Pumpkin Carving and Fall Walking

On Saturday, Ryan helped Levi carve his pumpkin for Halloween. Ryan did most of the carving but Levi enjoyed playing with the "slimy" seeds and putting them in a bowl. He also did some of his own carving work with a butter knife on the inside top of the pumpkin. After all the seeds were collected I seasoned some seeds in the oven for us as a snack. Levi is getting excited for Halloween and all his "dulces"..he says, "me excited to be monster". On Sunday afternoon, we spent some time at Blanford Nature Center. It was so warm we hardly needed a coat. (But of course, Levi had to wear his hat, he hardly takes it off. Who would have thought a  75 cent hat from a garage sale would be loved so much.) We took a walk and looked at all the fall colors. Earlier this week, Levi and I collected leaves in our neighboorhood and hung them on our window. We have gone to Blandford a couple of times before as a family and we have Levi look for animals (using his quiet feet) :) usually we see birds, chipmunks, ducks, squirrels but today we saw two deer. Maci loves being in her pack and the times we have been there this year she has just slept on our walks. Levi also likes seeing the injured animals that they have there but today it started to rain so we had to end our walk early. But there is always next Sunday afternooon. :)

Fall Fun





  

  



Donut Time!



We have had a lot of fun enjoying this beautiful fall weather. Last weekend, we spent time at a few different orchards and pumpkin patches. Levi had fun on the rides at one place and spent time with his Grandpa and Grandma Koopmans, Uncle Casey and Aunt Laura and cousin Collin. He rode the pig train and a "little horse"..he was scared of that at first but Daddy and Casey were on either side of him so that made it better. Last week Thursday afternoon we went on our own to a orchard off of Alpine. We have gone there the past two years and really liked it. Levi loved playing in the corn with the trucks, and picking out his own little pumpkin. He also loved having a donut and cider. After the orchard, we all went to Fricano's for pizza one of our favorite places. They had a live band playing during dinner so you could not hear Maci when she would cry. She has been such a good baby to take around. Ryan and I said that we would have never attempted to go out to eat when Levi was a baby but we are glad that we are able to go out as a family and enjoy ourselves.



Maci's First Trip to the Zoo

"Little Bear"

We took advantage of the great weather and headed to the zoo yesterday. It was nice because it was not busy or hot and I had extra hands to help with Maci and Levi. It took about an hour to get everyone and everything coordinated and out the door. We took the wagon and stroller for the kids and met Grandma R Allison, Kris, Katelyn and Alexa. Levi was disappointed that Mighty Mike, the alligator moved back to Florida and was also scared of the bear who was pounding on his door for food. He talked about that for hours. Maci did well and we took a break to feed the kids their snacks and her bottle and were on our way. What a difference than Levi..as a baby..I do not think I went out till he was 3 months old...so even though it is a lot of work it is definitely worth it to me to be out of the house for a while and to enjoy the day!

 "Crazy Monkey"