To avoid getting too much cabin fever around the house, the kids and I have been taking drives up the mountain. For the past few weeks there has been a cool fall-ish feel in the air. Fall is officially here as of yesterday but the mountains are already showing it. I love watching the seasons change.

If I’ve counted right we’ve driven up a canyon 4 times in less than a week. I have found it to be the perfect outing when you have a sick kiddo who can not be around anyone else but feels perfectly fine to play. Plus the weather has been to die for.

Who can stay indoors? Not us.

We are always on the lookout for a quiet, secluded spot on the river to relax and throw rocks;

or a fun place to sit and admire the view.

But best of all, just being together. This isn’t the most flattering shot but gotta love the backwards neck hug from my boy.

FYI- It’s been a week and all of Isaac’s poxs have officially scabbed over. Yea!

Does anyone else have the problem of their point and shoot not focusing?! Aren’t those lovely pine trees in the background though?

Here is my handsome boy. I admit that I am quite partial to him. Check out his smile.

Take a close look at his belly. Guess what he is covered with…

Chickenpox! Can you believe it?

But of course, he has hardly noticed. He’s busy flexing gigantic muscles.

I don’t know where he picked it up and haven’t even heard of anyone getting them in years. Well… of course I knew my kids eventually could get them, with no vaccines and all… but it’s hard to realize that it really has happened.

I made the choice not to vaccinate Isaac about 5 years ago and super glad that I did. But I’ll be the first to admit that it hasn’t exactly been the easiest choice. Especially with all of the scrutinizing I’ve gotten. It’s a little embarrassing for some reason but I’m going to stand by my choice. I’m happy that it has happened now. It’s been good timing with the fall coming and everyone is still pretty little. My kids will have life long immunity without all those additives floating around their little developing bodies.

I’m now living with my decision. I was tempted to rush out and get Emma her shots so I wouldn’t have to pull her out of school when she got them. I guess once you’ve been exposed you have something like three days to get the vaccine and there’s a 90% chance it’ll work. But how in the sam are we suppose to know when she was exposed. I’d hate to get the shot and then have her still get them. I decided that getting a shot was “the easy fix” but maybe not the best fix. After a lot of debating, pondering and praying I decided that it was better not to rush into it.

There is a lot that goes into our decision but I just don’t have the energy to put it all down here. It’s a better choice for our family but it has been a hard choice. I will admit it.  It will be interesting to see how the month turns out. We could be hibernating for quite some time depending on when the girls come down with the pox. Fun, fun, fun.

I hope you all had a perfect Labor Day weekend. Despite my itching to take a road trip , we didn’t end up go anywhere. I was a wee bit bummed and couldn’t help but fume a tad while I did some much needed house cleaning. I certainly wasn’t taking a break from my labors. Sheesh!

Luckily my hubby came through with making plans for a couple little day trips to keep everyone sane and happy (after all the house cleaning was done.)

We did a little bit of this…

and this…

and this…

It ended up being a perfectly full weekend. I’m even sore enough from wake-boarding and hiking that I’m content at just hanging out at home today. Amazing, huh?

Well, at least my mom is amazed.