Fall Fun 2016

Is 57 pictures too many for one post? I think not. Here we go...

Hudson's pre-school had their first field trip to Snipes Farm to go apple and pumpkin picking. How convenient that the other kids had the day off of school and got to come, too. We took a hayride out to the apple trees and learned all about growing, caring, picking, and eating apples...

Next, we took the hayride to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins...

Two weeks later we were back at Snipes Farm - dragging Ryan along - to pick more pumpkins for our jack-o-lanterns...

A few months ago I discovered the most AMAZING event taking place just one hour's drive away from home - THE HARRY POTTER FESTIVAL!!! The kids and I - well, mostly Ella, Brooklyn, and I - were beyond excited to go and see what it was all about (Ryan was celebrating his birthday in Denver with his dad, brother, and brother-in-law at the Broncos game). So we got dressed up in our Harry Potter gear and ventured out in the rain to celebrate one of our most beloved characters...

 An ice sculpture making - can you guess what it is? Yep, a golden snitch...

Professor Snape is dead, so the new potions teacher took over potions class and showed us how to make all sorts of fun things - like dragon's toothpaste...

Not that this had anything to do with Harry Potter, but they had a fun show with girls doing all sorts of tricks on ropes, swings, ladders, rings, etc...

Chestnut Hill College drama students dressed up like the Harry Potter characters. We saw two amazing Mad-Eye Moody costumes and I just loved Miss Rita Skeeter's costume here...

Even though Kendall and Hudson were oblivious to all of the cool stuff at the festival, it was so much fun enjoying it with Ella and Brooklyn who got it...

Since the weather's been so beautiful, we decided to roast hot dogs and s'mores over the fire tonight...

Words cannot describe how much I love Fall. I just drive down the road and am in awe at the beauty. So much so that I nearly crash into everything!...

And then the pumpkin carving begins. Watch that knife Hudson!... 

Ella takes it very seriously...

Hudson with a sharp knife is scary!...

He's one happy kid when it's carved and done!...

Brooklyn is giving Ryan very detailed instructions about how she wants her face cut. She is the biggest wimp - along with Hudson - about putting her hands in the slimy goo...

Still working on it...

Not my best or most creative, but sometimes you just wanna get it done and move on to the next thing...

The kids loved Ryan and thought it looked like something from MindCraft...

DONE...

Kendall's pumpkin looks hungry and ready to be fed. I wonder if it's likes tea light candles?...

Halloween Monday was such a blast. First, I got to go to pre-school with Hudson and go trick-or-treating with him and his classmates around the Boro...

Can you find Spiderman? 

From Hudson's school, we drove to Ella, Brooklyn and Kendall's school for their Halloween parties and costume parade. I was chosen to help out in Kendall's classroom party, which was so fun seeing all the cute little first graders in their costumes. Kendall was pretty excited to finally get to wear her pink poodle costume...

Catching quick shots of the kids during the parade...

Brooklyn was the cutest NERD ever!...

Ella made a great Hermoine Granger...

And now it's finally time for trick-or-treating...

Ella and her friends made a quick stop at our house for a drink of water to wash down all the candy they were eating while trick-or-treating. This was the first year Ella and Brooklyn ventured out on their own with their girlfriends. Brooklyn went with Anna, Grace and Sue from up the street...

Ryan took Kendall and Hudson and met up with Sophia and her dad. They, too, stopped home for a break...

One last Fall-related activity on our schedule - an outing with Hudson's good friend Sophie. We headed to Terhune Orchard where we learned that apple-picking season was over for the year, but had fun feeding their animals, walking through their corn maze, and spending money in their market shop on apple cider, apple cider donuts, apple cider BBQ sauce, apple butter, and jams...