Halloween Weekend

Friday my mom took North on an adventure in her race car. (All cars are race cars except mine and Reed's.) She took him to the park, the Discovery museum, talked with the driver who does horse and carriage rides, ate bagels for lunch and rode the carousel. They did all this and were only an hour late for nap! I was impressed.

Friday evening we carved pumpkins.

Sky was just a little excited about getting to stand on top of our table.

Both boys colored their little pumpkins while Mom and I carved the big ones.

Sky played the harmonica a little too. It is good to have mood music.

Saturday morning, North and I rode my bike (North in the attached seat) over to a birthday party of a school friend. It was a fantastic costume party at Redwood Raks. Very cool. While we were there, Mom and Skyler went to the Farmers Market, browsed the Plaza stores and bought peanut butter from the Coo-op. She must go the the Co-op each time she visits. It is an obsession.

We played at Trinidad State Beach. Going to the ocean is another requirement of a Mom visit.

We don't usually bring toys to the beach. North is really good at finding seaweed ropes and shells. He also loves digging big holes with his hands. He is becoming a great rock climber with a great strength and body awareness.

Sunday morning Reed joined us for "Boo at the Zoo." Kids in costumes, fun activities, and animals looking inside hollow pumpkins for treats: I love living up here. There is no shortage of amazing activities for families to do together.

The goats in the barnyard kept head-butting Skyler. I think the animals were confused by his big ears and long white coat.

After a nap and dinner, we drove over to the Community Center for a Halloween Carnival. North was really into the games this year. There were lots of kids around which meant some waiting times, but North was patient.

Participating in the cookie walk.

Sky couldn't understand why North won a cookie. After winning North stopping playing the game, but Sky and I stayed in. Twice, the music stopped with Sky and I right by the cookie table. He wanted a cookie like his brother! How do you explain the rules of a cake walk to a 15 month old? Luckily North was not into his cookie after the first bite and so was happy to share his prize with Sky. Whew. I was tired of walking around in circles.

This was the first year we tried door-to-door trick or treating. The boys got into the idea VERY quickly. The first few houses, I had to stop Sky from going into each house. Logically, I had to agree with him. Why should he accept treats and not go inside for a visit? It is polite, after all. After a few houses, he really got the idea and would race up the walkways to bang on the door with his brother.

No lack of self-confidence from these kids tonight.

October

Fire District Open House

Bike rides through the forest and beside the ocean.

A poultry CSA is beginning and was harvesting ducks behind a barn at the pumpkin patch. We peeked in (they use a really awesome mobile processing trailer that is rented out to each farmer) and asked a ton of questions. Who knew that kosher killing was still so brutal? On the flip side, at least the ducks get to hang out in an air conditioned car quietly quacking their qoncerns.

Apple stand stock-up.
I learned the difference between a box and a lug. We brought cider home to freeze and apples to cook into applesauce.

Bring on the artists! Creativity is strong and growing by the day.

n
Coast Guard Open House. Climbing through boats, helicopters, ambulances and knot tying for pre-schoolers.

"Pumpkin stew, pumpkin stew. What do you put in your pumpkin stew?"

( I sing the song with my preschool classes. The kids have some hilarious ideas)

"Potatoes!"

"Chop, chop, chop. Drop, drop, drop!"

"Sip it, sip it, Yummy!"

Halloween cookies

lectures

I love listening to lectures.

Not the boring sitting in a deck chair, "get me through this class so I can graduate" kind of brain dump, but the thought provoking insights that one can get only from a person speaking from within the wind of their own passions.

Here are a few I have experienced recently:



Last weekend I took the kids down to Ft. Bragg to see a friend and her new baby. I had such a great time with her and her kids (North can skateboard now!) On the way back I took Highway 20 to 101. I usually go up through Highway 1 but the route is scary isolated and so much more twisty, curvey. I think I will be choosing the 20 from now on.

Anyway back to the point, as the kids were asleep, I took the opportunity to listen to the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. He was a virtual reality computer scientist who was given only months to live after being diagnosted with pancriatic cancer in 2007. Shortly after the dignosis, he was also asked to participate in a lecture series at Carnegie University. He titled his talk, "Achieving your Life Dreams." Did I mention that he had three small children at the time? 5 years old, 3 years old, and 1; these kids needed his lecture as much as he did.

It was a beautiful piece of work.


I also try to listen to Humankind on the radio a few afternoons a week. It is a program that explores different concepts with the unifying themes of hope, community, and the insightful ideas that can only come from seeing another person's perspective.

* Post note *

I started working on this post last night, but my thought process was broken by the ringing of a baby alarm clock. Sky starts out his nighttime sleeping in a crib most every night. However, every night, he will wake up at 10pm. Right at 10! Sometimes a minute or two early, sometimes 15 minutes late. It is really amusing. Reed has tried to soothe him back into sleep, but Sky only wants nursing. Although I would love to be free and check my baby at the door, I go along with his needs. It is too important to me not to react. So I apologize for the shoddy editing if you caught the post that wasn't meant to be posted. All is well now.

Summertime in the Fall

Class trip to the pumpkin patch

Today North skipped school and with Skyler and Reed met myself and the Woodside preschool class at the pumpkin patch.

I always feel nervous before the first field trip of the year. I don't know how the class as a whole will behave, how helpful the parents will be, if I have remembered all the drinks, extra clothes, emergency forms that make up the large bag I carry with me. Today things went well. The kids were so well behaved. I always knew I had a great class this year, taking them on this trip has solidified my feelings about them. The kids listened well, found their pumpkins with the utmost care and participated in the weighing and measurement project. It was a great day.

We walked through a short corn maze before reaching the pumpkins. Our guide pointed out butterfly cocoons and stinging nettles on our way.

Snack time with our pumpkins.

Doesn't North look like a little preschooler? I swear, from the first day we took him to his school, he has matured into this whole new, older person. He articulates his ideas differently and forms elaborate thoughts about a world that he sees. He loves, LOVES his teacher ( I can tell him that Jillian won't let him go to school if he doesn't...fill in the blank..... I love doing that.) But I haven't been sure about his understanding of me working as a teacher. He told today at bedtime that he knew that I was teaching preschoolers and I had invited him to attend our field trip, so the understanding is mostly there.

After the pumpkins, we had a little extra time before noon, so I called ahead to have the horse carousel opened early at the local car dealership. Most of the kids had ridden before with their families, but I still felt concern about the speed of the ride. I made sure each child was paired up with a standing adult next to their horse. No flying kids on my watch! Reed got a kick out of his conversations with the kids sitting with him on the bench. The yellow bench seats are good for the few kids that feel nervous. Once the ride had been going for awhile, these two kids perked back up and were all smiles. What a field trip; bravery and pumpkins all on one day.