The kids and I woke up bright and early today to help out at our Homeschool Co-op's annual Halloween Festival. Clay helped in the Haunted House by constructing a spooky haunted forest out of an old EZ-Up, cardboard tubing and tree branches with some friends. I made a donut-on-a-string game (no hands allowed!) which was delightfully sticky and messy, as well as an icky feely table with holes cut in cardboard boxes to feel dried up tongue (dry apricots), maggots (oily cooked rice), witches fingers (baby pickles) and more grossness. I kept hearing shrieks of, "EWWW!" so I think it was a hit!
The boys went trick-or-trating with friends tonoght, but before they left, I did make sure to snap some photos. Reed made his own mime costume again (boy, did our kitchen smell like permanent marker for days on end). Clay went steampunk (google it if you don't know what this is :) this year and created a really cool costume out of lots of odds-and-ends, leather clothing from the thrift store and bronze spray paint. And little ZB became a sweet a little forest gnome in her mama-made costume.
Mime and Gnome:
So Gnome-y (and would not stand still!)
Steampunk (this took about a month of planning - very cool!) :
The idea for ZB's little toadstool skirt of her gnome costume is from this cute blog I found - The Life of a Cheap Chickadee - Thank you!
Happy Halloween everyone! I think I need to go clean off the floor in the boys room in anticipation for it soon to be covered in candy!
We finally took the beach vacation I've been wanting to do for years! Our destination was Hunting Island, South Carolina. It was a nice, 5 hour drive to warm sunny weather, palm trees and desolate, undevoloped beaches.
Reed's thoughts from the beach:
- The mosquitos found out that Reed's blood is very very tasty. Now everyone else does not have to worry about vampire attacks because they will go for Reed's tasty blood first.
- Raccoons are CRAZY!!!!!
- Always have bug spray handy
- I saw dolphins (a dolphin was 12 feet away from me!), and a bunch of crabs, and a giant horseshoe crab.
- I touched a shark.
Clay's thoughts from the beach:
- Boogie Boarding was fun and apparently Reed's blood tastes good
- There are way too many mosquitos
- Biking on the beach and all the roads was really fun.
- There was a really cool place on the beach where it was forest, but all the trees were dead. When the tide came in, it looked like all the trees were coming out of the water.
- I wanted to see ghost crabs there, and I did and they were smaller than I thought
- The End
Blossom's thoughts from the beach (translated by mama):
- Who knew bike riding was so fun?
- When you camp at the beach, it means lots of naked time for baby
- Bug spray tastes terrible
- I sometimes thought I was a mermaid and tried to swim underwater, but mama wouldn't let me.
Mama's thoughts from the beach:
- I am so grateful for all the fabulous people at the Asheville Bike ReCYCLEry -they helped us get our dusty bikes road-worthy for FREE!
- I can't believe how much stuff I crammed in my little car! Bikes, tents, bedding, backpacks, cloth diapers, food, water cooler, boogie boards, sand pail, cooking gear ... whew! It was comical really, how loaded down our car was. Why did I sell that minivan anyway?
- Raccoons that have been hand-fed by other campers are no fun for people who do not enjoy hanging out with them around the campfire.
- The South Carolina mosquitoes just laughed at our natural bug repellents. I broke down and bought DEET.
- Loved camping with good friends!
Early morning shell finding:
Turtle nesting area:
Reed is taking some great photos lately with his iPod. Here's a video he shot and some of his pics from the trip:
