Halloween Fun (4.75 years and 3.25 years)

October is one of our busiest months.  We love fall and all the fun activities that go with it.  We took the kids to Magical Whooloween for the first time this year.  We got to ride on a small train around the park.  There were pumpkins and Halloween decorations throughout the train ride.  After the train ride, we went on a animal walk.  We stopped at 5 stations and they went over the five senses related to a different animal. It was educational and Austin has done a great job asking appropriate questions.  We went inside a did a Halloween craft. Then we ended the evening on a night nature hike.  Again it was educational and the kids loved it.  It was a fun night out.

We also went down to Alliance with Brian's cousin and did fall evening fun activity at their Botanical Garden.  They had several crafts along with an animal show. The kids even got to pan for gold at one of the activity stations.  We ended the evening with a hayride.  It was fun and worth the long drive there.

We celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary this month.  It's crazy to think we have been married for 11 years.  I planned a kids activity on our anniversary.  It wasn't ideal but just how it worked out.  So we took the kids to Lake Farm Parks hayride that evening.

Unfortunately the weather was not great.  In fact, right before we got on the hayride it began hailing and got the benches all wet, ice covered an cold.  During half of the ride, we had our umbrellas because it was raining and hailing so hard.  It was Sydney that insisted we bring the umbrellas.  It was a good thing we listened to her. Once we got done with the hayride, we took the kids into the first haunted house.  The staff were great and didn't really scare them however the house was scary.  Sydney and Austin didn't really like it too much.  Actually Sydney hated it.  Then we walked the glow stick dancers.  That was great.  The kids then played in the hay maze.  It was time to go home. We were wet and cold! (We don't have pictures of it since it was so wet and cold).

The same weekend, we went to pick apples  While we were picking the apples, it started to snow!  It was  funny because who picks apples in the snow?  We do!  We got 2 large bags of apples.  They were really good.  Austin loves using the apple peeler.  In fact, he taught me how to use it.  We have made several apple pies and some apple crisp.

Another fun activity we like to do is boo at the zoo.  This year we decided to try Akron zoo and loved it!  It's great for the little kids.  They had 12 different themed treat stations.  We even ran into a friend I went to nursing school with and we had lunch together.  We spent several hours there and had a great time even though it was cold.

We also went to another fun fest at Luther Farms for the kids school. It was a family fun outing.  The kids got to see several of their friends from school.  They played in the large corn pit and went down the big slide.  They went on a tractor ride too.

We also took a field trip to a local gymnastic studio.  Sydney likes gymnastics and I am trying to find a place that would work for us.  One issue is gymnastics are so expensive.  And I am not sure it's worth it yet because she is so young.  The kids had fun there but I don't think we will be signing up there.

Sydney got invited to her first school birthday party.  Austin has been to a handful of birthday parties but Sydney has not.  She was so excited to go.  She talked about it for a week.  Brian and I joked that maybe we won't go because she will forget about it.  Obviously she was not going to forget.  Brian took her.  She had a great time!  Austin was a little sad he wasn't going but I took him to a local garden store and they had trick or treating and pony rides.  It wasn't that great but I enjoyed the time with him.

Brian and Sydney then met us for trunk or treat near our house.  Some high school cheerleaders really liked Sydney so they took a picture with her.  Kids had fun going car to car.  It was cool seeing the different themed cars.

Dean drove in for the weekend.  It was great to see him.  He helped out at soccer and played with Austin during warm ups.  Austin warmed right up to him.  Sydney was a little hesitant but she allowed some interactions.  Dean would scare her in Texas and she still remembers a little bit of it.

For Halloween, Austin was a robot.  He decided that on his own.  He was insistent that he have a light up red nose that has a button on his arm to control it.  Luckily his daddy was able to make that happen for him.  Sydney decided that she wanted to be a dinosaur.  I thought she would want to be a princess but she said dinosaur.  Brian and I were thrilled about that just because she can be a princess any day.  It was fun to see her creativity of being a dinosaur.  She was really good at her dinosaur growl.

We went to our local fire station Halloween party.  It's always cool because we get to ride on a fire truck.  After that there is the Halloween costume contest.  This year, Austin won for his age group.  I am sure it was his nose that made him the winner.  It was cool.  He won a toy microphone that he absolutely loves.  Sydney was a little sad she didn't win but she is still enjoying the toy.  Because he won, the newspaper took his picture and decided to put it on the front page.  It was really cool.

We decided to have the kids trick or treat in my parent's neighborhood this year.  Unfortunately it was the same night as ours so we couldn't do both.  It worked out and the kids had a great time spending almost the 2 hours trick or treating everywhere.  They got tons a candy.  When we got home, Austin wanted to hand out candy so he did that with Brian for a little bit.  He would actually encourage kids to cross the street to home to his house to get candy.  He loved handing the candy out.  We had a great Halloween.