Just 'Leave' It

Not much going on post-Halloween these days. The kids sold most of their Halloween candy back to their dentist, who donates it to troops overseas, and spent part of the profits on the rides at the mall.  Although I personally think of these as a huge waste of money, I do appreciate that the kids are still entertained by such simple things.  :)

One day we came across this 'art you can sit on'.  Our downtown area has a bunch of artistic benches, but I'd say this was the kids' favorite by far!  They were easily entertained for 20-30 minutes by this tractor bench.  And of course, each had to drive!

Owen wants so badly to have huge trees in our yard that dump tons of leaves for him to rake.  This guy loves outdoor chores!  He doesn't like the answer that big trees take time to grow, but he'll have to make do with our little maples for now.  And yes, that's snow on the ground!  We have had a few light dustings, but nothing too serious yet.

With the snow and freezing temperatures, I pulled out the rest of the garden this week. Here are some of our carrots.  It's always a surprise as to what they'll form under the dirt!

Halloween Season

We've successfully completed another Halloween season!  We survived school carnivals, parties, and parades; corn mazes; Harvest parties; pumpkin carving and finally trick-or-treating.  Little did I know that the pumpkins from last year... 

would predict their costumes for this year...

Hadley was pretty agreeable when I suggested that we look through the costumes we already had for her.  The pirate costume was a great purchase!  I think the first official event for costumes was the school carnival.  Masks were not allowed at school, so Dad tried his hand at face paint with much success.

We rode our bikes to avoid the parking issue, and Owen was very amused about being a skeleton riding a bike!

They had games, food, and candy, and the kids had a great time, although we definitely need to work on their carny skills.  Both even braved a 'spook alley' library, escorted by their dad who said they were both petrified!  I was waiting at the exit, and some older kids came out near tears, so I was definitely concerned about my two, but they made it out with nothing but wide-eyes.  No nightmares yet, so I guess we're okay!

A few days later, we reverse-trick-or-treated with a moms' group by taking some treats to a rehabilitation facility in town to spread some cheer, because who doesn't love little kids in costume!  Even possibly inappropriate skeletons...

Instead of our usual Boo at the Zoo excursion, I opted to take the kids to a Harvest Party at a friend's small church one night.  It was perfect - not too crowded, well-organized with a few games, just a little candy, and the kids got to decorate their own cookies.

Although a thief absconded with our plumpest pumpkin from our front porch one night, we still had two fine specimens to carve according to each kid's whims.  Owen wanted very scary, and Hadley said 'yes' to whatever question I asked about her pumpkin's face, so I went with a traditional grin.

Owen said he'd take care of scooping out all the seeds and goop, but his 3 seeds per scoop method took forever.  He gladly shared that job when he got tired!

While the boys were getting messy, Hadley and I decorated two smaller pumpkins with some stickers leftover from last year into a bat and a cat.  (Next year's costumes?)  The cat was our homegrown pumpkin!  Our pumpkin vine only produced one real fruit, but that was a fun addition to the garden.

One of the final products.  I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of the porch with all of the pumpkins together, along with some ghostly milk jug luminarias, a big spider web, and creepy glowing eyes. Oh well. You'll just have to imagine...

Finally to the main event: trick-or-treating!  We went to a neighbor's house to meet up with a group of trick-or-treaters.  It was a little chilly, but a good time was had by all.  I think we walked around the neighborhood for about an hour.

You can see why the school doesn't allow masks!  Yikes!  Owen was an old pro, but Hadley was really enjoying the experience this year.  After every house, she'd head back to me, proudly display her growing cache and shout "Mom!  I got ANOTHER treat!!!" I don't know if she was expecting more tricks, but she was seriously delighted about every trinket.  Too funny!

After an hour or so, Hadley declared that she was finally tired and ready to head home. Owen was not, so he and Dad went for another 45 minutes on their own and amassed quite a spread.  He was obviously over the moon with his new treasure and went to bed a happy boy, dreaming of sugar.

October-rific

The warm fall has made it possible for us to ride our bikes to school way into October. Additionally, there is a 30-minute break between Owen's pick-up time and Hadley's pick-up time from pre-school, which allows some rare bike/scooter duets between me and this guy.  I love it!  Isn't he adorable?

It's been a beautiful fall, but let's not forget about the day-to-day October things. Remember all those apples we picked back in September?  We ate quite a few plain, but I did get a new kitchen toy to help us make some apple butter. Yum! It was so easy that Owen helped me out and we got going pretty fast in our assembly line!

Hadley has been going to gymnastics and is still loving it!  Here, she's demonstrating the bat hang (in pink shorts). She's a natural! I have definitely been impressed with her listening and following directions skills in class. You wouldn't know it from home!  :)

Not to be outdone, Owen has finally mastered monkey bars of all shapes and colors!

Our half-day schedule and the warm sunshine brought us to Bear World a few more times after school before they closed for the season.  The cubs have gotten so much bigger than they were in the spring, and they love to wrestle with each other.  Hmmm...  reminds me of someone...

One night we enjoyed an early dinner downtown and then took a walk on the greenbelt. The kids were in a photographic mood.

Owen often laments that we don't have big enough trees in our yard, because he wants to rake up big piles of leaves.  Luckily, our church has big trees and the kids played in them after church last Sunday.  See Hadley's blue sleeve?  There are actually 3 kids buried in those leaves!  They had so much fun!

Owen has been enjoying school so far, too.  He actually looks forward to doing his homework every day!  He brings home a page or two each day of what they were working on, and this one made me laugh (and all of the similar ones from that week).  Say all of the o's in a spooky ghost voice.  He came up with that all on his own.  Silly kid.

And of course there's the annual trip(s) to the pumpkin patch.

Now they've added chickens (he's laughing because they nibbled on his finger when he was feeding them), kittens, and minions.

The train is still a hit!  This year we rode with our friends, the Phillips: Abigail, Elliott, and Sullivan.  I opted not to ride, because I can now!  :)

And the mini-maze.  Do you see my little cheaters?  Or daredevils? Either way, that is not how you are supposed to do a maze! Tsk, tsk.

We also did a field trip with H's class a week later. I was proud of her hair that day. The end. :)

Biking in the Tetons

This fall has been very mild, so we ventured back to the Tetons last weekend to get in a family bike ride.  It was fun, and the scenery was gorgeous!  We are just getting into the fall colors in town, and we had already missed it in the mountains, but we did see a little in between.  We have too many evergreens to make it truly spectacular, but it's a nice change.

Anyway, we drove in on a Saturday morning and stopped to eat lunch on the patio of the Moose Visitor Center so we could finish listening to the Longhorns victory over Oklahoma! Great start to a great day with that unexpected gem!

Plus, Owen had to prove to a doubting friend that there really is a Mount Owen in the Tetons!  Every time I visit here, I can't help but remember our first trip when Owen stroked the bison fur and sucked his thumb.  :)

All right... Full tummies, a football win, and we're ready for adventure!  We parked at Windy Point and biked all the way to Jenny Lake, which was nearly 6 miles.  Owen did get tired about halfway through, but he was a trooper and made it to the end!  Hadley snoozed in the bike trailer the whole ride.  :)  I think this is the least snow I've seen on these mountains since we've been here.

Once we reached the end of the road at the Jenny Lake parking area, the only way back was on bike.  Daddy took one for the team and biked back to get the truck to pick us up. (Thanks for the pink boots, Aunt Kathy!)

While he was gone, the kids and I did the short hike to Jenny Lake to take in the views, play with sticks, wade in the water, and soak up the sun.

I have to mention that while we were in the middle of a national park with nothing but our bikes and some water bottles, Hadley informed me that she had to poop.  It should also be noted that all of the bathrooms, ranger stations, etc. were already closed up tight for winter.  As I was going over my options and mustering my courage to find some comfortable leaves, a clean tissue blew in on the wind right at our feet.  I kid you not! So, does a bear poop in the woods?  I don't know, but Hadley does!  This picture was taken before the request, but now I think I know what she was thinking about...

Ahem... Once our ride arrived, we sanitized our hands and headed to our hotel in Jackson.  I highly recommend the Parkway Inn, which was tucked away between a mountain and downtown with a city park and playground just across the street.

From there it was a short walk to downtown with all of its eateries and amusements. We love this town!

The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and packed back into the truck for a hike. This hike was in the Rockefeller Preserve, which has a little-known separate entrance into the park. We had forgotten the hiking backpack at home, and it was cooler and windier that morning, but the hike was only 1.4 miles each way, so we had our fingers crossed.

The terrain was varied and the hike was fairly easy, so with a little encouragement Hadley hiked the whole 1.4 miles to the lake.  Lots of pretty scenery to take in, including a deer at close range, and the trail followed this peaceful creek most of the way.  The kids even held hands for a while (see below) totally unprompted!

The hike ended at a pristine mountain lake (Phelps Lake) that was well worth the journey.

All this boy needs for fun is a big stick though!

And this bold, little chipmunk was very hopeful that we'd drop some of our trail mix for him.  Unfortunately for him, we didn't learn from yesterday and packed very light since we didn't have the backpack, leaving our lunch back in the truck. Therefore, every bit of the trail mix was quickly scarfed down by humans.

The loop back was more wooded, and Hadley traveled on Dad's shoulders for about a mile of the return trip.

After a picnic lunch by the truck, it was homeward bound for us!  I think the kids did not sleep well sharing a pull-out couch, because they both zonked on the way home, some more than others.