Mother Goose Parade...and more

Jayden's school had a mother goose parade today.  All the Early Education kids got dressed up like mother goose characters and then were paraded around the quad so other kids could see them.  Then they got to go through a library that was decorated and had about 8 stations where a "character" told and acted out a mother goose story or poem.  It was pretty darn cute.

Jayden chose to go as All The Kings Horses from Humpty Dumpty.  I looked and looked and looked for a mother goose story or poem that had a dinosaur in it, but no luck. :)






Willow got to go play at Lunden's house while Jayden and I were at school.  Sabrina sent me pictures. :)




Willow didn't take a nap at Sabrina's house, and Jayden was pretty tired from all the activity at school, and Royal was running with a friend after work so he was going to be late, and I didn't want to deal with 2 tired kids at home, so we drove to the zoo.  I know, we go there a lot, but there are 4 new snake exhibits that we haven't had a chance to go check out yet.  :)

This one isn't new, but it sure is impressive and was laying right up against the glass.  The Yellow Anaconda!


Some of the snakes were hiding in the back of their cages, but here is the Boomslang.  It attacks people by hiding in trees and jumps on them from above.  It's one of the few rear-fanged snakes that can kill a human, which it's venom does by preventing blood from clotting.  Sounds lovely...


Then after going and visiting some of our favorites - tigers, lions, zebras, giraffes - all with discussions on what would happen if we somehow got in their cages with them, we went and visited our old friends.....

....the hippos....


....and wondered which one was the one who ate Willow's shoe....

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.