carving time

Every year, the boys seem to forget that carving pumpkins is kind of gross. And then they remember, and there is a chorus of disgusted squeals that lasts about 10 minutes until they finally get engrossed in the task. Then it's mostly quiet concentration, punctuated by an occasional "eeewwww" when they get to a particularly mushy/stringy part. This year, we got a pretty interesting variety of pumpkins, and we saved the seeds to try to grow some of our own next year. We have done this before, but the critters usually manage to gnaw off the vines before the pumpkins get big enough to carve. But hope -- and hopefully, pumpkin seeds -- springs eternal, so we'll see. In the meantime, we'll have these frightful visages to gaze upon for the next couple of weeks...

pumpkin patch

We hit a new pumpkin patch this year: Dinges Farms, which is in Michigan, not too far from Barb and Kevin's cottage. They met us there, and the boys had fun exploring the area with their grandparents. The place really went all out with the activities! There was a huge corn maze, creative spiders and UFOs and other creatures everywhere, hayrides, dirt track racing, and a great selection of funky gourds (and pumpkins, of course). We'll definitely have this place on our list for a return engagement next year!

raking time already

I can't believe it's fall already! It's still warm, but the leaves are coming down, and the boys are still at the age where they like to do helpful things like rake up big piles of leaves (most of which they either jump in and scatter, or leave too far away from the road for the town leaf truck to reach, but oh well) so we're taking advantage of it while we can.

enchanted gardening

Have I mentioned that my sister Loni is engaged? Next year, she will get both a husband and a step-daughter, which means we get a new niece. Lilly is a sweet girl, but she can totally hold her own with the boys, which is why it seemed like a good idea to have her come spend the night and then take a little adventure to Linton's Enchanted Gardens with us yesterday. Max ran into some trouble behaving Friday night/yesterday morning, so he didn't come with us, but Liam, Henry, Lilly, and I met up with my brother J, who lives near Linton's, for a morning of fun.

So really, Linton's is a garden center where people buy all their plants and supplies, but it is set up with extensive grounds that have winding paths that lead around this kind of fairy land, with miniature houses and trains and barns sort of strewn all over the place. The place was all decked out for Halloween, so we had a great time following all the paths and checking out skeletons riding bikes, mowing lawns, and just sitting in a rocking chair having a "jaw." We made our way to the petting zoo, where we fed a some animals, then to a pond, where we fed some creepy giant fish (these guys have creeped me out before).

Back inside the garden center, in honor of Halloween, there were lots of fun activities. J opted us out (by which I mean he begged us not to make him do it!) of building our own scarecrow, but the kids happily went through a super-hot hay maze and came out all sweaty and ready for some pumpkin bowling. And afterward, just in case they had any energy left to work out (they did), we headed to a nearby fast-food emporium with built-in playground for lunch. A short but sweet visit for the boys with Uncle J, and a good way for them to get to know their future cousin a little bit better.

more from the weekend

Here are a few more pics from this weekend's Morton Arboretum, Brookfield Zoo, and apple-picking adventure.

henry at four

It's the Monday after a busy birthday weekend, and Henry is delighted that it is FINALLY his real birthday. This is the first year he has really understood time in terms of days, so we've been counting them down, and finally the big day is here. It's been pretty low-key today, starting with singing over a birthday muffin, and ending with a big family dinner at Hacienda. It's been a nice, relaxing day after a lot of running around for the weekend.

On Saturday, we made a whirlwind trip to Chicagoland, meeting up with Barb at the Arboretum in the morning, then heading for a birthday lunch at the All Aboard Diner with Barb and Kevin and Johnny, Erin, Lucy, and Richie. When the train brought his birthday cupcake with the candle and everyone started singing, Henry was so excited! We capped off the day with a visit to the zoo, then headed back home. Sunday morning, we picked up Klaudia and headed to the apple orchard to pick some delicious honeycrisp at Garwood Orchards. We got a great haul, and sampled a few of the products along the way.

At four, our Henry is creative and funny and a real live wire. That's the nicest possible way to say that he is an outright terror most of the time, but in ways that make us laugh and shake our heads. Nothing in our house is safe because Henry creates tools from Legos and disassembles things (like the trim and plaster in our dining room!), or picks holes in the plaster walls I've just repaired for the millionth time, or tries to "fix" things and ends up making them worse. He is by turns determined to be just like his brothers and frustrated that he can't be, because no matter what, he will always be younger. He wants to play their video games, read their books, use their toys -- and he tries, only to find that he needs their help, which they are reluctant to give as often as he wants it. It's a pretty unsettled time for him right now, but I have to say that once he gets a little time and practice under his belt, the brothers had better watch out because he will give them a run for their money in any arena.

I know he can't wait to grow up a little bit more and be big enough to really compete with his brothers, but I'll admit that it's nice (more than nice!) to still have one son who is not too grown up to kiss or hug his mother willingly. That's the thing about Henry -- he is such a little destructive dynamo, but then he'll turn around and be the sweetest, most interesting and charming boy you've ever met. I guess that's what keeps him in our good graces, at least most of the time.

Even though the next birthday will be his fifth, Henry's birthday is just after the cut-off for school admission, so he won't be starting kindergarten until he is almost six (to the undisguised relief of the teachers and principal, who ask every time we attend a function at school). So this year and next, he's going to preschool, and so far at least, loving the chance to soak up every little bit of knowledge he possibly can.

So dearest Henry, we wish you a very happy day today, and we can't wait to see what each next day will bring. We love you!

what they'll remember

Liam's teacher keeps a classroom blog, where he posts a question and the students all have to leave comments to answer it. Yesterday's question was what everyone did over the long holiday weekend. Here is Liam's response:

My long weekend was much longer than yours!

So we went on vacation on an island called Ocracoke Island. It was very fun. We went to the beach and great seafood restaurants, including Eduardo’s Tacos and Howard’s Pub. The only bad place was this deserted island called Portsmouth Island. The place was COVERED in mosquitoes. Once we were out of that part we had to walk very far on the beach until we got back on the boat to Ocracoke.

And that about sums it up for them. Henry mentions the seashells, Max talks about going to the beach/ocean, but ALL of them talk about the Nightmare on Mosquito Island. All of the great things we did, and what they'll remember the most is how we got attacked by swarms of voracious bloodsuckers. Yesterday, Max was on the phone with Avalon, telling her about the trip, and I heard him say proudly, "I got bitten so many times that it looks like I have the chicken pox." Sigh. At least it was a memorable trip.

scenes from a long drive home

Yesterday was a very long day. We got up about 4:30, packed everything up, took out the garbage and bagged up our sheets and towels and tidied up the cottage, loaded up the last few things we had left, turned in our keys, and headed for the ferry. We had to be there at 6:00, so it ended up being kind of a mad rush. Hurry up and wait, as they say, since we spent the next few hours hanging out on the ferry to Swan Quarter. On the plus side, Mike finally got to see the sun rise over Ocracoke.

We finally got to the mainland and on the road around 9:30, and from that point on it was just drive, drive, drive. We were determined to get home, partly because we all just wanted to be done with traveling and sleep in our own beds, and partly because we had a one-hour window this morning in which we could pick up Charlie from the kennel (otherwise he would have to stay there until Tuesday because of the holiday). Anyway, the first part of the drive was a different route than the one we took going down, so we saw some new and exciting things. Pilot Mountain made us all gasp when we came up over a hill and it was suddenly there. We drove through mountain tunnels in Virginia, which was very exciting for the boys except they wished the walls were made of glass so they could "see the inside of the mountain," and no amount of explaining on our part could make them understand that all they would see was dirt and rock. We also availed ourselves of some very fancy rest areas in Virginia.

Then it was on to West Virginia, where Henry had a bathroom emergency and we stopped at the sketchiest convenience store ever. It made "dirty" seem appealing by comparison. The less said about that, the better. Trust me. And of course it turned out that once we got back on the highway, there was a clean, well-lit, maintained rest area only five miles up the road. Sigh. So we stopped there for dinner, and then it was on to Ohio. And more of Ohio. And yet more of Ohio. Seriously, Ohio just seemed never-ending. The only highlight of the whole state for us was that the giant windmill farms we had seen during the day on the way down, we saw at night on the way back. Each windmill (and there were hundreds of them!) had a red light that flashed on and off, and they were all synchronized with each other. The boys were long asleep by this time (it was just before midnight), but Mike and I were mesmerized. I tried to take some pictures through the window, but they didn't turn out. Anyway, we finally made it home at 1:15 this morning. That's 19 hours and 15 minutes traveling, if you're keeping track. We hustled the boys straight up to bed, greeted the cats, unpacked the essentials, reveled in being home for a few minutes, and hit the sack.

This morning, we let Mike sleep in (he insisted on doing all the driving on the way back). Liam and I unloaded the van, then we went to pick up Charlie. I swear Liam's eyes were suspiciously bright as we waited for them to bring our dog up front, and there was never a reunion more enthusiastic (or slobbery) as theirs. It was a sweet ending to a sweet, sweet week.