Scarecrows, Pumpkins and Witches (Oh My!)

**Disclaimer - I started writing this post a week ago and didn't get it finished! So, all the days I'm talking about were actually last week, not this past week!**

We spent this week going on all sorts of fun Fall outings. Good thing, too, since it seems Winter is here now - we got a good 3-4" of snow last night (10/20)(luckily it didn't really stick to the pavement, so we didn't have any problems getting to church this morning).

On Monday(10/15), we went with Lyndell and her kids to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was kind of crazy, but the kids seemed to have a great time. They had a bunch of those inflatable jumping things, a kiddy haunted house, and Adam's personal favorite, a little train ride. They had a neat little play area just for kids 2 and under, but since Adam was the only one who fit that description (well, Lyndell's little girl Brooklynn is under 2 as well, but at 6 months, was still a bit young for the play area!), it wasn't a major draw. We had absolutely gorgeous weather that day, though, and it was just nice to be out and doing something fun.

Audrey and Sara are a little nervous to go in the Haunted House (for probably the 6th time!)

Adam and Sara jumping (Adam mostly liked to hang on to the net and "swing" on it!)

Audrey and Adam on a little teeter-totter

Adam's thrilled with his "wheels"!

Audrey, Adam, Sara, and Bree on the train (Rylan is in the row behind them - along with Michelle's sister-in-law, Ali, and her two boys, Eoughan and Ethan - small world!)

Wednesday(10/17) dawned cold and windy - but that was the day for the preschool pumpkin patch field trip, so we braved the elements and went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. There were actually quite a few fun things for the kids to do, but the cold weather made the kids a little less enthusiastic than I think they would have otherwise been. It was pretty much "Quick, ride the cow train, now play in the play area for a couple of minutes, ok, let's go on the hayride so we can pick out our pumpkin and GO!" I wish I'd remembered how windy it always is at Thanksgiving Point - we had jackets, but hats and gloves would have helped a lot. Still, the kids were troopers and didn't really complain at all (can't say the same for myself!) I know Miss Misti was kind of bummed, because she originally had the field trip scheduled for Friday (which was a beautiful day), but then the Cornbelly's people asked her to switch to Wednesday. We still had fun, though, and it was just a not-so-gentle reminder that Winter is coming - we have to enjoy the nice days while we still have them!

Audrey riding the Cow Train

Adam driving the tractor

Audrey at the cute little play store

On the hayride

It got so cold, this is what we resorted to - Audrey in my spare sweatshirt!

Friday(10/19), the kids and I met Michelle, Maddy and Mom up at Gardner Historic Village to check out the witch display. It was really fun to see all the different witches - some of our favorites were the bicycling witch (suspended in the air), the baseball-playing witches, the fishing witch, and the hula hoop-ing witch. The kids just loved being outside, watching the ducks on the pond, and playing on the bridge. We did check out the toy shop (where Grandma was generous and bought each of the girls a princess hat!), and there was no way this sweet tooth was missing out on the candy shop! We ended up with some unique-flavor taffy (the cinnamon roll was fantastic, and the pumpkin pie was pretty good, too!) and some very decadent s'mores fudge.Maddy, Audrey and Adam - a decent picture of all three kiddos looking at the camera and smiling?! That's unheard of! Of course, it only took about 7 shots to get this one good one!

The bicycling witch - Audrey thought this one was the "Wizard of Oz" witch

Audrey with her friend, the witch

I tried to set Adam on the bench next to the witch to get the same shot of him that I did of Audrey, above. He very calmly slid off the bench, and quietly backed away, all the time giving that witch a wary look.

Audrey in her princess hat, but acting decidedly un-princesslike

All in all, we've had a very festive week, and if we don't do anything beyond the obligatory Halloween activities (school party, ward party, and trick or treating, all on Halloween) I still feel pretty good about all we've been able to do to celebrate Fall! I would like to get the kids to another pumpkin patch for photo ops, though, since we weren't doing much picture-taking in the freezing weather on Wednesday!