{JEI}: Autumn Adventures

Time to get have some fun with this week's JEI Linkup and I'd love to introduce you to the other hosts of the Just Enough Info Linkup:

Jessica (myself) – Pinot Noir and Prayers | Instagram | Facebook

Alicia – Sweeping Up Joy | Pinterest | Facebook

Kirby – Under Thy Roof | Instagram | Facebook

Kerry - Fishbowl Fortune | Instagram | Facebook

Kristina - Calidrab| Instagram 

1. Best fall flavor: apple or pumpkin?

I am a HUGE love of all things Autumn and Fall! Pumpkin everything is my most favorite flavor! I still enjoy apple flavored beverages but if given the choice I will always chose pumpkin. I was even lucky enough to come across some Pumpkin Spiced Eggnog during a grocery shopping trip! The boys and I enjoyed it during a Halloween movie night with whipped cream and pumpkin spice sprinkled on top. DELICIOUS!

I still want to try some pumpkin steamers at some point this Autumn. I have also started a collection of pumpkin spiced coffee and tea. I am also checking off all the different pumpkin beers I can too! Sorry, I just can't help myself. Have you seen the meme that says, "At this point my blood type is pumpkin spice"? That's me!

2. The leaves are changing colors, and the air is crisp. What are you looking forward to about fall?

This is my families first "real autumn" because we have lived in Florida for the boys' entire lives. We moved here during Thanksgiving break last year and we weren't sure about whether I would have to return to Florida so we didn't get to enjoy any time out and about in Colorado during the fall season last year.

This year will be a different story! We have created a Colorado Autumn Bucket List and we have already begun checking some things off our list... and added a few! Check out these posts to see what we are planning and what we have already accomplished so far:

Colorado Autumn Bucket List

Autumn Hometown Hunt: Apple Day

Autumn Hometown Hunt: Labor Day Lift Off

3. Do you decorate for the season (and which is it: fall or autumn?)

Yes! Yes! Yes! My family loves to immerse themselves into all holidays! We are preparing for All Hallow's Eve, All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day so this is our current mantel display. We will revamp it after the special feasts honoring the dead into a Thanksgiving display. 

Our patio and all windows are adorned with decorations as well! Pumpkin lights with a motion sensor on the patio. I can't wait to add some Jack O' Lanterns soon! If you haven't created your pumpkin masterpieces yet, I suggest you check out the story of the Jack O'Lantern to share with your children. I think it is a great story of purgatory and can lead to a discussion about life and death that is meaningful to you and them. It is a tradition for us to read the story of the Jack O'Lantern before we carve them and we pray while we carve them after we are done, we sprinkle some holy water on them. It's always a favorite activity during Autumn. Here's the Pumpkin Prayer we use:

Lord, open my mind so I can learn new things about you and the world you created. (Remove the top of the pumpkin.)

Remove the things in my life that don’t please you. Forgive the wrong things I do and help me to forgive others. (Pull out the seeds.)

Open my eyes to see the beauty you’ve made in the world around me. (Cut out the eyes.)

Open my ears when I hear your word, so I may learn how you want me to live.(Cut out the ears.)

I’m sorry for the times I’ve turned up my nose at people who are different from me, but who are your children, too. (Cut out the nose.)

Let everything I say please you. (Cut out the mouth.)

Lord, help me show your light to others through the things I do. (Place a light or candle inside it.)

Amen.

For my family this season is "Autumn". I think its just more fun to say sometimes? I'm not really sure why we say that more than Fall. I do like to create puns with the words too. I think I have a Facebook Album and Pinterest Board with the name "Falling into Autumn"

Well that is my take on Just Enough Info this week. I would love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to use the beautiful picture below in your linkup post if you so desire!

Please Join us and Link Up with your answers to this week's questions all about Autumn/ Fall Family Fun! Here are the questions:

1. Best fall flavor: apple or pumpkin?
2. The leaves are changing colors, and the air is crisp. What are you looking forward to about fall?
3. Do you decorate for the season (and which is it: fall or autumn?)

Next week we will be discussing Pets!:
1. Did you have a favorite pet when you were younger? 

2. Do you have pets now? If so, what? 

3. Have your kids eaten dog or cat food (either at your house or someone else’s)?

Feel free to check out the last few weeks of JEI to learn about the link up rules and other fun topics we have already discussed:

{JEI}: Respect Life Month
{JEI}: The Angel Feasts

{JEI}: Mommy Self-Care

{JEI}: Do Small Things With Great Love

{JEI}: Prayer is the Spirit Speaking Truth to Truth

{JEI}: Back-to-School Edition

Introducing the Zelie Group and Just Enough Info

The Zelie Group has some fun questions coming up in the next few weeks so make sure to follow us on Facebook and we would love to hear what you are interested in! What are you looking to learn about? Do you have questions about the Faith? Questions about the Liturgical Year? We want to help and learn and grow with you and your families!

Saint Gregory the Great: Lover of Cherries

Saint Gregory the Great is the patron of teachers, students, musicians and he is an intercessor against gout, fever and plagues. Saint Gregory held possessions and chants to hold back a great plague in Rome. He also popularized saying, "God Bless You" in a spiritual attempt to physically eradicate the bubonic plague by blessing those who were sick and spreading the disease. The day we celebrate this great man is September 3rd. 

Saint Gregory the Great had a great love of cherries. It is said that on the feast of St. Mark, April 25th was suddenly overwhelmed by an overwhelming powerful desire for cherries. History says that servants and gardeners were at a loss. The spring weather was still fresh were just blossoming.
Fortunately, one gardener who was wandering through the gardens in despair when he was visited by St. Mark in a cloud of fire. The saint asked him why he was upset. As soon as Saint Mark heard the answer, he placed a special blessing on a cherry tree, and in an instant it was covered in fragrant, succulent red cherries. Popes now have cherries served on the feast of Saint Mark and Saint Gregory the Great in honor of this legend.

This year Saint Gregory the Great's feast day fell during the middle of a crazy weekend for my family. We attended the Labor Day Lift Off  for the first time. Due to a change in my work schedule for the week and adding this exciting adventure to our weekend required some rearranging in our schedule. At least we were able to make it to the event and cross off an activity on our Autumn Bucket List. I will be sharing my post on Saint Teresa of Calcutta later this week! Don't worry, I may be a little jumbled at times but it all evens out in the end. 

We had intended to have a small celebration later during the weekend but we never were able to make the Cherry Crisp we were hoping to make in his honor. I have included a recipe below. We did have a discussion about him and the stories that are remembered most about him. 

Since tomorrow is the first day back to school since Labor Day Weekend, I suggest sending something special for your children's teachers and/or something special to school with your children since Saint Gregory is a patron of teachers and students!

Cherry Crisp:

1 Can Cherry Pie Filling 

1 1/4 Cup Bisquick

1/2 Cup Sugar

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

1 Egg

1/4 Cup Melted Butter

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Pour fruit in 8 x 8 pan. Mix Bisquick, sugar and cinnamon. Mix dry ingredients and egg together until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit as a topping. Pour melted butter over topping mix. Bake 25 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

The novena below is normally said August 26th through September 3rd but you can always say a novena whenever you feel the need!

Novena to Saint Gregory the Great:

St. Gregory, you are known for your zeal for the Catholic faith, love of liturgy, and compassion and mercy toward those in need. Please help and guide us so that we may share in these virtues and thereby bring Jesus into the hearts of our families and all we encounter. We especially ask for blessings on our parish family, our priests and our deacons. 

I also ask that you graciously intercede for me before God so that I might be granted the special assistance and graces that I seek (state personal intentions here.). Help me to live as a faithful child of God and to attain the eternal happiness of heaven. 

St. Gregory the Great pray for us. 

Amen

Saint Gregory the Great, pray for us!

Autumn Hometown Hunt: Colorado Springs Labor Day Lift Off

It is the start of Labor Day weekend and there is so much to be excited about and to celebrate. Today is the Feast of Saint Gregory the Great and the start of the Labor Day Lift Off in Colorado Springs. Tomorrow will be the day of Saint Teresa of Calcutta's Canonization. The next day will be Labor Day and the actual feast day of Saint Teresa. Because the weekend is full of so many fun and exciting things we decided that we would combine and move around some of our celebrations to fit with our really packed schedules. We wanted to be able to attend and participate in everything and moving around and combing celebrations was the only way.

This post will focus on our Labor Day celebration. Yes Labor Day is Monday but we were planning on celebration Saint Gregory tomorrow and Saint Teresa of Calcutta Monday because my husband and I still work even though it is a holiday weekend. That is a sacrifice that comes with working in the hospitality industry.

To start our Labor Day Celebration we decided to attend the Colorado Spring Labor Day Lift Off. The actual balloon lift off was scheduled to begin at 7am so we decided to arrive early. We woke up at 4am on a Saturday! That is some real dedication! To help us all wake up we stopped by Dunkin' Donuts on the way to enjoy some salted pumpkin coffee, pumpkin hot chocolate and some very fresh fall flavored donuts with hash browns and breakfast sandwiches! We consider Labor Day the unofficial end to summer and the beginning of autumn.

As you can see Little Man and Goalie were in great spirits considering the early morning wake up. They really enjoyed their hot chocolate and couldn't wait to get to the festival. So just so you have some background on how excited my boys were for this event: Goalie LOVES Curious George the series and they have made several seasonal videos including a spring video where Curious George attends a hot air balloon festival in the country. Goalie was so excited I thought he would shake apart before we arrived to the park! He just knew Curious George would be riding in the hot air balloons and no one could convince him otherwise.

I think Goalie will be a photographer of some sort when he grows up. All morning he wanted to take pictures. This one was one of my favorites.

After devouring our delicious coffee, hot chocolate and breakfast we headed to Memorial Park and arrived just as the vendors were setting up around 6am. We setup our picnic blanket and sat together as we watched the sun rise. You can see it peaking over Little Man's head here in this picture. It was such a beautiful sight to watch the mountains start to become more defined as the sun rose higher into the sky. It was gorgeous. A moment I will truly treasure.

 After the sun had fully risen the fun began! The balloons slowly filled and were released into the air!

There were over 60 hot air balloons released at this festival and they were all so beautiful. It was my first time seeing a hot air balloon in person and my children's first time too. There were so many different shapes and colors. They looked so majestic as they filled the sky.

This hot air balloon was my ultimate favorite! It was the Little Old Lady that lived in a shoe. Can you see the child hanging from the shoe lace? I thought it was so creative and hysterical! 

I have spoken frequently about us recently relocating to Colorado from Florida. We had some military friends that also relocated here shortly after us and today was the first time we have seen each other since we have moved! It was so great to see some familiar faces and the boys really enjoyed getting to play with a friend they haven't seen in months. We were able to get a picture of the adults but the kids were having way too much fun to stop for pictures!

Here are a few more pictures from our time at the Labor Day Lift Off:

How do you find fun activities for you and your family to attend? If you are looking for resources, I highly suggest checking out Eventbrite! You can filter through different events by the type of event you are looking for or you can simply put in your town and state to get a great list of activities that will be in your hometown. I have utilized this website on several occasions and you are even able to create your own events to share and promote through their Event Management Page. I just found a cute, fun, and FREE event called the Great Bicycle Carnival that we may be adding to our Colorado Autumn Bucket List due to this great site.

Today was truly amazing. A great experience that the whole family will remember forever. I think this may become a family tradition. The weather was gorgeous, we saw old friends and enjoyed some memorable moments together as a family. With both my husband and I working and two very busy boys and lots of therapy appointments to run around to throughout the week, it is really difficult to find time to enjoy together. We try our hardest to take time together because that is what is the most important. We got a lot of use out of the selfie-stick today as you can see and I am so ready to go to bed. This day was so amazing and a rejuvenation to my heart and soul. Thank you Lord for blessing me with so much and this great experience. It is so easy to get lost in the world's troubles and today helped me shake off all the bad. I hope you and your families enjoy this Labor Day Weekend too!

God Bless!