Flowers, Snow, Fake Smiles, and Halloween

After a very warm ans sunny fall, the Anchorage area is finally getting cold and a little snowy. We are down to about 3 1/2 hours of direct sunlight on the yurt, down into the teens at night, and the river is starting to freeze over. However, we have been amazed at the color that is still hanging on. The wild flowers we planted around here are truly the hearty Alaskan variety. Here is one from just a few days ago.

We had our first snow on the yurt recently.

And, you'd have expected that snow to take out the flowers. But, no.

We have still been getting out and about but are really yearning for enough snow to start skiing. On a recent hike to the river, Leo began practicing his father's fake smile.

For Halloween, Leo was a ladybug-butterfly-thing, and we once again went to the zoo and visited mom who was working at the hospital. The poor kid is much more aware of things this year, and some of the skeletons and spiders really freaked him out, but he collected a small fortune in candy and got the obligatory sugar high on the way home. Hear is a photo of this year's pumpkins.

Notice the fourth, tiny one for baby sister. 3 months to go until we meet her!