Halloween Festival (10-18-12)

 

What can brown do for you?

A couple of my friends in my MOMS Club told me about the Halloween Festival at the East Roswell Recreation Center on Thursday night. I wasn't sure if Steve would want to go, so the backup plan was to go with Lesley and Logan. When I asked Steve if he wanted to go, he said sure. I made sure that he knew that he "didn't have to go" if he didn't want to, but he said he couldn't let us go without him (such a smart man).

We had a morning at the mall and played at the softplay area for a few hours and I wasn't sure if Gus would take a nap or not. He's been iffy here lately. Our going to the Halloween Fest was all contingent upon him taking a nap or not, and what time he woke from said nap. The event was from 4:30-7:30 and it was a good 1/2 hour to get there- add in traffic, and it wasn't a sure thing that we'd be going.

For whatever reason, Gus decided that a nap wasn't in his plans for the afternoon. So instead, we had plenty of time to get ready so that as soon as Steve got home, we could head out. Gus has three different costumes, so I decided to go with the UPS costume for the Halloween Fest. He looked so cute and to our surprise, he wore the hat the entire night! Here are some pictures of us before we left for the event:

He may be the cutest UPS boy ever to don the uniform!

We arrived at the ERRC at the same time as my friend Kirsten and her husband and their son Sam. We walked in together and then met up with Lesley and Logan. We didn't talk much and soon after the three of us parted ways.

We headed into the trick or treat room and Gus enjoyed walking around and collecting candy, a balloon, and a TON of compliments! He really did look cute in his costume!

From there, we headed to the room next door and it was full of jumpys and many different games! Gus was eager to check everything out and kept Steve very busy. :-)  He loved the jumpy and had a great time playing the different games. His favorite part was when he got to pick a prize just for playing!

 

Inside the jumpy

 

Daddy to the rescue!

 

Running away!

 

And snatched back up into Daddy's arms!

 

The pumpkin toss game

 

He said, "Oooooh" when he got to pick a prize!

 

The spider toss

 

Prizes!!

 

 

He was supposed to throw a bat into a mailbox, but he decided to place it in there and put up the flag. The delivery man in him couldn't resist!

 

 

Another turn picking a prize!

 

Throwing a ball into a spider web net

Gus played almost all the games so we headed out to the craft section. We went into a room where he got to make a Halloween necklace. Steve helped him and I took pictures of the sweet moment.

 

Getting their necklace prepared

 

Snuggled with Daddy

 

Picking out his beads

 

The finished necklace

 

He wore it for about a minute and then wanted it off  :-)

After making a necklace, we went to the face painting room, but they weren't painting faces. They were only doing tattoos, so Gus got a Frankenstein tattoo on his hand.

 

I guess wearing a million bracelets on both arms is back in style (it reminded me of when I was in Jr. High and had seven watches and a million bracelets that went up to my elbow on both arms)

We were done seeing everything and decided to just take a few pictures of Gus. One of the members at W50 is UPS, so Steve wanted some pictures of him and Gus to share with their member. They turned out really cute!

 

Walking far ahead but checking to see that we were still in sight  ;-)

 

Family picture

 

My two favorite boys!

It was 6:15 and we decided to call it a night. We headed to the car, loaded everything up and headed home. It was a lot of fun and totally free. We'll definitely be back next year!

 

Me and Gus (and his balloon) heading to the car

 

Reading a book while I loaded the stroller into the car!

Fall Fun!

 

Mama and Gus

It has finally started to cool off around here. When I say it's cooled off, I mean we're in the 70s and not in the 80s and 90s. It still does not feel like fall to me, but I guess my Michigan blood expects temperatures to be in the 60s in order for me to feel like it's fall. When I see that the highs are only in the mid-60s, I get really excited. That has only happened twice so far.

We've had the pleasure of participating in some fun fall activities here in Georgia. This is our first fall here, and I wasn't sure what to expect. It's definitely warmer than North Carolina. Not by much, but at least five degrees or so. We never did anything "fall-like" when we lived in NC, but it was mainly because Gus was so little and I wasn't very involved in my chapter of the MOMS Club there. We did play in the leaves at Kristen's house, but that's about it.

So to celebrate the change of seasons here in Georgia, we went to a place called Scottsdale Farms with my friend Lesley and her son Logan. We drove together and the boys had a great time running around the nursery and checking out the pumpkins. Gus was picking them up and putting them into the wheelbarrow. He's super strong and loved the challenge.

Every time I told him to pick a pumpkin, he grabbed a white one. In the end, we ended up with three white pumpkins that I will probably just draw faces on. I'm hoping to get us orange pumpkins to carve, but not until we're closer to Halloween.

 

Pushing the wheelbarrow filled with heavy pumpkins!

 

He enjoyed picking them up and putting them into the wheel barrow

 

Pointing at more pumpkins!

 

I tried to get him to pose for me with a pumpkin, this was the best that I got

 

I showed Gus how to make a whistle from an acorn- he wanted to try too

 

Showing me his acorn and asking me to blow it and whistle

 

Our first white pumpkin

 

Another one

 

The final pumpkin

 

Gus and Logan

 

An animal cookie stuck to his face

After spending time at the nursery (it wasn't an actual farm), we headed to I Love NY Pizza for lunch. The boys enjoyed playing and we enjoyed time to just sit, relax, and chat. 

Then on Monday, my MOMS Club had planned a trip to a place called Kinsey Family Farm. Fulton County Public Schools were off for the day, so we thought it'd be a great event for all the kids in our chapter. We had a pretty nice turn out (seven moms and eleven kiddos) and while we were worried about the weather (we had storms roll through overnight and showers were predicted throughout the morning), we had a GORGEOUS day. You could not have asked for a more beautiful blue sky and there was just enough of a chill in the air to not make you hot in the sun.

 

Gus and some of the kiddos from the MOMS Club

 

Gus and Lucy

 

Just chatting about the farm  :-)

 

We spent time looking at the pumpkins and gourds, and then we went over and fed the animals at their petting zoo (which wasn't a petting zoo at all). Gus was really nervous about feeding the animals, and then he eventually mustered up enough courage to feed the goat and cows.

 After spending some time with the animals, we headed over and got on a hayride. Gus was not too sure about it and was crying when we got on. He snuggled into me and was crying for a bit and then after we were moving and he was used to the movement, he stopped crying, but was still clutching me. I'm not going to lie, I loved his snuggles.

 

Kathryn and Aubree with me and Gus

The hayride stopped at a 1/2 way point and it was a big pond. The kids were able to feed the catfish and ducks. We had bought some fish food before we boarded the hayride, so Gus was able to feed them. He had a great time!

I think we spent like 10-15 minutes at the pond and then we got back on the hayride for our return trip. Gus started crying when we boarded, but thankfully, Kathryn had some Cheese-Its and having those and his mama to snuggle with, made it bearable.

 

Enjoying Cheese Its

After we got back to the farm, we looked around at the different pumpkins and then decided to head home. It was already 12:30 and it was at least a 35 minute drive home. I was able to take a few pictures of Gus with the pumpkins and hay.

 

Pulling a wagon

 

Posing on the fence post

 

I wanted him to look up!

 

So handsome!

 

He was saying, "Cheese"

 

Gus with a pumpkin... the stem was too long and in the way of his face though!

 

On the fence waiting for the tractor and hayride to pass by

 

Ready to help pull the wagon with pumpkins!

We had a great day and are looking forward to ending our week with a visit to Tanglewood Farm on Friday. We went there in the spring and saw all their miniature farm animals. We're eager to go back and enjoy them and their Octoberfest! Should be a lot of fun and it's even supposed to be in the mid-60s!!!