Orange & Black Party

 Though we weren't planning on throwing a Halloween party this year, the kids talked us into having a "small gathering".  Rather than having a costume party (we couldn't have had one as only 1 costume was finished by then), we decided to celebrate in the colors of the holiday.  Regardless of no costumes, the Halloween spirit was presents on many levels.

 Izzy helped me create this gruesome cake.  She is my fondant roller and did one heck of a job in keeping uniformity.  This is the 2nd time we have made this cake together.  She wants to enter a decorated cake for the fair next year.  This may be it!

 John's creative take on healthy food options.

 Bubbly poison drink choice are always a hit for young and old.  We enjoyed seeing distinct bubbling patterns for the different ingredients.

Several activities were available for guests.  One was decorating miniature pumpkins.

This was one of my favorites.  We only saw this after all the guests had left.

 Halloween inspired bingo.  I think the younger guests ate more candy corn than using them as markers.

 The hit of the night was a twist on the proverbial bobbing for apples.  Guests were asked to eat hanging donuts without the use of their hands.   Various heats were held basked on age to keep things as fair as possible.

 There was even an adult heat which did not take much convincing for participants.

 No everyone figured out how to use their shoulder and/or upper arm to stabilize the donut.  Those that did were more often the winner.

 I noticed towards the end of the night that I had not seen Victoria in many of these activities.  Why?  She was doing what she does best... socializing with her girl friends.  All I see in this picture is these girls fast forwarded 10 years!

 Micah was stoked to have two of his favorite friends attend; Gavin & Mark.  We saw a much more engaging Micah compared to years past.

 Our final activity was creating toilet paper mummies.  Guests were asked to pair up and see who could wrap their partner the fastest.

John was saddened that Bonnie and him didn't win this contest.

Jack O' Lantern Journey

Another sign of fall and Halloween are jack-o-lanterns.  We took a stroll at the Franklin Park Zoo to gaze among 5,000 illuminated jack-o-lanterns.

 While waiting our turn, we observed a live carving performance and enjoyed playing tic tac toe with miniature pumpkins.

 What was simply amazing was that all of these images were made out of pumpkins put together to make a much larger image.  Amazing, creative and beautiful.  We are all officially in the Halloween spirit.

Fall is Apple Picking Time



 Fall in New England = Apple Picking.  We've enjoyed heading to Connors Farm the past few years and so headed back on a day the weather man predicted a 76 degree day.  It seemed as all of Boston had the same thought!  We headed out early and beat most of the rush.

 New this year was a mini-train with a track that ran around the perimeter of the farm.  We eyed what trees looked good for apple picking yet to come.

 Every year Connors Farm creates a unique corn maze.  Scattered throughout the maze are clues that help lead you in the correct direction.  We made a few good guess as well making us find the exit in record breaking time... 23 minutes!

Micah enjoyed our water friends hanging out on the beautiful fall day.

 When we had our fill of farm activities, we headed to the orchard for apple picking.  There is nothing like team work to get to the ripe apples up high!

 It's way easier to pick apples if someone hold a branch down for you.

 We enjoyed tasting as much as picking.

What does one do with so many apples???  You start backing.  This was Izzy's first try at making a pie.  Rather than a traditional crust, we opted for a twist and made a cookie crust.  Depending on what it tastes like, she may be making this for Thanksgiving as her contribution.

 The finale to our day was picking out pumpkins for Halloween. 

Liz's 41st Birthday

 The final celebration of September was my birthday.  My actual birthday was a crazy, busy day filled with the children's activities.  We therefore celebrated the following day (Friday) which heralded in the weekend.  I came home to the house decorated with a birthday banner and balloons.  Izzy worked hard on creating a sugary concoction that even I thought was too sweet.  But she won points for creativity coming up with worm and slug gummies going in and out of the cake and cookie crumbled dirt / sand.