Trick-or-treating in Indiana

We were planning on trick-or-treating Friday night with neighbor kids but events beyond my control (my grandfather passed away, and his funeral was on Saturday) dictated that we be in Decatur, Indiana, October 31, Halloween night.

I figured that we would just take the kids trick-or-treating in Decatur, and the kids would be happy. After we arrived in Indiana, we found out that Decatur did their trick-or-treating the night before! Craziness! Luckily, Indiana is one of those places where there are lots of small towns in a small area. We were sent to Berne, Indiana to go trick-or-treating. No luck there either, they trick-or-treated the night before. So one last try in Ossion, Indiana. We found a nice neighborhood and went to five houses. This was enough for Colin and Nathan, and everyone was happy.

In Berne, we went to McDonald's for dinner and saw some Amish having dinner there too. I find them very interesting people, and the kids loved the horse and buggies that they ride in. Idea for next year's International Day!

Colin was obviously a ghost. Nathan was supposed to be a ghost too, but at the last minute decided he wasn't going to wear a sheet. So Nathan wore the fire hat that we got at Firehouse Subs (dinner on the way to Indiana!). Amazing how things work out sometimes.

International day - Greenland

Colin and Nathan in the Greenland National Costume:


The Greenland National Costume:


Every year, the school has International Day to celebrate the United Nations birthday which is right about the time of Halloween. This is nice, since Montessori doesn't typically celebrate Halloween, and International Day gives the children a chance to dress up.

The children are asked to come to school dressed as someone from a different culture or nationality. A couple weeks ago, Colin was playing with his electronic, talking globe and was so excited when he found Greenland. I volunteered to look up some information for him on Greenland and discovered that they have a "National Costume" that they wear for important events and holidays including the first day of school. I also thought the boys costumes would be pretty easy to do (black sweats, white hoodie, and black and white boots). So Bingo! After putting black and white duct tape on the boys green rainboots, I had their International Day outfits!

Some cool info on Greenland:
*Native Greenlandic words that are also found in many languages: igloo, kayak
*There are no roads connecting the towns in Greenland. They use ships or helicopters or airplanes to get between towns.
*It is the largest island in the world.

More pumpkins

So time for a trip to the pumpkin patch to replace the melting pumpkin. We got three more pumpkins!

Melting pumkin

Apparently we carved our pumpkin too early, whereas it is full of mold and melting.

October 20, 2008

October 21, 2008

October 22, 2008

October 25, 2008 (Nathan stuck pieces of a broken pot into the pumpkin at this point.)

Shortly after this picture we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out more pumpkins to replace this one. Colin said that this pumpkin looked sad. I agree.

Botanical gardens

Pictures from our visit to the Botanical Gardens with my parents. Amy and Grace also joined us at the gardens to see the scarecrows on display.

Scary Housing Market with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as the reapers!

Lots of traffic

My mom and dad came to visit the boys this past weekend (no need to tell it any differently, seeing me and Bob was only secondary!) The weather was perfect but I think October is the busiest month for festivals and gatherings in Atlanta; we were fighting traffic everywhere we turned.

On the way to the airport, it wasn't a festival, it was raining and a little slow going. Now Atlanta is still in the middle of a drought where we are conserving water at every opportunity. But when it rains, traffic just gets so miserable. It makes it hard to appreciate the rain when you are sitting in a slow moving parking lot.

That was Friday. Saturday was the Little 5 Points Halloween Parade. We had a ton of cars parked on our street. It took me forever to pick up Colin at a birthday party, drop off a friend at his house, then find a way back to our house. Saturday night we tried to escape the parade conjestion and ended up in the middle of Grady High School Homecoming traffic. Then Sunday was the AIDS walk at Piedmont Park when we went to the Botanical Gardens right next to the gardens.

I really don't mean to complain, it's just it got comical after a point. I mean everywhere we went ... traffic and crowds and people!

Grandma and Grandpa were so entertained by the boys. After Nathan said something impressive, Grandma GG told Nathan that he was so sharp. Nathan replied, "Don't touch me, I'm sharp!"

Grandpa had fun teaching the boys who the boss was! Whenever he asked them, "Whose the boss?" The boys would answer, "Grandpa is!" They got a big kick out of that!

While I went shopping with my mom and Nathan, Bob was up in the attic working and Grandpa was playing with Colin. Bob heard Grandpa and Colin out in the back yard and looked out the window to see both of them up in the tree house with these huge paper airplanes that really went far. We still have paper airplanes all over the house. What fun!

Grandma and Colin at Mellow Mushroom.


Going home after dinner at Mellow Mushroom (over by Grady High School).

Pumpkin carving

First the boys painted little pumpkins, then we did the big pumpkin. After I finished carving the pumpkin, Bob took the seeds and roasted them.

Nathan painting his little pumpkin.


Colin painting his little pumpkin.


The big pumpkin before we started carving.


The first cut.


Yeah, the top is off!


Yucky seeds.


Colin reaches in to help.


Nathan reaches in to help too.


Carving the mouth.


Done.

Denver - Butterflies

While in Denver, we saw my Aunt Janet and went to dinner with her. We also went to lunch and the Butterfly Pavilion with Bob's cousin Julie and her son, Asher.

The Butterfly Pavilion was a big hit with all the kids except for Nathan. Apparently Nathan doesn't like butterflies very much at this point. In the green house where all the butterflies are, one of the butterflies landed on Nathan. He was not happy about that at all and cried and cried. I'm sure that Nathan will out grow this stage, but it was very strange none the less.

Then the next exhibit at the Butterfly Pavilion that we went into had giant mechanical ants moving around. Nathan didn't like that either! So Nathan and I went into the gift shop and waited for the rest of the gang there.

Denver - Cold, cold, cold

Denver was cold and rainy, so we spent a lot of time in the hotel. Colin and Nathan really know how to destroy, ummm ... I mean rearrange the hotel room to best maximize they're play time. The closets are elevators. The cushions come off all of the chairs and make slides.

Here they are doing some art. Colin is a such a camera hog!


Working hard.


Colin drew beans and Nathan just colored the whole page.


When the rain let up, we took the free bus up and down the 16th Street Mall. Colin and Nathan really thought that was great fun!





Lastly, some pictures of typical Denver sites.

The convention center with the huge blue bear.


A "No Smoking" sign at a bagel place.

Denver - GABF

It's been two years since Bob and I attended the granddaddy of all American beer fests. So it was time to go back to the Great American Beer Fest in Denver (GABF). Last time we brought the kids and found a babysitter on-line. She was one of the best babysitters ever! So when we were planning this trip, I crossed my fingers when I emailed her. To my great surprise, she was still at that email address ... and was available!! It's also a bonus that both Bob and I have family in the Denver area and were able to see them.

The beer fest was amazing as usual. I found my personal favorite, New Glarus Brewery and sampled some of their Raspberry Tart and Belgian Red. They really excel doing fruit beers, yummmy! Friday night we were able to get samples from them with little effort (maybe a 15 minute wait in line). Then Saturday afternoon, the line was at least a 30 minutes to 45 minutes wait. All for a one ounce pour! I was very happy that I already sampled New Glarus and didn't have to wait in that line.

I tried a lot of pumpkin beers, and a couple gluten-free beers, but I have to say that I was extremely happy to discover Dogfish Head's Midas Touch. And more importantly, this beer is available in the Atlanta area (unlike New Glarus).

Day 1 - Enjoying the fest Friday night.


Mexican Beer Dudes - Notice the pretzel somberros and pretzel bullet holders. Many people would wear pretzel necklaces to munch during the fest. These guys took it a step further!


Day 2 - Bob and I were the Alesmith reps with our matching shirts!