Happy Halloween 2013

 Happy Halloween!!

Earlier this week we did some pumpkin carving. We carved four pumpkins total, a couple large ones (well one was daddy size and one was mommy size), an Ellie sized pumpkin, and a special baby pumpkin for the baby. Ellie is still a little young to use a knife to actually carve the pumpkin, but she did help design the carvings and clean out the "pumpkin guts". She also was the official photographer for a little bit while Nick's and my hands were covered in goo. We had a blast and the end results are awesome. As usual, Nick was the pumpkin carver extraordinaire. He did the baby pumpkin (with the pacifier) and the big "daddy pumpkin".

Today Ellie had an exciting day at school. She wore her costume to school as they had a costume parade in the morning. Then, in the afternoon, the kids had a special Halloween themed party and special snacks. We picked her up a little early from school for some Trick or Treating. This year we got the scoop on the neighborhood from Ellie's teacher who lives a couple blocks away. Our street, which doesn't have sidewalks or street lights, is not the place to be, however, a couple blocks away it is pretty exciting. So we got Ellie dressed up in her costume and headed out.

She was a bit nervous and wasn't too into trick or treating at first, but then we met up with her teacher, her teacher's kids, and other family and had a blast trick or treating. Everything is better with friends right? The kids did really well going to the door (without crossing on the grass), knocking, saying "trick or treat" and they all remembered their manners (I think one would remember, and then they would all say thank you). Ellie enjoyed being BatGirl and all the compliments she got. The group we ended up joining up with had quite a few superheroes in it so she fit right in. I think she also enjoyed being one of the few girl superheroes. Some houses had some scary decorations which the kids deemed "too creepy" but not too creepy to miss out on candy...

After just over an hour of trick or treating Ellie was pooped and was saying her arm was sore because her candy bag was too heavy. We decided it was time to head home. We all had a blast, especially Ellie.

When we got home, Ellie poured out her candy bag and decided to start sorting it. We allowed her one piece of candy and it took her a while to decide. Unfortunately for me she picked one of two pieces of candy that I was eyeing...oh well, she did get quite a few Snickers which may end up being shared with her mom.

Good fun, good friends, and good costumes...and great candy. The makings of an awesome Halloween.

Jet setting to weddings

The past month has been full of quick travels to various cities for weddings of family and friends. We hit Chicago, Seattle, and Boston for three weddings in five weeks. Ellie came with us to Chicago and Boston, but spent a weekend with Grandma Pam and Grandpa Mike while we went to Seattle. She got time with her Aunt SuSu, both sets of grandparents and got to see Aunt Cindy, Uncle Mike, and Cousin Tristan.

Our first trip was a weekend in Chicago. There was great weather. Nick and I got a day and evening downtown at a college friends wedding. It was great to get some real deep dish pizza, but better to see Marching Illini friends and some of Nicks frat brothers and his former roommate. We had a blast catching up with everyone.















But Ellie had just as much fun. She hung out with her Grandparentals Harrer who took her to a farm that had rides and all sorts of fun stuff. There was also time to see Great-Grandma Kost and Cousin Tristan. Tristan has grown so much since we last saw him...he is no longer Baby Cousin Tristan. Ellie had a blast with him...hopefully he didn't pick up any of her silly habits!












The very next Thursday evening Nick and I headed up to Seattle. grandma Pam and Grandpa Mike came down to Pasadena to watch Ellie and make sure she got to school on Friday. She did convince them that Lucky Charms is an everyday food and got it for breakfast...but she behaved well the rest of the weekend (that's what they said). It was a full weekend. They went to a psi pumpkin festival, lots of meals at new restaurants for Ellie, and even took her to her ballet class!









While they were having fun, Nick and I were enjoying the mountains just outside of Seattle for Nicks cousin Steve's wedding. The wedding was at a gorgeous vineyard outside the tiny city of Roslyn. The wedding was a blast, but it was also great to see Nicks cousin and aunts and uncles that we don't get to see very often. Also, Roslyn is the city where Northern Exposure was filmed. So Nick was able to go a little geeky and get excited about that as he is a big Northern Exposure fan. We also had a chance to drive into Seattle and hang out with one of my college engineering buddies and her most adorable daughter.















Then we had a couple weeks off from weddings (but I had a work trip to Phoenix where Ellie got to spend time with Auntie Claire and Uncle Buddy up in Santa Barbara) and then we headed to Boston for a wedding of some of Nicks previous coworkers from WHDH. Ellie got to spend some special quality time with Aunt SuSu. Susie took Ellie to a few parties, including hosting a dinner party at her apartment. There was also quite a bit of playground time. Ellie was over the moon with her time with her aunt that she misses so much. Nick and I had fun touring the old neighborhood and I had a chance to catch up with colleagues from the Boston office. I also got some Dunkin Donuts...mmm.















The wedding was amazing. Nick was a groomsmen and got to look amazing in a tux. The rehearsal dinner and wedding reception took advantage of being in the northeast and there was seafood galore. Nick and I were super happy...never too many lobster rolls for us! We had so much fun at the wedding although I had to check out early (after midnight though) from the festivities as my pregnant body was exhausted...Nick had enough fun for the both of us though.












We are all a little travelled out. Long plane trips (especially ones cross country where the TVs on the plane don't work and we didn't download a movie in time for the trip...) are exhausting.






We are glad to be home and be back to a normal schedule. But we are also happy that we had a great time jet setting across the country for weddings of family and friends and got quality time with people we don't get to see all the time. Each trip was special and full off awesome memories. And we definitely are lucky to have a kid who is well behaved and loves to travel. Good times.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Pumpkin Picking

This post has been updated.

This weekend we headed up to Santa Barbara and while we were there, we headed to Lane Farms to their pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. Unlike some other pumpkin patches which have lots of bouncy houses and fancy things...Lane Farms is old fashioned. They have a corn maze, hay ride, goats and pigs to visit, a scarecrow, and old tractors to climb up on...and its all free. And on top of it they have a great selection of pumpkins of all sizes and some funny looking gourds as well.

The first thing we ventured into was the corn maze. This maze is tricky and difficult. The corn is very tall, the paths are narrow, and there is no easy way out (unless you find the guy wearing a Lane Farms shirt and decide to follow him after being in the maze for 20 minutes and having a little girl who was about to freak out and he leads you right to the exit...not that we did that).

Ellie enjoyed climbing on the tractor and pretending to drive it. Then she enjoyed a little running, jumping, and throwing around of hay. She actually watched some big girls (college age kids) throwing hay and trying to get a perfect picture. And she wanted to try. She did a great job being patient and waiting her turn to play with the hay.

Ellie and I went on the tractor ride around the farm. Nick had to stay and guard the pumpkins. The ride was short and sweet and fun. I tried to make a joke and ask Ellie if she was excited to get to see the backside of corn on the tractor ride...she just looked at me like I was crazy. If she knew how, I'm sure she would have rolled her eyes at my lame joke (but hey, Disney invented the backside of water joke first!).

Then it was time to pick out the perfect pumpkin. There were lots of choices, and Nick (our resident pumpkin carver) was a little particular about what types of pumpkins he wanted to get. So Ellie grabbed a wagon and we headed out into the patch to find 3 perfect pumpkins (one for each of us). We found a short and stout one, a tall and skinny one, and then the most perfect little round one.

Before leaving Ellie requested that we wash the pumpkins at the pump and trough that they had set up.

While we were waiting in line to check out, Ellie saw some adorable mini-pumpkins. Ellie picked through them and found the "cutest baby pumpkin" and said that we had to get it for the baby in mommy's tummy. So we did...and Ellie posed with the scarecrow with the baby pumpkin.

 

We all had a great time at the Lane Farms pumpkin patch with all the traditional fun including the difficult corn maze. This is the second year in a row we have headed to Lane Farms around Halloween and it has been a great experience. But of course, Lane Farms has been around since I was a kid!

The above photo is me, in 1982 getting my pumpkin at Lane Farms.

Anyway, Lane Farms is a great Santa Barbara tradition that has been around for as long as I can remember! Besides the fun pumpkin patch they have GREAT strawberries when they are in season. So, I'm sure additional visits to Lane Farms will be in our near future.