We Survived Fall Break...

though it confirmed our decision not to have children for at least five years! It was a great trip, we had a lot of fun hanging out, playing, going to the beach, the park, the orchard to pick raspberries, dropping the kids off at school, watching youtube videos, watching cartoons, looking at halloween costumes, making art projects, building cars, going to a train show, going through hay mazes, and more. Clearly, it was a busy weekend. We got to New Haven at 1:00 on Saturday, and left at 11 am on Tuesday. We confirmed that sleep is well-loved by both of us-- we aren't ready to be woken up by excited yelling children at 7 am who are ready to jump in bed with us and play (I confirmed my suspicions of my style of future parenting skills-- that of reinforcing the habit my mom used to do-- of telling me to watch cartoons quietly when I would get up at 6 am on the weekends) because I definitely pulled out the couch cushions for the kids to sit on, flipped the tv onto noggin, and spent several more minutes trying to wake up before stumbling into the kitchen for a cup of coffee.
Spending time with my sister, brother-in-law, and the kids was a great chance to see them and catch up. Even though they live relatively close (its about a five hour drive), it really necessitates a long weekend to make it down there, which I haven't had that many of-- school is pretty intense, and I don't skip classes if I can help it. This was the first time that we had seen them since Christmas, and it was a blast, but definitely tiring. The trip down to New Haven was excellent-- the weather was perfect, the leaves were changing color and falling as we were driving through the Catskills into Connecticut. The little two-lane roads we drove in Connecticut, alongside small lakes and streams seemed perfectly New England-esque. Cody commented that he would need to re-read Walden after our trip, it just seemed necessary.
We have made it back to Ithaca, and classes are back in swing. I started my next set of meetings for my thesis earlier this morning. It seems like it should be a good group of students and faculty that I am meeting with in this second semester of thesis prep. We each have very different topics, but all the topics are areas that I am interested in. If things go well, I should pretty much have my thesis prospectus wrapped up in a week or so (a key step in the process that is due by the end of this semester). Work is a little nuts for Cody, but I will let him explain that one when/if he ever decides to start blogging again (it isn't an intentional break from blogging on his part, more of a sudden realization recently that he hasn't blogged since June).
The break was an interesting opportunity for me to discuss my thesis topic with various people while down in CT. Paul's (my brother-in-law) parents were visiting on Saturday, which led to a brief discussion of my topic, as well as a lengthy conversation with Karissa (my sister) and Paul on Monday night when we all went out to dinner. People are definitely opinionated when it comes to my thesis-- willing to debate, question, and debate some more. It should make for an interesting year of continued research!
--brianna