Halloween Activities

It seems we could go to a fall festival or do a Halloween activity every day for the whole month of October. I am not exaggerating! But we chose just three activities this week and Anna has already said she doesn't want to do Halloween anymore. We'll see how she feels when everyone goes out Trick or Treating tomorrow night!

Dan has joined a new country club that is closer to our house. We checked out the new country club's Halloween fall festival on Sunday.

They did some crafts.

And got their faces painted.

They also got to play some games and eat popcorn. I would say the new club is going to be a good fit for us.

Monday night we carved our pumpkins! Dan was going out of town until late Thursday so Monday it would have to be! Anna picked the kitty on the left and Mia designed the crying pumpkin on the right. The middle pumpkin looked so cool when we bought it, but Dan could not cut through it! He even went and got the drywall knife to no avail.

We need to work on her smile!

On Tuesday we went to a homeschool coop Halloween party.

Crafts again..

More games...

And more treats!

When we got home Mia wanted to go to the neighbor's. I told her to go change out of her costume and put on play clothes. I was in the kitchen and she said goodbye at the front door after changing. But I did not see her. As she walked home later I was quite surprised to see her wearing a shirt and a pair of tights and...well that's it!

Oh my!

My Two Mistakes

It seems I have made two mistakes the last two days.

My first mistake - I saw an ad for a fun family Halloween four course meal at the Melting Pot. Kids were free and they could dress in costume. But...I forgot...haven't been there in 20 years or so. The meal takes almost three hours! Do the math, here. We have a two year old, a four year old and a five year old. It was a loooonnnngggg meal. They actually did pretty good. It was us parents that were frazzled by the end! Not relaxing...at...all. And there were no Halloween activities as the ad implied.

So far I do not know one single friend of the girls who is NOT dressing up as a character from Frozen for Halloween.

Look! It's Olaf!

My next mistake - giving Mia the important job of taking pictures at Homeschool Day at the botanic gardens. I have 49 videos...videos of glass sculptures...and random strangers' voices in the background.

Me: Mia, why did you take videos of sculptures? They do not move or talk. Next time take a regular photo of them.

Mia: Well, that way we didn't have to stop the stroller. We could just keep moving.

If you ask her, she almost always a good reason for why she does things!!!

The Chuhily exhibit is at the botanic gardens right now. For Homeschool Day, there were eight stations set up to learn about the sculptures. One station was actually a self-guided tour of the sculptures and another was a video of watching Chuhily create a sculpture.

At one of the stations the girls made their own sculptures.

At the Light and Shadow Station they learned transparent, translucent and opaque. And they still remembered it today!

At another station they got to make a Chuhily chandelier by drawing on plastic and then cutting it in a spiral.

The last station we went to was about reflections. After that, they were tired so we ate lunch and headed home. We do have a few still photos. I deleted the ones where she used artistic license to take black and white photos...of beautiful colorful sculptures! What can I say...she doesn't have the best photographer as her teacher!

At least my two mistakes didn't hurt anyone or cause any damage!

A Week in Fall

On Tuesday we walked to the park, about a mile away. It was a gorgeous fall day. Mia rode her bike there and Anna sat in the stroller. On the way back Mia taught Anna how to ride her bike (with training wheels) and helped her up all the hills. Needless to stay they were pretty tired and the day wasn't over yet!

After lunch Lorelei came over to play as she was on Fall Break from school. And then Becky, Arek and Maks came over for dinner because it was my birthday. I had lots of helpers with blowing out candles and unwrapping gifts.

On Thursday I took the kids to a homeschool skating activity. Mia brought her friend Ellie who was also on Fall Break. (We took our Fall Break the week before last as Anna recovered from her tonsillectomy.) The kids really liked it and we plan to go back again next month.

Yesterday he was Corporate Day at the Museum of Science and Nature. Since ULA is a corporate sponsor, we had free tickets for ourselves and Becky and Maks. We visited the space section and they all tried docking the Space Shuttle.

Dressing up as astronauts is always fun, but it was so crowded that there was only one uniform available.

We visited the whale exhibit and the kids climbed in a blue whale heart that was actual size!

Then I got in trouble for using flash photography in the exhibit so no more pictures of that!

At night Dan and I went to a fundraiser for Volunteers of America. ULA always buys a table or two for this. It's a Western theme and the entertainer is usually a country singer. This year they were able to get Trace Atkins as he is town to sing the National Anthem at the football game today. I took a lazy picture from our table.

But then realized that the big screen right in front of me would be a better picture opportunity.

Today we are going to the Melting Pot for a fun Halloween dinner!

Mile High Farms

Every year that we have been in Colorado we have gone to a harvest festival. I think the Denver area is king of the harvest festivals! We have not been to the same one twice! But this year's was our favorite. It was so uncrowded. And Becky and I both had groupons so it was very inexpensive as well. Becky's friend Jenny and her boyfriend, Nick, are visiting and they joined us too.

The kids loved the train, especially Maks.

We took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

Jenny picked out pumpkins, but we already have six at home and didn't need another!

A lot of the pumpkins had thorns in them. Mia picked out every thorn from this one.

The kids all got their faces painted, made bubbles, petted animals, rode on tire swings and played in the corn pits.

Our last stop was the maze. It took us about 30 minutes and we had a map!

We have done two of our annual fall activities, apple picking and attending a harvest festival. We still have Trick or Treating and Thanksgiving on the list to do! Love Fall.