Fun and Games

 The boys enjoyed the rest of their weekend with Auntie Nora, Uncle Adrian, and Cousin Daniel (including a trip to Marbles not pictured here, because I lost my camera at the bouncy house afterward -- fortunately, we think that someone found it, but we have to schlep out to Raleigh again to pick it up.) 

Patching It Up

 We had a fun afternoon at the pumpkin patch (with the spooky hayride, Matthew's favorite).  We thought the boys might not be so interested in the playground area this year, but we were wrong -- Matthew and James loved climbing up the astroturf to the slide, and making clouds of dust in the sand surrounding it (although we kept trying to put the kibosh on that part). 

And of course, we came home with more pumpkins, so now we are quite well-supplied.  :)

Adwian!

 The boys were excited to get the Halloween decorations out, and very excited for the arrival of Uncle Adrian!  (And the rest of the crew...)

Poor Stanley is missing out on the visit -- he is spending the weekend at the vet to help his back recover.  We figured that trying to keep him from moving and jumping around with extra people and another dog around would be a losing battle.  Abby was searching around like she was wondering where he was!

Pumpkin Patch Express

 The train at the dinosaur musuem transforms into the Pumpkin Patch Express in October.  This is the first time we've done it, and it was a lot of fun!  We enjoyed picking out our pumpkins, decorating them, and doing the pumpkin slingshot (punkin chunkin). 

Of course, then Mike had to haul the pumpkins around for the rest of the museum visit (and one may have been inadvertently left behind -- oops!)

State Fair

  The boys didn't have preschool yesterday for teacher workdays, so we went to the Fair.  It was nice-enough weather -- cloudy and not too hot. 

We spent a lot of time in the ride area -- which was fun, but not easy on the wallet!  The boys' favorite was the "hampster dance" (actual spelling), which was the giant inflatable wheels floating in water. They also liked a funhouse, and the dragon roller coaster, and Jamesie did the Superslide.  

We also enjoyed the ferris wheel.  Mattie didn't want to go on it, so he and N saw a magic show instead. 

One of my favorite parts was the singing and dancing firefighters.  :) 

We enjoyed corndogs, but did not sample this year's featured delicacy: Krispy Kreme sloppy joes.  
 

Mr. Hospitality

Yesterday evening, Mike was sitting out front with one of our new neighbors visiting for a while, while the boys and I were inside.  After dinner, Matthew went outside and announced, "I can't believe that guy is still here." 

(Of course he didn't realize that this wasn't a polite thing to say!  It was pretty hilarious when Mike told me, but also slightly embarrassing because it sounds exactly like something I might have said to the boys -- but in this case, I didn't!)

As you can see from the picture, the boys decorated their big pumpkin today.  (Unfortunately, I don't think the markers they used are going to sink in to the pumpkin shell, so I have a feeling the ink will all just rub off on fingers, clothes, the kitchen floor...ah well, such is a holiday with young children!)