One of the best days of the month is the day when the new Rochester Museum of Play magazine and the Syracuse Zoo magazine come in the mail. It's usually the same day, and then both boys have mail they can look at.

This game never gets old!

Waking up from naps in the afternoon can be hard....

Goggles in the bathtub

The boys found my swim goggles in my swim bag in my closet, which prompted a mid-morning bath to try them out. 

More Boston pics

Climbing in the three-story spider web at the children's museum.

Experimenting with pulleys with Uncle Jon

Theo trying on a Cat in the Hat hat in the book corner.

Driving the Carnivale truck in Boston Black at the Children's Museum.

Skid Steer: always a favorite

 A new favorite this year: the very realistic school bus (photographed through the front windshield).

A beautiful day in Boston!

The Head of the Charles on Saturday, October 18.

Playing at Uncle Rich and Aunt Debbie's house with Cousin Kelsey and Aunt Debbie.

More hanging out at home

Since the boys have started school they've been pretty content, on their other five days home, to just hang at home and play with each other and their toys. They've invented lots of great games, some of which involve beating each other with plastic bats.

Pumpkin Patch

On Columbus Day Jeff and I took advantage of being paid not to work to take the kids to Tim's Pumpkin Patch in Marcellus, about 20 minutes from our house. They have lots of petting zoo animals and tractor rides and a farmstand and pumpkins, but the big highlight is a big barn with a huge pile of wheat to play in and a bunch of ride on toys. The boys probably spent an hour climbing around in the wheat and digging with dump trucks and excavators and the like.

They are intrigued by the "scary" stuff about Halloween, but they are also a little frightened. There has been a fair amount of talk in our house since our trip about the "wolfman."

Quotable Kids

Last night, before we went out to Gannon's ice cream night to support the elementary school PTO:
Beckett: I wish I were a girl.
Mama: why?
Beckett: girls get to wear dresses.
Mama: why do you like dresses?
Beckett: I like how they go down to the floor.
Theo: I wish I were a girl, too.
Mama: why?
Theo: they can have long hair.
Mama: why do you like long hair?
Theo: they can flip it up.

This followed some incriminating photos I received from their preschool teacher, Miss Mo, this afternoon. Apparently someone brought in an Elsa costume (from Frozen) and Beckett put it on. Then both boys read a Winnie the Pooh story to the rest of the class. I think we'll have to be getting some "girl" dress up clothes for the house!

This morning, Beck woke up at 7:30 and was cuddling with me since Jeff had already left for his dentist appointment.
Beckett: Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could move our beds into your bedroom?
Mama: why?
Beckett: Then we could all sleep together in the same room!
(I particularly love that he says "wonderful")

This morning, when Theo wandered into our bedroom after sleeping til 7:50.
Beckett (to Theo)  Good morning, beautiful!

Massachusetts trip

Despite four of four of us being on antibiotics, we decided to forge ahead with our planned trip to Massachusetts to visit Jeff's aunt, uncle and cousin and to go into Boston.

Friday we took the boys in and met Uncle Jon at the Children's Museum. It was surprisingly quiet again, like when we went the day before Thanksgiving last year, maybe because it was 70+ degrees outside and the locals were enjoying the last playground/outside weather of the season. Either way it was awesome to have so much of the museum to ourselves!

The pulley in the lobby was one of Beck's favorite things. Jeff has a great slow-mo video he's going to post of Beck in all his joyful glory in the next couple of days, too. 

A new vehicle to drive--this time, the Carnival truck in "Black Boston".

Saturday Jeff and I left the kids with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Rich and Cousin Kelsey to go into Boston on our own. We had a great time watching the Head of the Charles, catching an a capella concert at Faneuil Hall, and touring the JFK Museum. This is a rainbow we saw from the atrium of the JFK Museum.

More pictures to come when Jeff takes them off his phone....