Happy Halloween!

Lightning McQueen made it trick or treating this year!  For 2 hours he walked around our neighborhood collecting lots of candy...most of which is laden with peanuts or processed on peanut laden manufacturing equipment and thus I had to take a lot away!

Alex's pumpkin - he picked out the face he wanted me to carve

My pumpkin - its been a while since I gave this a shot but I am pretty happy with it.

We got about 200-225 kids at the house.  Some of which were too old to be out and some who already know how to ask for extra candy for their "friend" down their...hmm nice kids!

Finished

I realized today I had never updated the photos to show the finished product.  It took about 2 good weekends of work to get this done but in the end its awesome!  We all can swing on it and climb the climber and go down the slide.

This picture is just too cute not to share - Alex was measuring away making sure everything was level and good.

Almost finished product - we realized we did not like the door where it is in this picture so we spent part of last Saturday rearraning the door to come off the porch - its much better now.

Our next construction project...

OUR SWINGSET!

This is going to take a while!

Farm Day 2010

A few weeks ago our town had an open farm day - surpisingly there are at least 6-7 farms in our town - go figure! We went to 3. The first stop was the turkey farm that had LOTS of tractors to climb on.

Then it was off to the dahlia farm.  They had about 3000 plants to grow all their beautiful flowers - I need to get some of these different kinds for my garden!

And finally it was off to the farm that still runs like its the 19th century.  We got to turn the crank to smoosh the apples that would eventually make cider.  We also saw a dowser - Daddy is not a believer.

Overall a fun filled Sunday morning - we made it home again in time for nap!

Apple Picking 2010

Off to Honey Pot Hill Orchard for apple picking last weekend.  Alex enjoyed eating a few bites out of his apple.

Running down the rows of trees and picking the apples that were close to the ground

Mommy's shoulders were a great perch for Alex to reach the apples higher up

And then we found a ladder and Alex climbed right to the top!

Too many pumpkins to choose from!

Snuggling on the hayride!

First Day of Preschool

My big guy moved up to preschool.  Which for the kids at his daycare is a big move - they UPSTAIRS to where the big kids are!  What an awesome place it is too!  Lots of cool new toys and stations to play and lots of fun new things to do.  He is with 5 of his friends - all BOYS - who moved up a few weeks before him.  He was just not progressing with the little kids in toddlers.  I think he likes to follow along than lead right now.  I cant believe we went upstairs!  The first trial day his friend Ben took his hand and said come up with me and off he went without looking back.  He has no fear of the bigger pre-K kids either - getting right into the mix.  Go Alex!

A Day In the Life of a 2 Year Old

Oh lazy summer days of "nothing" to do.  This is what one of our afternoons looked like lately:

Painting on the big paper Grampa got us.

Beautiful Art!

Laying in the sandbox after painting - the sand is a FULL BODY experience always!

After cleaning up the sand mess and changing clothes it was on to riding bikes...

And collecting sticks with the truck so Daddy could mow!  This is the only shade we have in our whole yard.

First Family Vacation

A few weeks ago we took our first ever family vacation to Storyland and Santa's Village.  This was a short trip meant as a trial to see how things work at a hotel.  We did great!  Alex LOVED it.

Yes, I let him in the ball pit despite all my years of worrying about how gross they are.

Sitting on Cinderella's throne - she was pretty too but the chair was much more interesting.

Reindeer Merry Go Round

Telling Santa that he shares his special day - I CANNOT believe he went right up and sat down on Santa's lap and talked to him!

Although I think the favorite part was the pool at the hotel.  There was a pool just for little kids - 1-2 feet deep with little fountains that would pop up all over the place.  He was swimming and splashing away until he was shivering.

Day out with Thomas the Tank Engine

Sunday we went to Edaville Railroad to see Thomas the Tank Engine

Here he comes down the track

Riding the train...there are lots of things in the woods - many are lit up at Christmas time

We met Sir Topham Hat (poor person - it was 90+ degrees and humid!)

And then it was time to play on all the Alex size stuff....climbing through the wooden engine

Riding like a big kid on the turtle ride

Flying high with Mommy on the "Jumbo" ride (WHY on earth does this ride have the longest line wherever you go?)

We spent about 5 hours riding rides and walking around.  We were all pooped from the heat and humidity.  Sunday morning was a good time to go - it got busy around lunchtime.

Alex was such a good boy all day - compared to some of the kids melting down.  Unfortunately the ice cream at the end of the day became slushes instead as they serve peanuts in their ice cream cart...I could not risk it :(

Hopefully Storyland in a few weeks will be a success!

Parties, Parties, Parties

This past weekend was full of parties - surprise ones and father's day ones.  It was nice to get out of the house and relax both days rather than work on projects.

Carrying his hotdog - he made it all the way across the yard and it fell right as he was going to sit down - he was so upset.

Handsome boy

Playing with Daddy's glasses

First one's in Auntie Jen's Pool - it was "refreshing"

Sprinkler fun at Auntie Jen's - Grampa taught him to move the sprinker

Just Like Me

This is how Alex does everything lately: bare feet.

Barefoot firetruck riding...

Barefoot golf caddying....

Barefoot putting...it also helps when your face is really close to the ball.

Who thought it was a good idea to give a two year old golf clubs....Gramma! What else are Gramma's for?  They are for instigating riding down the driveway on a gardening stool that has wheels - yes there is video and pictures - they are not allowed to be published :(

Sprinkler Fun

Since it feels more like summer than spring I have been bringing out the sprinkler and letting Alex run around in it.  He has a blast when the kids in the neighborhood come over and play too - they taught him if you stomp on the tube the water squirts higher.