Fall Fest at Chevy Chase

On Sunday, we attended another in the long string of fall festivals. This time, it was at Grammy and Granddad's church in Chevy Chase, MD. This is our third year at this particular festival, and each time is more fun than the last. Here are some pictures:

Both kids handled their steeds like old hands. The beasts did not seem off-put by the costumes.

Ella was unsure about cotton candy. She thought it might be fur. She gave it a go anyway. Alex had no hesitation.

A-Maize-Ing

So my friend Hugh has a corn maze. Each year we have a get together with some friends at this corn maze. Each year it has rained, at least until now. This year it was partly sunny and crisp. A great day to get lost.

Here is ella making a corn angel in the Corn Box. I'll let you guess how many kernels stowed away in her underwear

Here is Alex in the actual maze. The half empty cob he is holding is the surprisingly effective means he used to ensure we would not get lost. We've learned that pieces of corn work better than bread crumbs

It was great to (finally) get to do all the attractions that Maize Quest has to offer, and also very nice to spend some time visiting with some friends. A good time was had by all.

Soccer "Skills" Fest

Ella completed her U4 soccer season on Saturday with a clinic where the kids could show off their skills. Ella was happy to demonstrate her dribbling skills, and her passing skills, which were expected, and her fussing skills, and watching from the sideline skills which were not.

ellaPouts Hosted on Zooomr

Ella Refuses To Participate

watchingSkills Hosted on Zooomr

Ella checks her shoe instead of participating

trophyGirl Hosted on Zooomr

Ella gets a trophy anyway

Jack is Back

Shelley and the kids transformed Alex's pumpkin from the pumpkin patch into a "scary" Jack-O-Lantern. Here is the play by play:

Scooping Out The Innards:

Carving the face:

Supervising Carving the Face:

Posing With Jack:

Who is This Goofball?

The Great Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we visited the local pumpkin patch. The hayride and the antique tractors (that you can climb on) were once again hits with the kids, along with the new Giant Pumpkin moon bounce (I've officially added moon bounces to the list of things the kids can't walk past. Puddles are also on this list).

The rule of pumpkin selection is that you must be able to lift the pumpkin you chose. Alex chose the biggest pumpkin that he could lift. Ella, iconoclast that she is, chose two small pumpkins.

This year's visit was bittersweet because it reminded me that I was again unsuccessful at growing my own pumpkins. I actually had a large orange pumpkin in my garden, but the problem was that it was ready in July. It did not make it through August, yet along to October. I'll try again next year.

Give Me Some Sugarloaf Mountain

Sugarloaf Mountain is a few miles southeast of here, and according to the topographic map of Greater Adamstown that hangs on my wall, has an altitude of 1282 feet at its peak. Last year we took the west view trail (blue blaze) to the first lookout. On the way back to the car, both kids tripped and fell several times and were bruised and bloodied.

It was so much fun, that we decided to go back. We once again followed the blue blazes to the first lookout, and this time the kids didn't even break a sweat. Feeling bold, we switched to the red blaze trail which is a fairly steep ascent to the peak. The kids were troopers, and it we made it to top intact.

This is when we literally took a turn for the worse. Figuring the kids might have trouble descending the red trail, we instead set out on the blue tail which we would thought would be easier. I should point out that we did not have a trail map, and really lacked any information about the blue trail other than that it would eventually get us back to the first lookout and then to our car. Turns out the blue goes all the way down the wrong side of the mountain, then back up to the right side. Luckily, it wasn't long before we lost the trail or maybe it lost us. Either way, after some frustration and a fruit snack break, we made it back to the red trail. Going down it was not as bad as we thought, even with carrying Ella-who'd-had-enough-hiking. We got lost once more, but made it back to the big white car a bit tired, but perhaps also a bit wiser.

The Return Of Uncle Wiggily

One of my earliest childhood memories was having Uncle Wiggily books read to me. These books by Howard R. Garis described the adventures of an old gentleman rabbit and his encounters with friends and foes and other curious animal folk.

I enjoyed these books so much that I preemptively inherited them to share with my own children. The three I could find in my parent's house were Uncle Wiggily's Adventures, Uncle Wiggily's Airship, and Uncle Wiggily's Fortune. My four year old son, Alex, shares my fondness for rabbits with rheumatism, and it wasn't long before we'd read through all three books several times.

When it got to the point that he could tell me what happened in a chapter before I read it, I knew it was time to expand the collection. Through some luck and sniping on eBay, I was able to add three more books to our collection: Uncle Wiggily's Automobile, Uncle Wiggly and the Littletails, and Uncle Wiggily on the Farm.

That's all for now. But, if the cuckoo clock does not wake up the overweight dog who pushes the cats out of second story window causing me to get a new basement, the next blog post will be about our annual trip to the Sugarloaf Mountain.