Stir crazy

some singing while housebound during the storm....

Pumpkin Patch

Ok, so this post is out of order...this is our visit to Taylor Farms and their pumpkin patch the weekend before Halloween. It turned out to be a really fun day with the boys.

This is the only picture of the 4 of us, so I am posting it, even though I look WRETCHED in it.

My cute boys...

At the "pumpkin patch".

Hudson started the game of rolling all the pumpkins into one big pile of pumpkins....

So Gunner joined in...we then had to convince them that Taylor Farms didn't want all the pumpkins in one big pile and that they had to roll them back where they found them...for some reason THAT wasn't nearly as much fun.

Hudson with the pumpkin he picked out...he wanted to carry that thing everywhere once we got it home!

Posing with the tractor....

Playing in the big wooden boat slide / play set. The grin is priceless.

He did not want off of this thing...lots of places on it to climb and explore.

Gunner driving the train.

"Oh no Hudson, the train is stuck in the muddy mud, we have to get it OUT"...."OH Dunner..MUD. Train stuck in mud MOM"...I love listening to the conversations and games they play. It will be interesting once Hudson decides he is old enough to take the lead on their pretend play...I think Gunner likes to be the one in charge.

Opening and closing windows, the best part of any playhouse!

Hudson was not sure about petting the goats...this is as close as he would get initially.

Gunner liked the baby goat...a little less intimidating I guess!

Hudson finally got brave and bent over to give one goat a quick pat before running for the gate!

Gunner gets his pony ride...he is always really excited and then he gets on the pony and looks so serious!

Gunner gives Hudson a ride on the Crusher....

Hudson decides he wants to get in the drivers seat!

This was just a perfect day, the weather was gorgeous and the farm was not very crowded at all (we are always the early risers, so we tend to be leaving as the crowds start arriving). Both boys had fun, and we had fun watching them and doing the hay ride.

Halloween

Halloween weekend was a busy one, Gunner started his fun weekend by going to "Trunk-or-treat" at his preschool ...unfortunately Hudson and I had to miss the festivities because it was the same day as Len's Change of Command ceremony; where I had to bring Hudson, because all of my friends had Halloween activities planned with their kids, and my parents were attending (so no one to use for babysitting duty).

The change of command is another story, which I have no pictures of because I spent the whole ceremony grabbing Hudson off the stage because he wanted to "go get Daddy"...I had to take him out 3 times so people could concentrate on the speeches. I essentially missed my husbands entire change of command..so much for him being the "well-behaved" child. On the upside, at least he wasn't crying and throwing a tantrum, he actually found it hysterically funny to take off, full speed, toward the stage so that I had to run after him.

Here is Gunner, as a pirate, before school. He was very excited to have a different costume for every day of the weekend; he apparently told a classmate, and then SHE wanted to have 3 different costumes, which didn't make her Mom very happy.



On Halloween day, we had a small party at our house before going out trick-or-treating. Gunner was an astronaut for this part of the weekend. This was his new costume, the rest we just salvaged from our costume chest. It was really cute, but the helmet was so cumbersome he had to hold it with both hands the whole time he wore it.

Without his helmet...

This was the only adult costume at the party, our friend's Brian and Chris dressed up as a neighbor on their street who has been giving everyone a hard time. Apparently he goes out running every day in some variation of the outfits they were wearing...it was hilarious, but I don't think they had the guts to trick-or-treat at his house!

Our astronaut and power ranger...love how Gunner is holding his helmet on.

Gunner, Ian and Michael in their "tree house"....

Hudson's friend, Carson, as a dinosaur....before he got so hot that it had to come off! It was 72 degrees on Halloween, which made costumes a little hot to play around in!

The best party accessory, the bouncy house, with some Halloween inflatables to hit around.

Sweaty and spun up from the bouncy house....note to self, do not get my kids so spun up right before taking them trick-or-treating...Gunner actually flipped out because Hudson wouldn't wear his costume and we had to calm him down before we could continue the evening!

This was the only moment that we could get Hudson to put on the jacket for his costume, then he promptly ripped it off. He did let us put the hat on him before he went to each door, but he refused to wear anything else...you can tell by the look on his face how he felt about putting it on at all.

The day after Halloween was much damper and chillier, Gunner and I decided to check out the Zoo Boo at the Norfolk Zoo....today he wanted to wear his favorite...although threadbare, costume..... Spiderman of course!

He really needs a new "cheese" face...love how his Spidey muscles fill out his jacket! This was at the beginning of the "trick-or-treating"...businesses had tables set up all around the zoo with candy for the kids.

Adding a "Spidey" sign to the children's mural in the activities tent.

He insisted on sitting in his own seat for the haunted train ride, and made me sit behind him. The zoo had several people dressed up as animals and fairy tale characters along the train ride, but it was hard to get a good picture. They also had a haunted hay ride, but Gunner said he wanted to go see the farm animals instead.

They turned the giant floating globe at the entrance /exit into a giant spider.

This is him chasing bubbles from the bubble machine with the toy he picked out in the gift shop hanging around his neck!

All in all, it was a really fun Halloween weekend...especially for Gunner. I think any holiday that requires him to dress up multiple times might just be his favorite!