Night of the Living Zoo

Last weekend we went to the Night of the Living Zoo, at (I know it's hard to believe, but...) the zoo!  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but to tell the truth, I was a little disappointed in the whole thing.  Even people with memberships had to pay $6 per person to get in, there were only 7 candy stations, the only animal exhibit we could go in was the reptiles, but even that exhibit was exactly the same, they didn't dress it up for halloween or anything.  There were a few games for the kids to play, but the lines were so long, I didn't even think the games were worth it to stand in line for 30 mins.  So, I'm not sure I'm going back next year.




Willow pretended to drink her glow stick the whole time.



There was this spider's maze the kids could go through (that we had to wait like 30 mins for).  The inside was bungee cords strung up like spider's webs and the kids had to crawl through it all.
Willow got stuck and Royal had to pull her out a window.



Jayden made it through like a champ though.

Slaughtering Pumpkins

Last night we finally got to the business that Jayden has been wanting to do since he picked out his pumpkins and rode the wagon ride back from the patch and said, "Hey Mom, when we get home can I slaughter my pumpkin?"  And I stared at him like, "I'm sorry, but what????"



Willow all ready to scoop out some guts



But she got bored fast and spent most of the time doing this :



Royal, the master cleaner and carver.  He did like 4 pumpkins in the time it took me to finish one.  I'm a little OCD about getting ALL of the guts and strings out.



The finished pumpkins!



We thought the one on the top left looked a little like the Night Fury from How to Train Your Dragon.  So, I cut out some wings, a couple ears, and a couple horns, and we taped it to the pumpkin.  And then my laughing pumpkin on the bottom step used to have 2 teeth, but then Jayden punched it in the mouth and knocked one of them out and severely shortened the other one.  Guess he thought it was laughing at him??? :)

Double the Dinos

Jayden's new dino costume arrived here at the house a good 3 weeks ago.  However, I've been hiding it because I knew once I brought it out, he would probably never take it off.  But tomorrow we are going to a fall festival that has a trunk or treat, and since he was asking if he was going to have a new dino costume or if he was going to have to wear his too small green one, I decided today was as good of a day as any to show it to him.  He. was. so. excited.  And he graciously went and got his green and orange one and gave it to Willow, who happily put it on.

Now, we have double the dinos around here.  Willow's been roaring like one for as long as I can remember, she might as well dress like one now.





Sleeping in their nest.  Jayden says dino's sleep and they eat and that's it.

Pickin' Punkins

We went back to Applejack Pumpkin Patch today, the very place where just a week ago Jayden lost his lunch right after the tractor ride out to the pumpkins.  Thankfully today, we made it the whole time with nobody getting sick!  I love going to the pumpkin patch.  It's like it kicks off the whole holiday season - pumpkin patch, halloween, thanksgiving, christmas tree picking, christmas, new years - I just love it!  And I suppose it's time to start listening to Christmas music again - I'm late this year, but I blame it on the freaking hot weather.
I couldn't get the kids to wear their pumpkin hats this year.  I suppose it might of had something to do with the fact it was 90 degrees out today.  (pay no attention to Jayden's long sleeves...he chose to dress himself and if he does that he can wear his underwear on the outside of his clothes if he wants to (please don't tell him I said that...))





Jayden's favorite part of the pumpkin patch - the huge slide!





It's not Willow's favorite yet...maybe next year!



Jayden was also brave enough to try out the zip line this year!



One of the new features this year was this huge air filled jumper thing.  It was awesome. I totally would replace my backyard with one of these!  (or I suppose we could get a trampoline....)







The kids ran through the milo maze



And then I made them take a picture with the scarecrow - and doesn't it look like Jayden is pick pocketing???



Then it was out to the pumpkin patch!

First stop : See How Tall This Fall!





Then onto picking our pumpkins



Look a picture with me!  I was there!!!!!



And then after Royal lugs our pumpkins out to the truck, it just isn't a trip to the pumpkin patch without hotdogs!

Kid Quote :: 10

Jayden, 2 days ago, declared these his Mexican shoes.


Me : Why Mexican shoes? (he's had them for almost a year and never named them before)

Jayden : They make me speed.

and then he runs off shouting...."Arriba!  Arriba!"

Guess he's a fan of Speedy Gonzales now.  :)

Apple Picking

Ok, so I know we are totally late in the season to be doing this, but we have been so busy every weekend, we never found the time to squeeze it in.  Well, I called up to Regier Farm and Orchard today to see if they had any apples left and they said they were about out, so I called Royal and told him we needed applesauce and apple crisps for the winter and that if he could swing it, we were going this afternoon.  Jayden has been really excited about going to pick apples for awhile.  I'm not sure why, we've never done it before, but he told me it's what you do in the fall, and well, it's fall, so I guess we should go pick apples.

So, Royal picked Jayden up from school and then came home and picked up me and Willow and we drove up to the orchard.  We picked about 70 pounds of Winesap and Granny Smiths and the kids had a great time.  Willow walked around eating a Winesap the whole time and picked apples off the ground and Jayden helped pick all the low hangers and decided he liked the Granny Smiths the best.

Prairie Fire

Ok, so if you've been following my blog for some amount of time, you'll remember from back in September of '09 how I declared this race, my last half marathon.  Well, turns out, I'm a big fat liar.  I ran another half marathon this morning.  You see, I joined this running club called Moms in Motion, with the idea I'd have some fun women with whom I could run a few miles with on the weekend, the plan was that 5-6 miles was going to be my max mileage.  But it turns out, I'm more of a follower than I thought.  Everybody else was training for the Prairie Fire Half Marathon (some for the full marathon), but I wasn't signing up, I was just going to run some mileage with them each week.  Then one Saturday I showed up, having run only 6 miles the week before, and ended up running 11 with them - the conversation was good, my legs felt good, so I just kept running.  And after I ran that 11, I was like, I can totally do another 13.1!  My great friend and owner of Mommy Movement Fitness, Tonya, introduced me to my new best friend, the foam roll.  I rolled my legs out before and after every run and it totally helped my knees.  They were still a little tender after running, but nothing like before.  I was sure, this was my race to break my 2 hour goal.  I am the strongest I've ever been, I had been training with some great gals, one of which was going to run with me in the race, I was so sure I was gonna do it!

Then on Wednesday, I came down with some stomach bug and wasn't able to eat any food or hardly drink anything without an adverse reaction for 2 days.  Friday, I finally started feeling well enough to start eating some food and for the next 2 days I ate oatmeal, toast, crackers, and chicken noodle soup to try and re energize and rehydrate my poor body.  Saturday afternoon I was still pretty tired, my legs would burn every time I walked up stairs, and I was still pretty dehydrated, but I was pounding water like it was nobodies business. And then I got up this morning and headed to the race.

I felt pretty good the whole race, I was running with my friend Monica - which running with her was like running with my dad.  It seemed like every time we turned a corner, she was waving and saying hello to someone she knew.  "Hi!  Oh, hi!  Hi!"  Quite entertaining. :)  Then somewhere around 10.5 miles, I knew I was getting really dehydrated, despite the fact that I was taking as much gatorade and water at each station that I could, and it was becoming a struggle to keep my breakfast down.  I'm really glad Monica was with me, she just kept me moving forward, even though I couldn't keep up the pace we had been running, which was going to put us really close to the 2 hour mark.  I crossed the finish line at 2:04:49.  So close!  But still my best time ever, so I'll take that.  I guess I'll just have to run another one....maybe....

Almost to the finish line!



Monica and I



My friend Amanda and I - we rode to the race together.