Adventure Time

So many adventures and they just keep going.  I'm in a constant state of exhaustion.

Playground visits while the weather is nice.

 Parties at Kate, my lovely midwife's house...complete with pumpkin pinatas to beat the crap out of.

 Petting sharks at the aquarium.

 Petting itty bitty sting rays.

 Looking in all the windows.

 Eating some of the non-edible gift shop items.

 Dancing in front of the fish.

 Looking at sharks in the shark tunnel with Da.

 Playing a game instead of looking at all the sharks in the shark tunnel.

 Being silly in the rain with the city of Philadelphia behind us.

 More silliness.

 Picking our noses.

 Getting our hair trimmed.

 And getting our hair completely cut off while Mommy holds back the tears.

Our weekends are very full.  We are trying to get the most out of the season, which includes playgrounds all to ourselves, nature walks to collect leaves of almost every color, all things pumpkin and Halloween related, birthday planning, trip to NY planning, career transitions and the list goes on and on.  On Saturday, we enjoyed every minute of the day...first at the playground, then at Miss Kate's house for a potluck gathering.  The pinata was the highlight.  And while all the parents and kids were getting impatient, Kate sat there in her zen way and explained that pinatas are like birth...you don't know when the prize is going to come out.  The one child that knocked the pinata down was a quiet redheaded girl dressed in head to toe pink.  Once it came down, she began to beat it repeatedly and then stabbed it with the stick a few times, then her and Norrin each grabbed an end and pulled that sucker apart.  I wish I had a picture.  It was thoroughly brutal and hysterically funny.  On Sunday, we chose to go to the aquarium.  It was too rainy for anything else and as long as you go when it opens until about 12-1pm, the crowds aren't too overwhelming.  Norrin loves that place and Ani Rose is cautious about the places you can pet a sea creature, but runs wild everywhere else.  And last, but not least I took the kids for haircuts.  Ani just got a trim since we're still just trying to encourage it to grow thicker and longer, please.  Norrin was allowed to tell the hairdresser exactly what he wanted.  He said he wanted it short, but not too short.  He wanted "the hair to touch the tops of his ears, but not cover them".  That was the exact quote he gave the lady.  I hate his short hair because it instantly makes him look older.  Silly, I know because he is getting older.  He's going to be 5 in 9 days! But I still get a little lump in my throat, hug him a little tighter than he'd like and then, I see that whether his hair is short or long, he's absolutely gorgeous. 

Our Spooooky Jack O Lanterns

Norrin decided which pumpkin and which pattern belonged to each of us (of course).  Norrin's pumpkin is the Frankenstein, mine is the kitty cat and Ani Rose's pumpkin is the "eek!".  Norrin and I had a little date at Target while Ani Rose was napping.  The kits come with all the carving supplies and patterns you trace onto the pumpkin before you carve.  It was a bit much carving all three and I stopped after just three (Todd has his own to do) because my hands started aching.  The result is pretty awesome though.  I put flickering battery-operated tea lights in them and they all went outside because I didn't want them to decompose on my dining room table.  Every weekend Norrin wants to add more spooky decorations to our house, so by Halloween we should be living in a pretty scary place.  Today I'm going to try to finish up their costumes and then I won't have to worry about that for the rest of the month. 

Snipes Farm

So, we went to Snipes Farm last weekend.  It was very overcast and a little chilly, but it was a lot of fun.  We went on a hayride, we picked pumpkins and apples, there was a playground and a corn maze and bunny huts and most importantly, apple cider and cider donuts (yum!).  Todd took so many beautiful pictures that there is absolutely no way I can pick just a few.  So, enjoy this photo heavy post. 


Waiting for the hayride.

 Ani Rose wanted to be pulled around in this wagon the whole time. Norrin insisted he was strong enough to do it.

 Norrin scooped up pumpkins as fast as he could without even looking at them.

 Ani didn't really know what the hell was going on.

 She just wanted to keep riding in the wagon.

 On to apple picking...

 Ani Rose liked putting the apples in the bucket...forcefully.

 Eventually she was done with the whole apple picking nonsense.

 Such a cloudy day...but we didn't get rained on.

 Nursing while waiting for the hayride to take us back.

 Watching her big brother...

 Acting like his usual wild self :).

 Heading into the corn maze.

 Mommy is so weird...

 And so is Norrin :).

 Ani Rose liked the corn maze.

 She also liked the bunny huts.

 Norrin and Ani ran, screamed and giggled their way around this mini-maze for awhile.

 Then, it was time to get going.

 After a few more pictures amongst the fall colors.

This is the photo where Da kept telling Norrin to put his finger down and smile nicely.  We must have forgotten his listening ears at home.

 Peek-a-boo.

 Acorn hats on Mommy's fingers are so funny.

That was the first and last time we'll be going to Snipes Farm.  We wanted to try it because we heard there was a lot of things for kids to do.  There was, but they charged you for everything.  From now on, we're sticking with Styer's Orchard. Needless to say, Ani Rose passed out in the first two minutes of the car ride home.  Norrin, always my little sleep fighter, did not.