Pumpkins

A few weekends ago Reed and Theo and I went to the regional market. We ate lots of market snacks (doughnuts, fried dough sticks) and picked out some primo produce.

After the Hollow trip, we painted the pumpkins we picked out. We did not make the mistake we have made other years, though, by leaving the pumpkins out to get rained on and the paint washed away. The beautiful painted pumpkins are now safely under the awning.

Mystery reader: Taco edition

The boys' school welcomes parents as mystery readers, which means the kids don't know which parent is coming in to read, so when the parent shows up, it's a surprise. I was scheduled for October 19, which coincided with my finishing my homemade taco costume for Halloween. My complete costume is Abraham Taco, which is the taco on the bottom and a black stovetop hat and beard. Not wanting to miss a chance to wear my new costume, I tried to find a way to incorporate a costume into my mystery reader gig. Luckily I found one of the boys' favorite books, Dragons Love Tacos, as well as a biography about Abraham Lincoln that the boys like. I went to each boy's classroom and asked whether they wanted me to read the Abraham Lincoln book or the Dragons Love Tacos book, prepared to dress in either costume depending on their answer. Both classes chose Dragons Love Tacos, so I got the chance to put my taco costume on in both rooms.

One of my favorite memories of that day will be when I brought the books in to Theo's room, and the kids chose, and then I told them I would be right back. Theo face-palmed, anticipating (correctly) what was coming.

Videos from the Hollow

The Hollow

A couple weekends ago Auntie Alexis came to visit and after eating and playing at home we took her and the kiddos to one of our favorite fall spots--the Hollow in Onondaga. We fed some ponies and goats, rode some slides, played in the corn barn, and jumped off some haystacks. Some of us got our faces painted as well. Theo stayed home to play with friends in the neighborhood.

Zoo day

Sometimes because the zoo is so close and easy to get to, we forget about it. None of the kids wanted to go when Jeff and I proposed it but of course we had a great day. There are several new animals, including leopards (and their twin babies!) and a new baby elephant. Whenever we take the stroller for Reed, Beckett wants to push it. Often he and Theo fight over pushing it but Theo wasn't that interested on this particular day. Unfortunately Beckett chose to wear flip flops and experienced the annoyance of flip flop blisters so Theo ended up pushing them both home.

Visit with Uncle Jon

While no photos were taken of Uncle Jon, he did visit a couple weekends ago for four days. It was great to have some low-key time with him. The boys played lots of catch with him, we flew the drone, and he got to watch a soccer practice and a soccer game.

Sandy Island 2019

Two years ago I took Theo and Beckett out of school their second week back in September to spend a day at Sandy Island State Park. We had such a magical day there, enjoying the spectacular beach and water almost by ourselves. I've wanted to recapture that magic ever since. We've been back two or three times since then but it's never been as quiet as it was that first time when we were there on a school day after the guards had closed the beach for the summer. Two weeks ago we had the chance again. I had planned to meet Auntie Alexis with the kids that day, so I'd already planned to take the day off of work and take the kids out of school. Last minute she had to cancel, so I decided to go with just the kids to Sandy Island. It's about an hour away from our house but from Reed's school, my last pick-up point, it was only about 50 minutes. I had told the kids that morning that they had dentist appointments that afternoon and that I would be picking them up after lunch at school. (I had some work to do that morning and I also felt bad about taking the kids out for the whole day, so I justified the half-day more easily.) I picked Theo and Beckett up for an "appointment" (because the last beautiful beach day of the year is an important appointment, am I right???) and when we got in the car, I told them they didn't really have a dentist appointment but that we would be going to Sandy Island. Then we went to Reed's school and picked him up, and Theo and Beckett got to tell him that we weren't really going to the dentist.

When we got to the beach, there was one other family and then three adults at the other end of the cove. A couple other small groups came and went over the afternoon but we had a huge swath of beach and water to ourselves the entire time. The water was colder than I would have liked but smooth as glass. The cold didn't stop the kids from swimming. There is something so perfect about that beach and stealing a day in September to enjoy it almost all by ourselves.