Sophia had her first swim meet since joining the Hudson Valley Dolphins Swim Team back in April.  She competed in the 50M Freestyle and 50M Backstroke. No medals this time, but she gave her all and had a blast.  Way to go Sophia!

 

The Wetlands!

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A couple of shots of the girls with their friends Zyla and Ysa at a local pumpkin patch event.

Sophia, Zyla, Ysa & Allie

Sophia & Zyla

Mr. Ed, Zyla, Sophia, Allie & Ysa

We took Sophia to the church parking lot yesterday for her first day without training wheels.  She started to get the hang of it, but we only had about an hour.  Today we went to the bike trail near the house, and here she is after about 20 minutes!

WAY TO GO SOPHIA!!

We went for a little different look this year, and used the bridge as a background!

Check out 2014 and past years here.

The pumpkins are ready for Trick or Treat!  The girls picked a Frozen theme for this year.  I think next year it's my turn to pick the theme.  The moon and the bat are the work of the two artists in residence, Sophia &  Allie!

Elsa

Anna

Olaf - He likes warm hugs!

The other night we had a family coloring party where we each colored the same picture.  We went with the Halloween theme, to get us into the "Spirit"... so to speak!

Allie

Alexa

Sophia

Chad

Alexa and I took a little day trip to the Boscobel House & Gardens in Garrison.  It's an old Federal Style mansion from the early 1800's that was relocated from Montrose, NY in the 50's.  It's fully restored to it's original condition and very cool.  The grounds are right on the Hudson with great views of the river, West Point and the Bear Mountain Bridge.  There's also an art gallery in the basement and sculptures throughout the grounds too.  All in all a really nice day.

Each year the Dutchess County Chamber of Commerce hosts a Hot Air Balloon Festival, with multiple launches over the weekend.  This year it ran from July 4 - 6.  They do a couple of mass launches early in the morning, and there were over 15 balloons launched all together.  One of the best places to see the launch is from the Walkway Over the Hudson.  The same pedestrian bridge where we go for the annual family Father's Day picture.  It was very cool, even if the launch is a 6:00AM!  We were out of the house at 4:30 to make sure we got there in time and had a good view.