3 Girls, 3 Pumpkins

One of these years, the girls will vote unanimously to do ONE pumpkin. Until that day comes, we have 3. Ant typically in the past, Mitch has had to carve all 3 but this year Leah tackled her own pumpkin. Hattie has the traditional jack-o-lantern (batman mouth). Bug chose the Owl with the crescent moon. Leah did the witch stirring her cauldron. It was a tough job, but she got it done with a little help from dad. I love that they are always so proud and excited by their masterpieces.

Boo at the Zoo, 2016

It happens every October. Scovill Zoo gets all spooked out for Trick or Treat, and every year these girls love to get dressed up and and check it out. In case you can't tell, they are loving Star Wars. Kiersten is Rey from the Force Awakens, Leah is Princess Leia and Hattie is Jedi Padawana Ahsoka from the prequels...or so I'm told. I've never really watched them. But she picked it out herself. She told me she wanted to be the girls with the curlies on her head. I thought she meant Leia, but then she saw the costume and even knew the name. I was impressed. 

It was a gorgeous October afternoon. We didn't even need jackets or coats. The zoo was busy and the animals were out. We did the train ride, which was surprisingly boring this year. In the past there have been sound effects and lots of decorations. But the girls didn't seem to mind. And as always, the carousel was a hit. They played Halloween music...The Addams Family theme song and the Harry Potter theme song. I was hoping for some Purple People Eater, I kid!

Welcome to the DSC!

You don't know what the DSC is? Don't worry neither did I. But its a new world that we have entered into!!! DSC stands for Decatur Swim Club. For the last two years, Leah has been asking if she could swim. And I kept saying no, because I didn't want to drive to the Y every day for practice. Well, it's 3rd grade now, and Mitch says we have to let her start making her own choices, Even thought she is MY BABY, but I caved. My sweet Leah quit dance this year...she was such a beautiful, graceful dancer, and she joined the DSC. I thought for sure it would be a semester or two of lessons first. But I was wrong. She made the competititve team.

So here we are, bright and early on a Saturday morning, at Stanford Olympia High School participating in our first Otter Plunge. She swam 2 events...the 50m backstroke and the 25m freestyle. Mitch figured it was enough to get her feet (or fins) wet. She was a nervous wreck, but she did fantastic. She got third in her heat of the back stroke and we were so proud. She was 4th in her heat of the freestyle, backstroke is clearly her strength, but it was fun to see her give it her all. Goodbye Saturdays at home, we'll be spending them at the pool!

Rock Springs

Yesterday I had a chance to tag along with Kiersten's class for a field trip out to the Rock Springs Conservation Area. It's a place that we have been many times before, and is always a good time. Lucky for us, we got to start indoors. It was a chilly morning, so we enjoyed the heat while we checked out the exhibits and played with the puzzles.

Second, we went out to the pond, or lake, or river...not really sure where we were!!! The guide talked to us about the aquatic habitat. Afterwards we went down the the water with nets. He wanted us to find life in the water. Us parents left that to the kids. One of Bug's classmates caught a tadpole right off the bat. After a little while, Bug got a BUG! We weren't really sure what it was at the time, but we later found out it was a dragonfly nymph. I had no idea that dragonflies actually begin in the water. You learn something new all the time.

I had to cut my trip short so I could go get Hattie from preschool, but after the aquatic lesson, they went to the reptile house. I was so bummed to miss out on that, Ha! Kiersten had a great time, and I'm glad we got to do it together!

Rader's Family Farm

So we went a different direction for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! It seems that every year since we moved here, we've visited the Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur, to the East. But I had heard so many people raving about Rader's I decided that maybe this year we should go North, so that's what we did!

The weather forecast looked perfect so we knew it would be packed...we got there right at 10 and the cars were already filling the parking lot! The girls didn't waste anytime get started. They jumped right into the "barrels" and began rolling! Followed up by Rubber Duck races. Next up was the ball toss. Hattie was having some trouble, but Daddy picked her up and helped her make a basket or two. Mitch and I were having fun tossing the pig skin, when low and behond, Leah scored a touchdown.

We played Tetherball, did the kids maze, tug of war and more. The kids were having a great time on the slides when Mitch and I decided it was time for a snack break. We had homemade pumpkin donuts...totally delicious and apple cider. Then we visited the livestock. Hattie says the baby goats were the best part of the day. I don't know about that, but they were pretty cute.

There was jumping on a huge inflatable, riding the pony swings, climbing the spider web ropes and last but not least the maze!!! It was actually a giant image from "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." It was seriously impressive. My crew opted for the long haul. It took them about an hour to get through it but they did! While there were doing that, I paid for our pumpkins, grabbed some mums and loaded up the car.

We finished the day with a late lunch at Flat Top Grill in Bloomington. It was awesome and Hattie and Leah were adventurous creating their own dishes. I wish we had one in Decatur, for real! Pumpkin Patch day is my favorite, and this one did not disappoint!