Pumpkin Patch Fun

One of the first grade mom's coordinated a meet up at the pumpkin patch - they kid took a field trip there in kindergartner and loved it. Unfortunately, Brian got stuck at work and we missed everyone.  I think the boys still had a pretty great time, though!

 I seriously cannot wait until this guy give me genuine smiles again.  His cheese face cracks me up though!

 The obstacle course was Jack's very favorite activity.  The look of concentration on his face was just precious!  He was so proud of himself at the end and just wanted to do it again and again.

 Along with Daddy these two big guys braved the corn maze.  I remember getting lost in it last year so I was pretty impressed that they made it through without issue.

 The zipline is always a huge hit.  Max complained that he had a hard landing, but that smile on his face tells me he loved it anyway.

 Jack needed a bit of coaxing, but he did it!

 Oh this little man was in heaven.  He couldn't try things fast enough.  Even a tumble down a five foot tall haybale staircase didn't slow him down!

 Max thoguth this minion haystack was pretty fun.

 No pumpkin patch trip is complete without a hayride.  I was hoping to get  a family shot, but this was the best I could do since we couldn't all sit together and we didn't want to wait for yet another tractor.

Those flushed cheeks show that mother nature was a bit confused and our visit felt more like summer than fall, but that toothless grin also tells you it was a pretty great time!

Field Trip Friday - The Garden

The weather is finally beginning to realize that fall has arrived - at least some days.  Jack and I are doing our best to make the most of our Fridays when we can still go play outside, so we headed to the garden.

 Jack loved all the tropical flowers he saw in the climatron.  Especially this puffy red one that he found on the path.  The Chihuly glass in the ponds really caught his attention and he told me to take a picture -then he posed just like this.

He even found this teeny tiny little frong on one of the plants.  I was amazed at how tiny it was.  Hard to tell from the picture, but it less than a dime in size.

 After the climatron we headed to the Children's Garden - which is a super fun place when it isn't crowded and you are only trying to keep an eye on one kid.  We read about pollinators and he did his part to pollinate these giant plans by ringing the bells inside.

 Jack crossed the fallen logs like a pro.

 And made beautiful music with the xylophone.

I was hoping we could avoid the locks, but once Jack saw hte boats there was no way he wasn't going to check them out.  Luckily by that point in our morning it had warmed up a little bit and he stayed fairly dry.

Columbus Day

 The boys were off school and Brian took off work, so we took these three little monsters to the zoo.

 The Grizzly bear exhibit just opened a couple weeks ago.  This was the first time Max and William got to see them.  We have a brother and sister that are still just babies.  I'm sure they will grow quickly!

 Jack's favorite part of the zoo is always the penguins which takes us right through to see Kali the polar bear.  He was super active and the boys just stood at the glass for ten minutes watching him swim circles.  They would giggle every time Kali passed them.  It was pretty impressive if I do say so myself.  He is huge!

Of course we had to ride the train.  I love this picture of Max and Brian.  Max just looks so grown up!

This just makes me smile so much.  All three boys on the train - in the very last seat so that they could say all aboard into the intercom.  William is wearing his 'sausage supper' hat.  Jack is of course saying 'cheese', and Max is just being his sweet little self.  I love them more than they will every realize!

Field Trip Friday - Grant's Farm

 Another Friday, another field trip!  This time we visited Grant's Farm.  We started out in the stable before we caught the tram and Jack just fell in love with this little cat.

 Along with Nonna we boarded the tram to explore the deer park.  Unfortunately there weren't too many animals out, but I will say that we had the best tour narrator ever!

 Of course we cant' visit without feeding the goats!  Jack was struggling a bit with keeping the bottle upright, but he loved it!

 Cawing at the macaws to see if they would talk back was loads of fun.

 We arrived a little later than we usually do, so that meant we had perfect timing for the elephant show.  Jack enjoyed the show - and his popcorn.

We wrapped up the visit by digging through our bags to find two quarters so that Jack could feed the camels.  Those giggles were more than worth the digging :)

William's First Scout Outing

The bar has been set pretty high for William's scouting expectations.  His den leader put together hte most incredible outing for the boys last weekend.

We started out on the playground of one of the coolest parks I have ever seen.  William took a moment to take it all in - yoga style.
 

  His den leader got the boys together and talked briefly about what it means to be a scout.

 He explained that there are special laws Cub Scouts follow and that they would learn more about the laws through a scavenger hunt.

He gave the kids their first clue and they were off!  The boys found all of the clues around the playground until they got to the very last one, which let them to a container full of balloons.

 Each of the balloons had a word of the scout law inside.  William is behind the orange balloon :)

 He welcomed each boy to the den and threw their balloon down from the tower.  The boys each popped their balloons and they are now responsible for teaching their friends about their word at the next den meeting.  William is at the very top of the tower in this picture - why am I not surprised!

 William has to teach his scout friends what it means to be reverent.  This is a tough one.

 We wrapped up with a hike through the woods.  Halfway through the den leader pulled out a bunch of materials about animals the boys might observe and even played sounds of the birds they should listen for.

So proud of this little cub scout - and I so excited for all that is to come!

Fire Safety Day

One of the fire departments put on quite a show this past Sunday.  He kids had a great time checking out emergency vehicles, eating hot dogs, and putting out fires.

  They even put together a live fire demonstration to show just how quickly things spread and talked to the kids about what they can do to stay safe.  William keeps asking when we are going to have our home fire drill.

The big boys put out a fire in this little house - they both had pretty good aim and the fires were out in no time.

Jack just wanted to stand in line to make sure he got a balloon sword.  There was lots of drama Sunday night when his sword popped.  It was rough.  Other than that we had a great time and we will be on the lookout for this event again next year.