Fall Nights + Camp Fire: An Evening in the Life

Fall is the one season that makes me miss living in the woods, especially on those perfectly crisp nights of fall that set the mood for a night by the fire making s’mores. I spent the evening with the B family at their homestead, which included visiting chickens, meeting their puppy, playing in the yard, exploring the tree house, throwing axes, and ending the evening with music, a fire, and marshmallows. While it’s technically still fall now, the cold is closing in and the days this week are among the shortest of the year. Fall here seems like such a short season, mostly because we stretch out our beach days as long as possible, sometimes nearly running into Halloween (the latest I’ve ever ocean swam without a wetsuit), but I treasure the memories we spent raising our kids in the woods when they were little.

This October Evening in the Life session was clearly a busy one, and I even got a turn with the ax throwing. Sadly, after my brief lesson from the B family, I am still terrible at it. We wanted to take some special portraits of their puppy, who is being trained to detect gluten in their food due to family allergies. I was amazed as she explained the whole process and wondered, “is there no limit to the goodness of dogs??” Their pup will grow into their family and protect them from harm. Plus, he’s super sweet and adorable.

My favorite moments of the night were listening to the music played by mom, dad, and their oldest daughter, while the other children played with the puppy and the fire crackled, keeping everyone warm as it got cooler. For a fall evening in the life of a family, it was a perfect one.