there!!

(We were missing our friend Rick who couldn't make it)

Saturday

It was a whirlwind of Fall Fun with responsibilities mixed in too!  Eva had a soccer game and kicked the ball for the first time.  Mama had some doctors appointments.  Then we all headed to a birthday party for a friend in town!  Diana had Nutcracker costume fittings and a rehearsal and then Eva had hockey...all of this before our fun night with Mimi, Papa Pete and Papa Bob.....

and then it was time for some more Fall fun....We headed to the Milford Pumpkin Festival- one of my favorites of all year!  We had pizza at The Pasta Loft and then walked around looking at all of the fun things....Jack-O-Lanterns of course....Papa Pete and Mama also did the Haunted Trail for the first time...we reminisced about the Haunted House we went to when I was little as well...so much fun...later on once Daddy, Papa Bob and Pidge met up with us, after hockey, we hit the rides and snacks and then headed back to our house for Mimi's special pumpkin chocolate chip cake and some firepit fun!

Sunday


It was time for mass and then we all met up at the beach to have our Family Christmas Card Pics taken- we picked the perfect day!!  It was so warm (low 70's and the sun was peaking out)...I seriously could've stayed at the beach all day BUT needed to hit another fall event later on.  Sharing some pics...giving you a sneak peak...just not including the family shots of the ones we will be using in our card of course :)

My Father In Law is a former professional photographer so he took most of the shots and then Ally's boyfriend Aaron took some more as he is a talented photographer/videographer too!  After our pics, we enjoyed a quick lunch across the street at Sea Katch.  We had so many laughs and snapped some funny shots with family private jokes behind those laughs!

Last night, we took the littles and met up with friends at Jack-O-Lantern Journey at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston- such a cute little Halloween/Fall activity and half the distance of the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular in RI.  We decided to do this one this year for the convenience of it during a long weekend!  The kids had a ball :)

That's a wrap...I am tired just writing this...ha ha!!  But in all seriousness I am glad we squeezed all of this fun fall in this weekend as next weekend I have to put on my volunteer hat and donate my time on Friday night and Saturday and not really looking forward to it...but I stay positive here and I am grateful for all of the QT this past weekend :)