This year, Brooklyn and Savannah had several opportunities to dress up in their Halloween costumes. The first time was on October 22nd. Mrs. Bev organized a group from church to go to Valley View nursing home to pass out candy and treats to the residents there. The kids all dressed up (as well as a few of the adults), and we walked the halls with the nurses and visited there for about an hour or so.
This year, Mom found Brooklyn several different costumes at a local consignment sale: Buzz Lightyear, a snowman, and a ladybug. Which one do you think she wanted to be every time? Buzz, of course! Although it would have been cute for them to both be ladybugs together, it wasn’t worth the battle that would have ensued! ;)
Savannah wasn’t too sure of her ladybug costume, but she sure looked cute!
I loved Gabriel’s Barney costume!!
We weren’t supposed to take pictures of the residents, but we were able to snap a few pictures in the hallways…
It took Savannah a little while to warm up, but she did go in a few rooms and wave at some of the residents. Everyone loved her costume!
Brooklyn LOVED passing out candy/treats! She was very generous and gave out handfuls to each person…haha! She ran out of candy in her bucket pretty quickly doing it that way ;) Thankfully, we were able to restock her bucket with stuff others had brought.
It was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon! The residents loved seeing the kids all dressed up.
And the kids enjoyed eating a few treats right before we left too!
Brooklyn is always a happy camper if you give her a sucker!
The following Tuesday (October 25th) was the last Music Together class of the fall session. Since it was Halloween week, their teacher, Mrs. Amie, invited all of the kids to dress up. This time, I decided to let Savannah wear Brooklyn’s butterfly costume from 2 years ago. It fit great! I tried to convince Brooklyn to wear one of her other costumes since her Buzz costume was dirty, but she wasn’t agreeable to that ;) So, we settled for a Halloween shirt and hair bow instead!
It’s always hard to get good pictures during music class because A.) the kids are constantly in motion and B.) the lighting isn’t great….but I did the best I could!
The parachute was a huge hit with the kids. Brooklyn especially loved it!
Playing with the instruments at the end of class. We can’t wait for music to start back in January!
On Saturday, October 29th, we visited Lyon Family Farms for the second time. We were hoping to get there earlier in the morning, but Travis had to run 11 miles (training for his half marathon), so it was lunch time by the time we got there. We had a fun time! Brooklyn loved it as much this year as she did last year.
Brooklyn probably did this slide 5 or 6 times in a row! As she slid, we would hear her say, “WHEEEEEEEE!” all the way down until she popped out at the bottom. She would have kept going more times if we hadn’t convinced her to move on to something else ;)
She also thought it was funny to wait for Daddy at the bottom!
There he is!
Poor Savannah…she fell asleep on the way to the pumpkin patch and woke up when we got her out of the car, of course. She was tired and crabby pretty much the whole time we were there. I felt bad that she didn’t really enjoy herself! I tried taking her down that slide one time, and she didn’t seem to mind it until we got to the bottom and she started to cry. Whoops!
Notice how we were all wearing shorts and t-shirts. It was mid-80s on the last Saturday of October….crazy! Definitely felt more like summer than fall that day!
Daddy and Brooklyn tried the hamster wheel again this year :)
Next, we walked over to the petting zoo area. Brooklyn got to touch a lot of animals, including a little cow!
Her favorite animals were the bunnies though!
Even Pookie was interested in the animals!
Pointing to the ducks and chickens :)
A nice man gave Brooklyn some food to feed the horse. I loved watching her reaction when the horse licked her hand!
Savannah liked petting the horse too!
The girls and I also rode the cow train this year. Brooklyn enjoyed it, and Savannah even liked seeing the animals from the petting area that we passed.
We made a quick pass through the corn maze with Brooklyn leading the way. She directed us which way to turn when we got to an intersection. Luckily, we didn’t get too lost! :)
Toward the end of our time there, we checked out the pumpkins for sale. I’ve never seen so many different kinds of pumpkins! We didn’t buy any, but Brooklyn enjoyed looking at them all and picking them up. As an added bonus, it was in the shade! We were really hot and sweaty by that point.
Pookie was entertained by eating an apple :)
The last thing we did was the corn crib. This was right up there with the slides as one of Brooklyn’s favorite activities! She would’ve stayed in there all day if we’d let her :)
We’d tried earlier in the day to put Savannah in the corn crib by herself, and she bawled. This time, I sat with her, and she tolerated it for a few minutes at least :)
This was more her style that day. Next year, we need to make it a priority to get there right at 9 AM when everyone is fresh and happy! :)
This year, Halloween fell on a Monday. Last year, we went to Trussville for Halloween (it was on a Saturday), and it was a huge success despite the rainy weather! So, we decided to try that again this year. Travis worked until lunchtime, and then we got packed up and hit the road. We got to Paw and Rae Rae’s house around 4 PM, and we waited until about 5:30 PM to start trick-or-treating. Of course, we made sure to get a few pictures in the front yard first!
We did most of our trick-or-treating before it got too dark outside. We walked up and down 2 streets and hit up probably 15-20 houses at least. The girls both got a lot of candy! Brooklyn led the way most of the evening. When someone answered the door, she would either say “Trick or Treat!” or “Thank you!” It took Savannah a while to warm up to the idea of going door to door. At first, she wouldn’t even go up to the door at all. Then, she started walking up to the door, but WAILED when people tried to put candy in her bucket. I think she thought they were trying to steal her candy ;) She did much better when they let her grab a piece out of the bowl instead!
Ready to go! Brooklyn walked almost the whole time, but Savannah mainly rode in the wagon. It was definitely helpful to have!
We also discovered that Savannah really likes Milk Duds, so she ate several boxes that night :)
Most of my pictures turned out blurry, so these were the best I got :) It was a fun evening! This was the first year that Brooklyn noticed or acted afraid of the “scary” Halloween decorations in some yards. She saw a skeleton in one yard and started to get scared….and then her daddy told her that’s what happens when you don’t eat your vegetables….ahahaha :) When we got back to Paw and Rae Rae’s house, we stayed out on the front porch to help pass out candy for a little while. Brooklyn enjoyed doing that lot except for when she saw a Star Wars fan come up to the door. Travis said, “Look! It’s a Storm Trooper!” and Brooklyn hid in the corner yelling “I don’t like Storm Poopers!” Haha! Halloween is the one night every year that we let Brooklyn eat as much candy as she wants, so she ate and ate and ate candy after supper that night. Finally, she decided she’d had enough…thankfully she didn’t get sick! :)
We planned in advance to spend the night that night and go to the Birmingham Zoo the next day with Paw, Rae Rae, and Aunt Jenn. Tuesdays are half-price days at the zoo, so it worked out well! This was the girls’ first trip to the zoo, and they had a lot of fun! For it being the first day of November, it certainly didn’t feel like it outside. I think it was in the mid-80s that day! Our outdoor fall activities this year felt more like summer activities…haha :)
We saw lots of neat animals…
We happened to see the giraffes right when it was feeding time!
The tiger kept walking back and forth in front of the window. The girls thought that was pretty cool!
“Roar!!”
The flamingos were one of their favorites! Brooklyn liked picking out the ones that were standing on one leg and the ones who were sleeping. Flamingos are funny animals!
We saw “Dory” near the front entrance and got a quick picture!
Oh, and Nemo too!
We ate a picnic lunch outside the zoo. Lots of walking and sightseeing made everyone hungry!
Savannah was pointing at herself on the screen ;)
After lunch, we rode the train! Here, we were waiting to board…
Choo Choo!!
We got a better view of the elephants from the train than we’d been able to get earlier in the day…
Next, we headed toward the birds and snakes. Brooklyn specifically said she wanted to see snakes….she must not be my daugher ;)
Some of them were enormous!
This snake was neatly wrapped around that tree branch…so weird!
Daddy and Savannah went to check out the other birds while the rest of us headed toward the front of the zoo. When they found us, Pookie was fast asleep. She was exhausted from a busy day!
While Savannah slept, Brooklyn played on the playground. She instantly made friends with some other kids and ran around with them for a long time playing. I think this was probably her favorite part of the day…haha. She liked the animals, but she loved the playground! :)
When Savannah woke up, we rode the carousel. It was their first time to ride one! Brooklyn chose the lion, and we put Savannah on the tiger nearby. They enjoyed it!
After the carousel, Brooklyn played for a few more minutes on the playground before we called it a day. There were several exhibits we didn’t get to see, but the girls were tired (and so were we!). We’ll have to go back again another time because they definitely had fun!
Worn out from a fun day!!
Well, now I’m caught up through the first of November at least. Only a month behind! :) Stay tuned for more on the rest of last month (including details of the Huntsville Half Marathon, Carter’s birthday party, walking the Galaxy of Lights, Thanksgiving, etc.!)
