Halloween

This year's Halloween was a success! Maggie was Fairytale Princess Dora, Ethan a hockey player (although he wouldn't wear the helmet). Promptly as 6:00, we began our trek around the neighborhood to get as many treats as we could. Ethan quickly got the hang of saying "Trick or Treat" (sounding more like "Tweet tweet"), and also asking for more candy at each stop. Ethan's legs gave out about 45 minutes into the voyage, but Maggie lasted impressively til 7:15 or so.

Maggie as Princess Dora

Ethan's hockey costume, complete with bruises, stitches and hockey stick

Maggie examining the goods at one house. She deemed it acceptable.

What Your Halloween Habits Say About You

You're a friendly person, but not the life of the party. You like making someone else's day - and you'll dress up if you think of a really fun costume. You definitely think of yourself as someone who has a dark side. And part of having that dark side means not showing it. Your inner child is open minded, playful, and adventurous. You truly fear the dark side of humanity. You are a true misanthrope. You're prone to be quite emotional and over dramatic. Deep down, you enjoy being scared out of your mind... even if you don't admit it. You are a traditionalist with most aspects of your life. You like your Halloween costume to be basic, well made, and conventional enough to wear another year.

What's Your Halloween Personality?

Pumpkin Fest

I Love the fall... Pumpkins, apples and haybales - oh my!

Love the Fall Weather...

What a gorgeous weekend we had. 80 Degree weather and sunny - perfect for a day at the zoo with the folks from up north. Aunt Jennifer and cousins Alex and RJ came down from Michigan to spend the weekend with us, which thrilled Maggie and Ethan. They love seeing the boys any chance they get.

Whenever I see the sting rays, I start singing that song from "Finding Nemo" when Mr. Ray comes to pick up the kids for school. Weird, I know.

I already have a diva on my hands... Sigh...

My boy - look at his smile!


RJ making friends with the goats.

Maggie and the polar bears. Our zoo is supposed to be getting a polar bear exhibit in the next year or two - I can't wait!

This poor moose was having a bad weekend. He was about to lose his antlers, and had to be separated from the female moose because of mating season. Yeah, I'd be on edge too if I were him.
We love our cousins!

Two boys, zoo tired.

Apple Pickin

You know it is fall when it is time to hit the apple orchard. Off we went, with buckets in hand to our famous Lynd Fruit Farm. They have huge fields with so many apple trees and every type you can think of... I don't know how the trees stand - the branches were literally falling over with all of the apples on them. I helped them thin the harvest by siccing my kids on their trees.

Maggie's idea of apple picking is to try to sample each apple she picks and then putting them in her basket. We also had to show Ethan that the apples on the ground weren't supposed to be for us to take. After a few pointers, they seemed to get the hang of it...

Maggie and Ethan trying a sample of the bountiful harvest

I love this picture! I am a very lucky girl...

The Best Day... Ever!

Guess who came to the zoo... Yep, the ultimate explorer and hero to Maggie - Dora the Explorer!

After waiting in line for an hour (poor Dora needed a 20-minute break every so often to cool off), we finally got to meet her. Maggie was so excited, and she waited in line so patiently. Ethan even did okay waiting, with the help of Goldfish crackers and juice.

Getting a hug from Dora.

Group picture - feeling the love!

Afterwards, we went on some rides - the zoo passed out free ride passes to appease the families who had waited so long for Dora. I wasn't too sure on how they would do, but they LOVED it! I think I have some future adrenaline junkies here... And yes, that is poor John stuck in the caboose of the train.

Sorry if I offend anyone, but...

I lifted this from my friend Sugarmama - credit goes to her for this.

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'

* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack, you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, and you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School, and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a constitutional law professor, spend 8 years as a state senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state senate's Health and Human Services Committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs Committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl , 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, and 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you advocate teaching responsible, age-appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control and educating kindergarteners on how not to be the victim of a sexual predator, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence-only sex education in your state's school system, with no other option, while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

* If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.