October 27-30, 2010
Halloween Festivities

Wednesday night we started our Halloween festivities with Trunk or Treat at church. Poor Allison was sick and couldn't go, so I took the other 3. They had a great time, but they didn't have nearly as many people handing out candy as they have had in years past and so it took us longer to get there that we spent going through the cars to collect candy. The kids didn't no any different though, and enjoyed their time.

Thursday morning, brought Sam's Halloween Party at school.
Our little fireman posing for a picture.

As luck would have it, fireman Sam was the flag holder today.
Thought this was a cool picture with a fireman and our flag.

Posing for a class picture before they got to parade through the school in front of the other classrooms. They did the best they could for each of the kids to get to walk through the classrooms of their siblings. We caught Nicholas on the way to library, and were able to walk through Allison's class.

Friday afternoon brought parties for the bigger kids and the annual Halloween parade through downtown Ravenna.
Here is Allison and her class before the parade.

The Kindergarteners first paraded down to the 3rd grade wing, where they were paired up with a 3rd grader for the remainder of the parade. Allison was able to be paired up with Nicholas.

Sam was a spectator for the actual parade, but was lucky because several kids shared their candy with him as they walked by.

Allison and her friend Hunter, after enjoying their cupcakes with black frosting.

That must have been some really sour candy.

Friday night we carved pumpkins.

Gotta get your hands dirty to get all the messy stuff cleaned out.

Planning your creation takes lots of concentration.

They all tried to help with their pumpkins, but still found it quite difficult to handle the carving knife. Gabrielle, however, stuck to her task the longest and really did complete most of her intricate pumpkin herself. Now that they are trying to do more themselves, we will have to remember to choose more straightforward designs next year.

This year's designs turned out pretty cool though.

Even though Saturday was the 30th, it was the designated night for trick or treating in our neighborhood. Ready to hit the road....

This is just a glimpse of the massive amounts of crowds that we get in our neighborhood each year. Trick or Treating is only open for certain hours of the evening. When the designated time arrives, the fire trucks pull onto our street and block of the entrance and exit to the subdivision. You can walk in, but you can't drive in - to protect the trick or treaters.
This year, the crowds were even heavier than previous years - we think it was because people could trick or treat here on Saturday and go somewhere else on Sunday night. Many of our neighbors ran out of candy within the first hour, including our next door neighbor who was very upset that she ran out of candy right before my kids got there. She was so upset that she brought the kids a special treat a little later in the evening.

After the kids finished trick or treating, we returned to the house, lit our jack-o-lanterns and the kids got to enjoy giving out some candy of our own.

October 22-24, 2010
Gun Lake

It was a great weekend away, what we didn't know was that it would be the last FAMILY camping trip of 2010. Good thing we had such a great time.

Fall camping, is one of the best times for spending some time playing games in the trailer.

Camping right along the channel is a great opportunity to do some fishing too.

The only fish of the weekend - and it swallowed the hook.

Allison loved spending time on her tree trunk. Which reminds me, Allison figured out she could read over this camping trip. She saw a sign that said "NO PETS" and had sounded it out and came running over to me to tell me what it said. This was just the beginning of her new adventure in reading.

Paul and Sam went for a walk and found an abandoned boat buoy. The remainder of the weekend it became known as "Sam Buoy". There were many times, where Paul would repeatedly throw "Sam Buoy" into the water and Sam would pull it back into shore.

A campground with a swingset always includes underdogs from Dad.

Some brotherly bonding with "Sam Buoy"

We had some visitors...

Saturday night, Nicholas walked over the edge of the lake.
He ended up sitting there, just quietly looking out over the water for 15-20 minutes.
What a wonderful thing to see: your son appreciating nature and solitude.

A wonderful way to conclude the camping season.
A beautiful view of the moon.....

...and a nice warm campfire.

October 15-17, 2010
A Weekend Away...
... with no kids

This year, in November, Paul and I celebrate 10 wonderful years of marriage.
We discussed many different options to get a way for a weekend, and kept coming back to the idea of going camping without the kids. We love to camp, we love to camp with our kids, but the thought of a peaceful weekend away with just the two of us with time to relax was sounding more and more inviting the more we discussed it. Our anniversary, however, is in November. Although, we do camp in November - the weather can be very unpredictable and we didn't want to get stuck without a decent weekend to go. Therefore, we decided to go a month earlier over Paul's birthday weekend. Excellent choice - the weather was beautiful and we had a wonderful couple of days together. The kids got split up between Grandma and Grandpa's house and Uncle Cory and Aunt Catherine's house the first night, and then they switched houses for the second night and they had all had a blast.

We picked a campsite set back in the woods a bit. Directly behind the trailer was a walking trail.

At the end of the walking trail, was this.....

The view of the lakes and the colors were beautiful.

It was a wonderful weekend away. We relaxed when we wanted to, took lots of walks, and did a lot of mountain biking. It was so enjoyable - I wonder if we should make it a yearly occurrence?

October 15, 2010
Allison's Field Trip to
Post Family Farms

It was a beautiful fall day for Allison's field trip. A little chilly, but sunny and dry and that is the key with field trips. By afternoon, however, many of the kids were shedding their coats while enjoying their day.

Allison "hanging" around on the playground
before the organized activities began.

Playing in the hay area.

A ride on the pumpkin train with her friend Syndie.

We took a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch.
She found the pumpkin she wanted.

No field trip to Post Family Farms is complete
without cider and donuts.

One more chance to play on the playground before going home.
Allison loved the zip line.

October 14, 2010
Sam's First Field Trip

Sam got to go on his first ever field trip for preschool. Which also means it was his first bus ride which was pretty exciting.

We went to the VanderMill Cider Mill in Spring Lake. The kids got to read a story, see the inside of an apple, see how they make cider, and also watch them make the donuts.

Then they got to play on the playground followed by the traditional field trip snack of cider and a donut.

After their snack time they got to go on a tractor pulled ride through the woods in these barrel cars.

The best we could do trying to get a
group picture of a class full of 3 year olds.