Halloween with Kids: Take Three

We had an activity filled day for our first Halloween with Braylen.  Daddy took off from work, allowing us to spend the entire day together.  We started our morning by all sleeping in until close to 8 AM.  (This might sounds glorious, which it was, but both kids were up overnight...)  Daddy and Mommy picked up some pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks and we headed to the zoo.

This was Daddy's first time at the zoo with us.  The zoo was empty.  It was a half day for public school kids and most likely any daycare or school had a Halloween parade, so that equates to no one at the zoo.  It was nice to zip through everything, but some of the animals were not out due to habitat maintenance or sleeping.  That's why a membership is the best deal out there.  Who cares!  We can come back another day.  It was definitely the least stressful outing to the zoo for me.  A 1:1 ratio makes such a difference.

Both kids took close to 3 hour naps :)  

After naps Daddy and Evie carved pumpkins.  (We skipped the pumpkin patch this year and went to the produce market down the street.  It was a 15 minute round trip outing.  It pretty much rocked.)  Daddy carved while Evie played with the pumpkin guts.

She was in heaven stirring and pouring those seeds and strings.

After pumpkins we went to the Smith's for pizza and costume assembling.

Peyton, Emily, and Evie.  Getting 3 two year olds to pose
was a bit impossible

Emily was the candy corn witch last year.  Her mommy kindly shared this adorable costume with us.  It's working out nicely that Evie is smaller than her best friend; we are getting all of Emily's clothes now too.

As soon as I put Braylen in there, they all squatted to his level.
Look at Emily intently looking at her boo.

We made it out of the house by 6:30 PM

Evie was a little unsure of the whole going to the door/asking for candy thing at first.  We started by Emily's house so she wasn't as familiar with the neighbors handing out candy.  (I mean, we are only there or walking by those houses 5 times a week...).  Once she got closer to her home complex, she was a pro.  She loves the attention from Miss Courtney and Miss Patti.  The rain started around 7, so it was an early night.  She's two and candy is a once in a blue moon treat for her, so it was plenty of trick-or-treating.  I think she would have enjoyed prancing around the 'hood a little longer though.

The witch hat stayed on just long enough for me to get this picture

Daddy received a lot of compliments on his pumpkins.  Not too bad for completing them three hours before trick-or-treat.

The bottom right is Braylen's
(the one with two bottom teeth showing)

We allowed Evie to have one packet of gummy bears while we took some more pictures of our candy corn witch and parrot.

So pleasant for 7:20 PM!

excited about her "special treat"

Braylen thought her hat was cool.  Evie was less than thrilled
with his antics :)

Braylen did not attempt to take his hood off once.

Thanks cousin Luke for the parrot costume!  

Before bed Evie opened her cards from all her adoring grandparents.  After Daddy read them to her, she "read" them many more times.  I like her little dance while she reads them and how Parker's name came up.

Another year in the books!

B & O Railroad Museum

As part of Baltimore's Free Fall, the B & O Railroad Museum had free admission today.  I joined some other moms from my moms group for this free event.  Never been and what better way to try out a new museum than when it is free?!

I was impressed with the museum from a kid-friendly standpoint.  (Will I even be able to read or enjoy it from an adult standpoint again?  I need some pointers, Aubrey :)   )  

There were countless trains to explore,

Buttons to push 

Toy train tables,

The highlight for Braylen

a miniature train to ride,

a carousel, model train sets, plenty of rocks to walk on, and open areas to run.

A great morning for only $2!  I'm adding the B & O Railroad Museum to my list of places I want a membership in the future :)  

Weekend at MeMa's

 MeMa planned a wonderful weekend for our family.  She took advantage of some deals on Living Social to get us ticket to Please Touch and Jumpers, prepared food for lunches and dinners ahead of time, stocked the house with snack foods for the kids, and had a new wardrobe waiting for Evie.  I pretty much had to show up with clothes and our toothbrushes.  I thoroughly enjoyed a break from meal and activity planning.  The weekend was a lot of fun for everyone!

Daddy and MeMa took Evie to the Please Touch Me Museum on Saturday morning.  (Braylen, Parker, and I took simultaneous 2 hour naps).  I took Evie when she was 16 months old.  A year makes a huge difference in which areas appealed to her.  She was able to do a lot more this year

Poor thing couldn't make the key light up at 16 months

You go girl!

The water station is still a bit tall for her

The x-ray and MRI machine look pretty cool.

Even with all this fun stuff...

... The "horsies" were her favorite (I think)

The way the tickets worked out, Evie got to
ride three times!

LOL

On Sunday morning, Daddy and I took Evie to a place called "Jumpers".  I was skeptical about an indoor space filled with inflatables.  I was even more leery when we pulled up to a little strip mall.  How in the world would those huge things fit in that small space?  They did and it was super clean and the staff were so friendly.  We were offered free coffee and soft pretzels.  You know you are near Philly when they have soft pretzels for you.  I'm not talking about Super Pretzels, I'm talking REAL Philly soft pretzels.  

Evie didn't need any time to warm up.  She started "jump! jump!" as soon as she got in her first moon bounce thing.  Adults are allowed to join their kids.  It was a pretty sweet place.

A rare moment- my hair is down.  I had to capture it on the blog

Cheese!

Loving it

Evie and Daddy in the hamster maze

Yes, it was a steep as it looks.  She wasn't
a huge fan of this one.  Everything else was fun to her

So proud of my confident little girl!

In the afternoons we played outside at MeMa's house.  She has a bunch of great riding toys for the kids.

Already too cool for two hands on the wheel

Helping clean up the yard

 Evie giving Parker commands,
Parker and his Elvis lip,
and Braylen being his sweet self

Love my little boy!

We picked a good weekend to be in the Philadelphia area since the Boys and the Birds played each other.  We actually got to watch a game!  Except it was a game I could have survived not watching... Nevertheless, we all showed our Eagles support (Even MeMa had on an Eagles sweatshirt!!!)

Daddy traveled home with Parker on Sunday evening to work while the kids and I stayed for another day.  It appeared everyone with kids went to the pumpkin patch this weekend.  We were a day or two behind.

Linvilla Orchards definitely topped
Larriland Farm

 There were a bunch of buses filled with field tripping kids. However! They had their own hayrides.  We were the only four on our 11 o'clock ride.  Score!

Braylen's first hayride

She sucked her thumb for the first half of the ride

And had this pose for the second half.  Cracking me up!

I wasn't in the market to buy anything since I had to drive home with a trunk of suitcases and leftover food.  The pumpkins were bountiful, though!  We only had enough time to take the hayride through the farm and walk over to the petting farm.  There is a plethora of other kids friendly things to do.  

I hope to have two tired kids this week from all the fresh air and new experiences.  I'm pretty excited that MeMa cooked enough food for all of us to have leftovers for the week.  No meal planning for another 3 days.  Evie also came home with lots of new tops and pants.  This girl has tons of hand-me-downs, but most items are pretty short at this point from years of loving wear and washing.  Getting her dressed in the morning will be so much easier.  MeMa comes through again!

Too bad this outfit was a tad small for her!