Happy Halloween

 Despite having snow this weekend, Halloween was still schedule here in Boston.  JP's annual Trick-or-Treat down Centre Street at the local businesses was held again.  As we live only 2 blocks from this street, this makes for an easy Halloween.  It is always fun to see what others dress up as.  I was sure Izzy would be the only Tin Man but found out I was wrong when a family of 4 came as the whole Wizard of Oz group.

 Izzy's daycare also had their annual Halloween party at the local park.  Izzy is sitting next to two friends, Liam & Bonnie.  Good thing they feed us as we headed straight for Trick-or-Treating.

Just to give you an idea, store owners hand out candy to those Trick-or-Treating on the street.  Izzy managed to pick out almost every sucker she could find.

Lantern Festival

Typically the weekend before Halloween, JP hosts the Lantern Festival at the JP Pond.  Hundreds of people come with lanterns made or bought on location.  There is live music & hot apple cider.  It is also a time for many young ones to show case their costumes.  Then everyone marches off walking around the pond.  Even the boats are set to said lit by their lanterns.  It was quite a beautiful sight to see tine orange dots encircling the pond.

This year Izzy & I took to making her own lantern.  She wanted "princesses".  Instead of a candle, we lit hers with a flashing light that you put into your trick-or-treating bag which she loved because of the changing of colors.

These are just a few of the beautiful lanterns you could purchase.

Pumpkin Festival

Today the local YMCA held their pumpkin festival which was free to all who attended.  Ironically this was held in a local cemetery which has a beautiful nature preserve.  I guess perfect for the halloween spirit.  We asked on of Izzy's daycare friends, Bonnie, if she would like to come.  They both were willing to get their faces painted as kitty-cats.

Surprisingly, Izzy sat very still to get her kitty nose & whiskers.

 Pumplin bowling was one activity.  Rolling your pumpkin down the lane was a bit challenging.

 No problem… Bonnie & Izzy just carried theirs to the pins and threw them until they were all knocked down.

While standing in line, a juggler came by which was so entertaining for the girls.  He asked for a volunteer to do a juggling act.  Totally caught off guard, Izzy walked right up.  He proceeded to juggle 2 balls in either hand while flipping Izzy back-n-forth from each arm. 

The highlight was the moonwalks.  There were 3 sizes.  The biggest had a height restriction on it.  Bonnie didn't want to do either.  Izzy climbed into the middle size, got pushed & then someone fell on her making her cry & want to leave.  But she got into the smaller one anyway and had fun.  It was a bit more her size.

Apple Picking

 This Columbus Day weekend, we were blessed with a wonderful Indian summer with temperatures in the 80s.  What a great weekend to get out and enjoy the New England fall.  We decided to go apple picking.  We did this the first fall with Izzy when she was only 5 months old.  This time around was alot more fun for all of us.

 Many of the apple trees had been picked over leaving us with good apples hard to find.  Leave it to Izzy to be an active member reaching those ripe apples no one else could.

 While I stood in line, Izzy & Abe picked out a pumpkin.  However, the stem broke and we forgot about it (hid it while we picked apples) so now we have to go get her another one.

 Izzy wanted to ride the 'ponies'.  The actual pony was resting by the time Izzy was 1st in line.  The pony kicked over his water leaving us to wait until more came.  No one there knew where to get more.  Izzy then decided she was brave to ride the 'big pony'.  She had a smile on her face the whole ride.

We ended our visit by becoming scarecrows.  We have the same picture when she was a baby ;-)