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October is finally here! I know I’m not alone when I say that I’m always relieved when my workload lightens up a little bit after a busy Summer. After working so much over our peak tourism months, I am really trying to be intentional with the extra time that the off-season provides me. Not to mention, keeping busy during these next few months makes the transition between our busy season and our off-season a bit easier for me and for my family.
Ever since high school, I’ve been the most motivated during the Fall. My oldest friend has always made her new year resolutions in the Fall and it’s a policy that I have adopted as well. It makes so much sense to me to make a resolution when the schedule and routine is changing at the beginning of a school year, especially now as a mom.
With the Summer workload here on the Outer Banks, I find that I really put myself on the back burner all season so that I can accomplish everything that my family and my business needs. So come October, I am always ready to re-evaluate and get some things back on track.
Over the past few days, I’ve been putting together my list of resolutions for this year and true to form, my family is at the forefront of my list. My husband and I also have some plans to do some small renovations to our home, new financial goals and we’re aiming to make extra family time a top priority since it often gets lost in the hustle.
Since our kiddos are so spread apart in age, finding family outings or events that all of them enjoy is usually a challenge, but spending time outdoors is a crowd pleaser every time! Fall for our family means a busy soccer schedule for our oldest. With the hustle of getting to after school activities for two kids this year, we’re making it a priority to keep our family time at the top of our resolution list. We often invite friends along for everything that we do and while we love spending time with our friends, we have acknowledged that we need to carve out some time for just the 5 of us.
We kicked off our Fall festivities over the weekend with an OBX Storm soccer game for our oldest in Virginia Beach and we caught the end of Fun on the Farm Day at Morris Farm Market in Barco on our way back home. We had lots of fun at this annual event that donates funds to a great local cause. With good food, bounce houses and pumpkins galore, the kids are always excited about Morris Farm.
We’re only one week into Fall and as much as I have tried to deny that our long beach days are coming to an end, the slight drop in temperatures over the weekend has me breaking out the flannel and setting my sights on all of the pumpkin patch and Fall festivals that the Outer Banks has to offer. Don’t get me wrong, the beach is still our go-to for family time but we love the small farms scattered about our community this time of year.
The Outer Banks is unique because we can go from the beach to the country in a short drive and our kids are so lucky to be able to enjoy the best of both worlds. Later in the season we will head to the Grandy Greenhouse for a hayride and a fresh pumpkin and Island Farm for some fall games, too! With so many great nearby farms, we can’t pick just one! As a self-proclaimed DIY addict, I always make a separate list for our home projects for the off-season months because we’re still fixing up our big old beach house even after our major renovation was on HGTV a few years ago. So we spent the weekend mapping out some home projects and enjoying the cooler temperatures outside while working in the yard. We’ve added a facelift to the powder room and an inexpensive overhaul of the room over our garage to the ever-growing list of projects for our home. We have fun with these projects and love watching this place transform with a little hard work.
We’re also planning on extra date nights so that we can enjoy our amazing beach town during the months that we don’t have to wait for a table and we can find our own private stretch of the sound for sunset. We’re going to spend the next few months dating like we’re on vacation around here!
We’re excited for the Duck Jazz Festival and the Nags Head Great Pumpkin Fair this weekend and events like the Seafood Festival and Blackbeard Pirate Jamboree later in the month. October is jam packed with awesome events that you don’t want to miss! All of these scheduled events are going to make achieving my resolutions a little bit easier!
Luckily for all of us, Fall on the Outer Banks offers plenty of opportunities for catching up on personal projects, family fun and date nights alike. Happy Fall, y’all!
