Randomness

Today I had to have that barium swallow test today to see if the thyroid swelling is affecting my esophagus. Blechhhh. It was incredibly gross and awkward to do so I'm combating the icky with some random, fun pictures!

First up is Autumn at the Farmer's Market. I loooove this photo.


I reminds me of a character in a manga Mike and I absolutely adore called Yotsuba&. The Yotsuba stories have always reminded us of Autumn so you can imagine how tickled I was to have the opportunity to hand Autumn a whole lot of sunflowers!


Last week, we went to this little park about 5 minutes from our house. A couple whose family has owned the site since the 1800s has collected a ton of memorabilia of our suburb. Around the items, they have planted lovely gardens and invited the public to go through the area either for free or for a small donation. I want to go back in the Fall when it's cooler and the mosquitoes aren't quite so blood thirsty! The colors are going to be incredible.


That's a caboose that they have next to an old train car. The caboose and car are right next to the still-active railroad tracks. Autumn and her friend Josh were thrilled when a train roared past while they were pretending to drive the caboose. Isn't the red beautiful? They also had old railroad signs, crossing, and lamps.


We were surprised to find a family gravesite right next to the train car and caboose. The carvings were pretty hard to read in person but you can see the dates here: 1789-1859!


I posted this one on the family blog...I really like it so I wanted to use it again!


We haven't just been going to parks. I need to take more photos of this, but I've been working on the playroom organization and decor. I don't really have a budget so I've been repurposing and painting a number of things we have around. My friend Matt, who has drawn Autumn before, had these pictures in his sketchbook and I asked him if he could scan them and send them to me. I decided to take a picture frame I already had, cover the mat with paper I printed, and put these drawings in it. How sweet is this?


You'll recognize the poses from Autumn's birthday! I believe this is one of the source photos.


I love it! Matt may have a side job of children's portraits if he keeps this up! I'm going to hang this on the wall where I have hung some old shelves I painted pink and yellow. I can't wait to finish it off so I can post it here!