Leaping Leaves

Grandma and Grandpa have a pretty good yard for fall leaf jumping; not only does it have a good tree that drops many soft leaves and a hill to serve as a jumping ramp, but it also came with a grounds crew to keep the pile nice and high between jumps, so the kids didn't have to do any work at all (other than the running and jumping, of course).

 After some practice (and gaining a little confidence in the fall-breaking powers of their leaf pile) the girls starting showing some impressive ninja moves.

 Grandma got in on the action and showed them that throwing leaves is as much fun as landing in them.

And Uncle Tommy set up an "obstacle course" in which the kids had to jump over small leaf piles and power through clouds of swirling leaves in order to leap into the big pile.

Eventually the girls convinced Aunt Jena to jump in the pile with them. 

But they were not satisfied with the number of leaves she got on her from simply landing in the pile, so they helped her take care of that by throwing lots of leaves on her head.

They used their leaf-throwing skills on me too, but don't worry... that big handful of leaves I have is about to surprise them.

Drool on his chin, chili all over his face, leaves in his diaper... Michael Jr is having a good time.

I love this picture because Mary has a leaf in her teeth.

 Gussie mostly thought the leaves made a nice pillow.

We were glad for the leaf fun and for a quick visit with Aunt Jena and Uncle Tommy before they headed back to LA!