The Accidental Boilermaker

Trick-or-treat time!  Evelyn went as Cinderella and Jameson of course as Spider-Man. So Nate was Gus Gus and I was Mary Jane .  We started out real strong, walking and running up to houses.  Jameson tired first. About 45 minutes in he declared he had enough candy and was done trick-or-treating. He happily rode in the wagon for the rest of the time.  Not too long after, Evelyn climbed in the wagon but she would still get out to go up to doors.  We made it back to our house with 30 minutes left of trick-or-treating but only had a few kids come. Our house had a total of 85 trick-or-treaters. 

We carved our pumpkins tonight. My dad helped because he is the jack-o-lantern expert. Jameson saw a Spider-Man jack-o-lantern online and immediately wanted one. It wasn’t as hard as we thought but we also didn’t put in the time to carve out the spider web part of the mask so that the light shines through.  Still looks cool.  Mine is on the left, Evelyn’s in the middle, Spider-Man on the right. 

Our official last trip to the zoo for the year.  We invited Bella and Millie to join us for trick-or-treating at the zoo yesterday.  It was also truck and tractor weekend which I thought Jameson would really enjoy. Evelyn was Elsa. Jameson was Spiderman.  Bella was a fairy princess and Millie was a cow. There were lots of hay bales and giant pumpkins to climb and sit on. And lots of fun fall decorations like this giant straw red panda.  Most of the animals were no longer on exhibit, but we still got to see the lemurs, orangutans, tigers, sea lions, penguins, Tasmanian devils, and kangaroos. Evelyn actually didn't have school on Friday and everyone from her school must of had the same idea about going to the zoo.  We saw lots of friends.  In this picture, Evelyn and Bella are waving to Evelyn's classmate Sophia.   This was our first wild zoo Halloween.  Admission costs $5 or $9 if you want treats; memb...

We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday to pick out pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns. There was also a kids activity area with a corn maze, corn pit, and giant straw tractor.  We had the whole place to ourselves too. The corn maze was filled with hidden Halloween inflatables.   The biker witch was one of my favorites.  Evelyn said the corn pit was her favorite.  We came home with lots of corn kernels in our pockets.  We also played corn hole, ladders, and pumpkin tic tac toe. 

Evelyn’s whole school took a field trip to a family owned farm in Ohio.  This year was a little different from last year.  The kids got to learn about and touch some “exotic” animals which was pretty cool but the youngest classes didn’t get to see the animal pelts or stufffed animals local to Indiana. They also didn’t get to go to the camp fire. But it was a beautiful, although a little cold, day to be outside. Of the 7 kids in Evelyn’s class, only 4 made it to the field trip.  They got to pet a chinchilla, a snake, and an alligator. The Eurasian eagle owl they couldn’t touch, just look. There was also a sheep and chicken and they took a short nature walk/scavenger hunt.  There was a hayride from the farmhouse to the fields and back. I think that is always the favorite part. 

We made it 4 years in row apple picking at Cooks Orchard.  And each year we end up going later, so we need to work on that. But it certainly felt like fall yesterday. Last year it felt like the trees were all picked over, but this year there seemed to be plenty of apples. The orchard was very busy too.  I know I am going to make a crisp today. I may also make a batch of apple butter in the crock pot again since that turned out really well last year. 

Today was Evelyn's field trip to the pumpkin patch.  Jameson came with us and I'm so thankful for a school and teacher who don't mind that siblings accompany the class.  Plus today we had another younger sibling and an older sibling so I didn't feel so guilty about a tag-a-long brother. We sat in the barn and learned all about how pumpkins grow.  My favorite part was seeing examples of the various types of pumpkins, like Cinderella and baby boo. Then we took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. Every student got to bring home one pumpkin.  Evelyn and her friend Bristol with their pumpkins. Jameson picking out his pumpkin A class picture with some extra siblings, except Jameson.  There were two classmates out sick today who missed the field trip. After the patch we wandered around the farm a little.  Jameson liked the hard shelled gourds that once dried rattle when you shake them. Everyone got the chance to sit i...

Yesterday was a holiday for Nate, so we went to free skate at the ice rink in the afternoon. I like this picture because it makes Evelyn look like she's going really fast, but truthfully she was kind of slow.  Nate had her try out hockey skates instead of her figure skates so she didn't have the toe pick she's used to.  She took a couple good falls, but overall seemed to adjust well. Jameson did ok.  He really only likes to skate with Nate probably because Nate is able to go faster than I am.  He is starting to have moments where he gets it and can march/skate a short distance with you holding him. The best part of free skate during the week is that the rink is basically empty. After skating, we drove to Sweetwater music because Nate had a question about his guitar strings.  Evelyn and Jameson played all the free arcade games. And then we discovered this awesome two story slide.  Even I couldn't resist a trip down.

Last night we went to an Indiana Tech hockey game against Michigan-Dearborn. It was fun and Indiana Tech won 5-3. 

We took one last trip to the zoo with Bella and Millie last week.  It was a rainy, cool morning but the afternoon was perfect. Warm enough for the giraffes to be out. Everyone got to feed the giraffe. And we got to ride the carousel. The tigers were out and active which is always fun to see. We don't see Bella and Millie as often now that Evelyn and Bella are in school, so there was lots of love to go around. We tried on several occasions to get a good picture of all 4 kids together with varying levels of success. The Tasmanian devil was active too which is extra fun because we almost never get to see them.  We saw pretty much the whole zoo which was good, the zoo closes on Sunday.