Happy Halloween!

We stuck to our routine, and went trick or treating at the shopping center down the street. Since it was a Sunday night, the church's fall festival must have been another night. But we still had fun and even took a mid trick or treat break for sushi.



When we got back home, the neighbor kids ran over and took Alex and Zachary trick or treating around the cul-de-sac. They were having so much fun that Phil took them down the street a ways. This is the first year that they have gone door to door, and the first year that Alex (and by extension, Zachary) really understood the whole concept. They enjoyed it and were so excited when they got back home.

Here they are with their haul.

The next day Alex was talking to someone and told them "I filled my basket all the way to the top!"

Parade and Festival

Alex's school was having their Halloween parade today. Since Alex was wearing his costume to school, Zachary decided to wear his to music class. About half of the kids in music class were dressed up, they were all super cute! We went back to school, and Zachary ran into the classroom to line up for the parade. The kids started out marching, but towards the end, only Teacher Elizabeth was still attempting to march!

After the parade, the kids handed out trick or treats to all of their friends, and Teacher Renate let them all pick one treat to enjoy before heading home. We took lunch to Daddy at work and visited his co-workers. Alex was so excited to show off his costume, he ran up to two ladies in uniform outside of Phil's building and told them "I'm a giraffe!" They were properly impressed. Later in the afternoon, we went back to the Island for the fall festival. The boys didn't want to go into the haunted house, but they did try out the jumpy house and had hot dogs and Halloween candy. We were going to try out the hayride, but they were waiting for dark to start running it. Apparently it was supposed to be a scary hayride.


And since we failed to remember our camera for Boo at the Zoo, I'll just make a note of it in this post. On Saturday the boys wore their costumes to the zoo and participated in the scavenger hunt. There were 5 clues, and they had to find the animal that the clues described. After they visited all 5 stations, they got a goody bag. So, while I actually remembered to go to Boo at the Zoo this year, I forgot the camera. Next year, next year.

Oops

Another opportunity to get a playgroup photo foiled. Karen hosted a pre-Halloween potluck and we all had good intentions of getting the kids together with their costumes for a picture. This is as close as I got....Zachary wearing his costume and part of Julia's.

Pumpkin Patch 2

We wanted to take a fun family adventure to a pumpkin patch and found a great one! The boys wore their costume jackets to keep cozy. They were warm and adorable!
This time we even got to ride in the wagon behind the tractor. The tractor took us out into the field to find the perfect pumpkins. We found some cute corn children too.
Then, when we were ready, the tractor took us back to the farm where we wandered aimlessly through the corn maze. Fortunately, Alex was able to find the way out. We visited with some of the animals, and Alex and Zachary went through the hay tunnels. Then, while Zachary went to listen to the music show in the barn, Alex discovered his love of corn grinding. He would have been happy to spend all day grinding up the corn and he talked the ear off of the poor girl working the stand. After grinding up some corn, the kids could take a little cup of the cracked corn to feed to the peacocks and chickens. Alex kept running back and forth to grind up more corn for the birds. Zachary eventually had a chance to grind it up too!

Goblin Jamboree

Just a couple of days after melting in the heat at Ardenwood, the boys and I went to the Goblin Jamboree in the cold rain. It was at "the bu-seum we always go to". I don't know why Alex and Zachary think it is a bu-seum, I know I say museum, but once they get it in their heads, it sticks. So, anyway, they had a little train set up in the parking lot (a big favorite, of course), carnival games, a station to create a goody bag, a band, a petting zoo, and pony rides. Zachary and Alex enjoyed decorating their bags, and Alex enjoyed playing the games. Zachary kept insisting that "it's not fun" "I'm not having fun." It was sad. I asked him if he wanted to ride a pony, and his face lit up and he declared "that sounds like fun!" So we rode the ponies, of course he isn't smiling in the picture, but he did have fun.

After the ride, he had fun playing the carnival games and did a great job at scoring soccer goals and then used his soccer kicking skills on the bowling game. He also really enjoyed listening to the band and petting every animal in the petting zoo. I don't remember the band's name, but they were fun. They reminded me of those credit report commercials, is that horrible?
**Although Alex is a giraffe this year, that is not my giraffe on the train. He and Zachary are in the front of the train, in blue raincoats.

Pumpkin Patch

Our playgroup friends and we thought it would be fun to go to a pumpkin patch. The moms especially thought it would be fun to get a picture of all the kids together. (You will notice that this is a theme...of failure.) We met up at Ardenwood and explored the hay maze, hay bale pyramid, and picked out pumpkins.
There was also a tractor that pulled a hay wagon, and the boys were very excited to ride it, but sadly, it was only operational on weekends. There were a bunch of sad kids. We decided to head into the 'estate' portion of Ardenwood to find some shade for lunch. Since we wore ourselves out in the pumpkin area, we didn't explore much of the park, but we did find a great picnic spot with shaded tables and a grassy spot for the kids to run around. There was also a bird enclosure with many different birds and the kids enjoyed that too.
I did manage to get one photo of most of the younger set.

Zachary wanted nothing to do with the bus.

Swimmers

Alex and Zachary have started taking swimming lessons. Zachary has been enjoying it since the first lesson, Alex is slowly becoming more confident. At this point, Phil is in the water with Zachary, and Alex is in a small class. Today on the way to lessons, we asked if they were going to swim like fishies. Zachary said yes, but Alex decided he wanted to swim like a dolphin. They both did an excellent job and looked just like fishies and dolphins!
Here are a couple of videos, Zachary's is from a couple of weeks ago, but Alex's is new. Oh, and in Zachary's video, you can see the cool platforms they have in the pool for the kids to stand on.

Big Boy

We converted Alex's bed into a toddler bed. Unfortunately, we are missing a couple of really hard to find pieces, so it isn't completely set up, but once we started, he was so excited, we couldn't put in back. It's good enough for a short time. Alex is doing a pretty good job of staying in bed until it is time to get up, but I did sneak in once to find him playing puzzles instead of napping. At least he was being quiet!

Cuties

The tracks keep evolving and taking detours, but still manage to take up most of the floor.

Some nice smiling faces.