Countdown to Halloween

After the rain stopped on this Saturday morning, we ventured outside to begin our Halloween preparations! First, we carved our pumpkin, and we used one of indoor decorations as our inspiration.

Let the pumpkin carving begin...

Hmmm... tastes like chicken...

Keep scoopin' old man...



"Touch?" asked William when Daddy showed him the completed jack-o-lantern.

You know, David always liked "The Thinker" statue by Rodin... looks like David lost his head trying to imitate such a wonderful work of art!!

This little boy loves his "pum-peck"! He's giving it a hug!

After we placed the jack-o-lantern on our front steps, we headed inside to prepare treat bags for the trick-or-treaters. First thing we had to do was "open" a lollipop for William (in his right hand!)


Nearly 100 bags... a job well done! William did not really want to put the candy in the bags. He said, "no" each time we asked. As we recall, he put maybe 2 pieces into a bag... guess that was all he was willing to part with! (Note the chocolate/m&m's around his mouth)

After dinner, we lit the candle inside our pumpkin! We love his little smirk!!

William was so excited! He shed real tears when we told him it was time to go inside!

Birthday Party at the Farm

Sunday morning was absolutely gorgeous! We spent the morning at a birthday party for William's friends, Joseph and Nicholas. We played in the little village, went on a hayride, picked apples in the orchard, picked a pumpkin from the patch, and ate cupcakes! An absolutely wonderful morning!

Playing in the little village firehouse!

William and Brielle playing in the little village church!

On the hayride... going to the orchard!

Riding to the orchard

William ate the first apple he picked!

Still eating his apple, William was so excited to sit on the tractor!!

The boys waiting to return to the party after apple picking!

My parents are embarrassing me... again...

William loved the hayride! We were going back to the birthday party barn.

What cute birthday boys!!

William was so excited to get the cupcake with the tractor on it!! His favorite!!

Checking out the pumpkins... this one was not quite right, he thought.

A tired party-goer checking out his loot on the ride home!

Fall Hike

With the cooler weather and the changing leaves, we have been itching to hike! So, we headed out on Saturday morning, coffee in hand, to enjoy the fall scenery. (Somehow we adjusted the camera to a landscape setting... so it almost looks like we are pasted onto the scenery in some of the shots... we really did go on the hike ... we didn't go to Sears and ask for the fall hike background HA!)

Which way to the trail??

William and Mommy... heading uphill

The morning sun...

Sittin' on the side of a bridge... watchin' the water rush by! (We finally had enough rain to fill the streams!)

"Really, really tall," William said!

Playing in the leaves... still alot of green leaves on the trees!!

The boys were climbing the "big rocks" along our trail.

Whew, Dad, we made it to the top!!

Louisiana Sunday!

Our little drummer boy!

Last Sunday, the weather was cooler. So, it was officially GUMBO weather! We invited our neighbors over for gumbo, potato salad, jambalaya, and pecan tassies! They brought over jalapeno cornbread and yummy black forest cupcakes!!

Oh the calories that were consumed that evening!!

Uncle Ron played for William, and our budding young musician played along!!

It was a dark stormy night...

Pumpkins adorned literally every foot of this historic manor home on the Hudson River.
The lighting was amazing... it was blue and spooky!!

Seriously, it WAS a dark, stormy night when we visited the JackO-Lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, NY.

A bit about the Blaze:


The Jack-o-Lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson features more than 4,000 individually hand-carved, illuminated pumpkins! Visitors meander through a woodsy, darkened, riverside landscape and discover a breathtaking, artistic display of abstract designs, ghosts, fish, mushrooms, clowns, animals, snakes, spider webs, and dinosaurs…all made of pumpkins!

Because of the rain, some of our photos were filled with rain drops, so we borrowed some from the Blaze Blog so that you could see this amazing event! We can't wait for next year!!

http://www.hudsonvalley.org/content/view/195/198/

The entrance to the welcome tent!! Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere!

The boys are ready to enter the Blaze! We put on our rain gear, bought a pumpkin flashlight to illuminate our path, and headed in!!

The entry tent had carved pumpkin chandeliers and spider web lights on the ceiling!

Walking up to the Manor...

Unbelievable!

The snake exhibit was sssssssssssss-oooooo amazing!

Each of the pumpkins in the foreground were different types of spiders, the web is made of pumpkins, and a large tarantula rests next to the web!!

Sesame Place

William and Mommy spent Sunday with our friends Brielle and her mom Lily. We took a little road trip to Langhorne, PA to play at Sesame Place!

The clock at Big Bird theater... waiting for the "Countdown to Halloween" to begin!

William and Brielle waited by sitting on the Big Bird gate. William, ever curious, crawled through and started walking toward the theater. He seemed to be thinking... "hey, we can just walk on this path to see the show!" Mommy had to coax him back through the gate!!

Waiting for the show to start!! Someone just adores Brielle!

Big Bird!!

The Count

Clapping along with the music... so focused!

During the last number, William and Mommy rushed up to the stage. This is as close as we could get to ELMO!! William cried when we had to leave the stage and said, "Elmo... Elmo..."

We walked along Sesame Street, and we saw Ernie. William was dancing with excitement as he shrieked "Ernie... Ernie!"

Hug me, Ernie!! William looks so happy!

William and Mommy headed over to the play area near Elmo's World. William didn't want to play in the playground; he wanted to ride Big Bird's Balloon Race! He waited patiently in line for 30 minutes to ride. We got to sit in the Cookie Monster balloon. He LOVED the ride and was not scared!! Look how high up it goes!!

Waiting for the parade to start!

Bert stopped by to say hello!

Bert and William really bonded!!

We did a bit of shopping and bought... ELMO... almost bought a BERT toy, but ELMO won in the end! Then, we headed to see the fire engine!

Still in the fire engine... what a pair!!

We had a wonderful yet exhausting day! We got caught in a HUGE traffic delay in New Jersey... meaning, we sat in non-moving traffic for over 3 hours!!