Fall + Family = Memories

We've moved in to the fall season and with that comes a host of fun events and activities that one can do with their children. For us, we've kept it sort've low key because we were so busy with the move and renovation (not to mention the rest of our life). Since things are settling down, we were ready to join in the fun.

First up, Boo at the Zoo. This was a last minute decision on a Monday thanks to Daniel. Our local zoo has various events each year and at Halloween they have "Boo at the Zoo" He heard the kids would have fun and coordinated it as a surprise. We didn't know what to expect but it turned out it was just enough and the kids had a blast.

In the back of my mind I knew the kids dressed up but this mommy wasn't organized and prepared to have their costumes together a whopping 10 days before Halloween.

The Powell's and their little one joined us too.

This actually was a great practice round for real trick-or-treating. Charlie has just realized what it's about and he got to practice running up to the various booths "trick-or-treating". Last year we skipped and just went to a fall festival so this was their first trick-or-treating experience.

Cole was mostly interested in the animals and was a bit disappointed most of them were "sleeping" since it was getting dark. He is surely my child. All about animals.

We might have had a hard time getting them to leave the "suds zone". They didn't understand it at first but then they were all in.

Charlie asked if we could go trick-or-treating every day for a few days after this adventure.

The following week was Halloween. The day before Halloween, Charlie says "please can I use this?" and he had the pumpkin carving pack I picked up last year but never used. I caved and said yes since he was so darn cute.

Off to the store I run that afternoon to grab our carving pumpkins. I bought pumpkins for decoration but didn't want them to rot. Besides, we needed small ones. In hindsight, carving pumpkins this night (or at all) was probably not my best idea. I had a work call so I was on a time crunch, which further stressed the activity.

At first they liked the idea of it...but refused to put their hands in to clean them up. So spoons were brought out. So far so good...

Cole was a little more interested in drinking his "bunny juice" (carrot and orange juice Mimi brought) than cleaning out the pumpkin...go figure.

Finally Daniel and I had to take over. That's when it started to go down hill...

As soon as we broke out the sharp knives I started thinking "this is not a smart toddler activity." Instead of having fun helping us carve (and by helping I mean telling us what shapes to cut out) they both whined and fought over the sharp knives they were not allowed to have. I dare not count the times I found them with one in their hands despite our diligence. Sneaky little buggers. Cole finally walked away until we were done (although he probably was the most engaged of the two boys) and Charlie found himself in time out.

There might even have been some yelling, doors slammed and an overall "I'm done" from this mommy. Hey, at least I'm honest. I'm pretty sure after this picture was taken he screamed "stop doing dat! No take my picture!"

Ahhhhh - the fun family memories that were created that night!

Cole did let me take a picture of him with his pumpkin (and Charlie's is behind him). I think he was enjoying the fact that he wasn't the one getting in trouble.

 

Now on to trick-or-treating. The boys got a double whammy on Halloween because their new Rainbow play set was also installed that day (thanks Nana and Pop-E!). When I finally wrangled them in from outside to get dressed, Charlie tried to get out of his very simple costume. He HATES anything that is different. He quickly changed his mind when he realized he couldn't go get candy without a costume.

So the little rug-rats were Knights for Halloween. Why?

A) it was something they knew and not scary
B) it didn't require a weird feeling costume or hat or anything else that I knew Charlie wouldn't wear

A simple black shirt, black sweat pants and their vest was all they needed.

Oh and we bought "Mike the Knight" shields and swords to top it off. Here they are holding showing you their shields and swords...

At one point they said they were going to find dragons.

Baby Lillian was a dragon dinosaur. Fitting, don't you think?

We headed up to the neighbors house where many families gather to go on a hayride and trick-or-treat. They actually ride to each of the houses.The boys loved the hay ride and thought it was extra cool, although the volume of excited kids overwhelmed them a smidge at first.

Side note: I have just realized I wore orange to both of the events without even planning it. Even in my subconscious I must coordinate!

There were so many kids we ended up breaking off on our own after a short bit. The boys had so much fun and scored yummy candy (and a glow stick). We were home by 7:30pm (after walking what felt like miles back to the house) and they settled in to watch a cartoon and eat a little candy.