Finding Fall Before the Storm

I wrote this last night... 
 
With the storm coming in and promising for a cold collision (possibly without power), we have been trying to soak up the fall warmth.

Chris, Eliot, and I took a ride down the Blue Ridge Parkway this week.  Eliot fell asleep in the car, so he was screaming when we came upon the right overlook.

This is what they saw:

We also had fun running around Riverside Park.  I didn't realize how amazing the trees were going to be.  Otherwise, I would have put a not-pj shirt on Eliot to take some real photos!  Maybe we can tomorrow before the winds blow all the leaves off.

Last night, Eliot and I carved his first pumpkin.  At first, he was a little worried and confused, but he got comfortable and tried to help.

Eliot has been a little bit of a terror lately.  He has been constantly energetic and restless despite taking few naps and going on adventures to the park and playing out back.  He has been trying to go through everything I don't want him to (the closet, the media cabinet, the dining room buffet....) and ripping it all to shreds.  He dumps his buckets of cars, dinosaurs, and farm animals all at once, but doesn't play with them.  I had been putting on too much tv just to try to get him to calm down a little (and build up more energy, I'm sure).  I told Chris that I thought he was bored.  Most of his toys are from his first birthday and last Christmas.  While I tried to buy "older toys" too last year since his birthday and Christmas are within a few weeks, he needed more challenging toys.  We bought him a dinosaur puzzle and a wooden truck with tools and pieces that go in holes.  He loved them!  He spent hours putting the puzzle together, taking it apart, and putting it back together again.  His little brain keeps on growing.

I'm honestly kind of worried about the storm coming....  A tropical storm is sweeping in from the coast and a winter storm is coming in from the west.  Normally, I shrug off storms.  I'm a snow-doubter and I grew up fascinated by (not afraid of) hurricanes.  Heck, we got married in Tropical Storm Barry!  Ever since the darn summer storm (the derecho) that caused us to lose power for over a week, I am afraid of losing power for a long period of time for Eliot's sake.  It was 100 degrees out, Eliot was screaming, and we didn't know what to do.  So we left.  Now I worry about losing power for a long period of time in the cold.  However, we've prepared the best we can with our winter sleeping bags, water, milk in mini boxes (that doesn't need to be refrigerated until opened), snacks, camping lanterns, and our gas stove just needs matches.  After our grocery store trip along with everyone else in Lynchburg, we walked next door for Chris to get a cup of coffee.  While we waited, Eliot told us all kinds of interesting stories while looking so charming.

But, you know, the storms probably won't even come close to being as bad as I am worrying.  I hear the tropical storm is a category one and we're far from the coast.