Actual Halloween

It feels like we celebrated Halloween for a full month from the beginning of the pumpkin patch visits to final night of actual trick or treating.  On the Saturday before the big day, we joined Brandon and his family on Phinney Ridge for their annual trick or treat to the business on the avenue.  Mayson decided to switch things up and be a ballerina for the day, and Brandon accompanied her in his Buzz Lightyear costume.  They had a blast going to the doors of the stores and grabbing candy.  My favorite moments included the dance parties at the studio and art center and the stop at the ice cream store when Buzz forgot that his helmet eye shield was down before trying a bite. 

We had a great actual Halloween night at Molly's house.  Her family invited us over for a spaghetti dinner followed by trick or treating in her neighborhood.  She and brother Will showed us around her hood, and Mayson, Gray, and Noah had fun following.  Mayson found all of the other girls on the sidewalk along the way who were dressed as princesses too and made sure to introduce herself.  It was so cute how the Angie daycare group looked out for each other.  At one point when Mayson wasn't listening, Molly and Noah sat at the table and tried to problem solve and get her to join them.  I loved how each one of them would take any of the adult's hands interchangeably since they all know us so well over all the years being together.

Angie's House

A beautiful fall day on the porch at Angie's house! The whole gang is there...Molly, Gray, Mayson, and Noah.

Maple Leaf Park Opening

The other half of our new park opened this weekend so now we have fun new walking paths and huge grass fields with a great view of the city and mountains. Mayson loved kicking the soccer ball and Gray did his commando crawls all over the grass.

Arboretum Leaves

Besides the pumpkin patch, my other annual favorite fall must-have experience is the arboretum to see the leaves.  Apparently every other person in Seattle with a camera and cute kid and/or dog has the same idea! 

Annual Pumpkin Pic

When we went to the pumpkin patch farm on Camano Island, I found a barn and sign that was at least close to our old favorite so we could get our annual photo.  Not sure what we'll do next year....might have to build a barn in our back yard :) Here's a view of Mayson from last year compared with this year.  Plus now Gray gets to join in the tradition with his first shot. 

 

Birthday Weekend Getaway

We spent a fun weekend with Grandma and Grandpa on Camano Island to celebrate Keri's and Grandma's birthday.  We rented a great house overlooking the water, and spent the weekend relaxing.  We spent a foggy morning at the beach and visited a local farm and pumpkin patch.  Mayson had a blast going through the corn maze: she has a great sense of direction (must be from her mom). Mayson was in love with the play room at the house since it was stocked with every Disney movie in history and a huge bin of princess dress up clothes.  Does anyone notice anything funny about our "backpack" series of photos?

Pumpkin Patch part 2

Our fun at Oxbow farms continued with Mayson loving the pumpkin slingshot.  We scouted the countryside looking for the perfect pumpkin, and then needed to take a lunch break from mommy's camera.  We had a great lunch in town in the Carnation/Tolt area and then Keri, knowing my need to find all the perfect pumpkin places in the area, took me to Jubilee Farms, to try another--he's such a trooper!  Jubilee was much closer to my needs from Fall City, with the horse and hay ride, farm animals, cider, and hay bales. 

 

 

Pumpkin Patch part 1

You can ask Keri about how I am when October rolls around.  I start scouting the weather reports for good weekend weather and start fantasizing about crisp sunny weekend visits to the pumpkin patches.  Well, you can imagine my dismay when I found out that my favorite pumpkin patch, Fall City Farms, was closed down (retirement or some crazy reason).  Fall City Farms did not take into account how I have been there for the past two years and taken the same poses with Mayson each time.  They didn't know that we had Gray now and since he was born I fully intended to put him next to the same "Pumpkin" sign that I had used to pose Mayson.  I had envisioned a whole lifetime of pictures of the kids growing up next to that sign.  Anyway, I had to adapt.  I looked at some reviews and found that Oxbow Farms was supposed to be low key just like Fall City, so I packed everyone up at the first hint of sunshine.  It was a beautiful day.  Totally clear and sunny.  But a little too low key: no cute signs or farmhouses, no donuts or cider, or cute little hay maze.  But I made the best of it. And Gray made the best of it.  Mayson was a little grumpy about my requests for poses (who can blame her as I constantly stick the camera in her face), but Gray stepped up like a champ.  Here's the pictures of him loving every minute in the beautiful sunshine.