October

In October we hit the interview trail together as a family. We limited our choices to fellowship programs in the northeast to make sure we stayed close to the grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles. We first headed to Connecticut for a Riz's two day interview at Yale. This also provided a great opportunity to stay and visit with family in the area. We then made our way to Rhode Island for the Brown interview and then foolishly decided to drive the 9 hours back to Pittsburgh on the same day. Crazy kids. Once we hit the NYC rush-hour traffic we knew there was no way we'd make it back before 3am. We booked a hotel somewhere in eastern Pennsylvania and decided to finish our journey in the A.M. That was rough. If I had to sing B-I-N-G-O one more time.... On a positive note, Riz can expertly clap along to the song while maintaining control of the steering wheel. The skills of a parent.

Manu with his Great Grandma in South Windsor, CT.

The fall day we spent at Reilly's Summer Seat Farm is one I hope to remember for a long, long time. It was Manu's first time at a pumpkin patch and he was such a joy to watch. We enjoyed a hayride up to the patch, munched on warm funnel cake, and picked out a little Manu-sized pumpkin to take home with us.

Aunt Aziza came to visit the weekend of Halloween this year and we wanted to show her one of our favorite places: The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. If you're ever in the Pittsburgh area, this is a MUST do. It's such a blast! Here's Manu checking out the Air Box exhibit in the Nursery.


Later that afternoon we donned our costume and headed out for some trick-or-treating. Don't know what it is with me and feathered friends, but we followed last year's chicken with a sweet little owlet. Soon enough he'll have an opinion on what action hero he should be and where I should be buying the overpriced plastic get-up from (why are kids so opposed to homemade?), so I'm squeezing in the fuzzy homemade costumes in while I can.