Friday, November 22, 2013

Halloween

So I think I am catching up. These are pictures from around Halloween.
Heather and Sara Beth carved one pumpkin while Hudson and I carved the other one. We didn't have any newspaper at our house, so Hudson and I ended up snooping in neighbors recycle bins until we found a house that still gets the paper. I drew the face on Hudson's pumpkin, and Sara Beth drew the face on her own.
 Hudson figured out the pumpkin seed extraction process quickly and eagerly graped a spoon to help. Once we were done getting all the guts out, Heather carved Sara Beth's pumpkin with a knife, while I used a power drill. Hudson started crying when I was drilling out the holes, thought I'm not sure if it was because I was cutting holes in the pumpkin, or because I was using power tools. Either way, he settled down once we put the candles in.
Our church had a Halloween party type thingy where Sara Beth got the opportunity to ride a pony, though I think she realizes riding around in an enclosed circle is not as cool as a free range pony.
Almost every Sunday, we will do popcorn, cheese and fruit and watch something on TV. Typically, it is a VeggieTales. I thought that we might try watching Wall-E one evening. One evening, while Sara Beth was out, I previewed it with Hudson. Whenever he saw the main protagonist, he pointed at the screen and said "tractor"; the cockroach sidekick was "bee". Whenever Hudson is done eating, he will offer to feed me the rest of his food. This is a picture of him trying to give me the rest of the water in his sippy cup.
On actual Halloween, Hudson figured out the candy thing very quickly. We dressed him up as a farmer, and initially, I carried him to each door. But by the fourth house, he got down and followed Sara Beth through the lawns from door to door holding up his bucket and saying "Please". Sometimes he did fall behind his sister, in which case I helped him catch up. Several houses just had a bowel out front with a "Please take one" sign. I figured that Hudson had enough candy to last till easter, so, I would sealthfully take a hand full out of his bucket and place it in the bowel for other kids to eat. I think he appreciated the fact that his bucket never got too heavy.
One evening before bed, Sara Beth decided to wash Heather and my feet. After washing Heather's feet, Sara Beth decided to go full out, and carefully painted her nails too.

Heather and I were talking about getting Hudson a tricycle as his birthday present. That weekend, we went to a garage sale, and he found one that he loved, and it was only $1. The best part about it was that when we lifted up the seat, we found a hidden storage that was full of sidewalk chalk. We decided to let him have the birthday present early. Every night, when I come home from work, the first thing that Hudson does is run to the garage door and request to "bike".
Hudson has gotten in the habit of trying on Heather's shoes. His feet are big enough that her shoes don't instantly fall off. Sara Beth, on the other hand, just got a new pair of tennis shoes. Heather's shoe size is only 4 more than Sara Beth's. I imagine is a couple more years, Sara Beth will be wearing Heather's shoes around the house too, and she wont look quite as silly as Hudson when he does it.

Friday, November 8, 2013

The ill fated camping trip

So at the end of October, we decided to go on a family camping trip. Thursday night, we packed up the car. Friday, I took a half day off at work and Heather picked me up at 11am and we were off to Bohnam State Park.

The kids were super excited about being out doors and Hudson immediately requested his boots on so he could explore our camp site while Heather and I unpacked our camping supplies. So, I pull the tent out of the car, stake it down and then begin, raise it up on its poles, and see the middle of the roof begin to tear apart like a wet paper towel. It was an old tent and I had apparently not fully dried it out when I packed it up this past spring. So we pack up the kids and rush of to the closest Walmart to buy a new tent. I had hoped to wait till after this trip so we could purchase one that didn't have to accommodate Hudson's pack-and-play crib, which takes up a lot of space and he will be out growing in the next few months. Oh well. We went back to the site and setup the brand new tent in mere minutes. The new ones are much easier.
There were some really cool vines that Sara Beth discovered at the back of our camp site. She would pretend that something was chasing her and then climb up to escape.
Our first dinner was great, except for the rain. The weather forecast included a 20% chance of rain. What we got was drizzling rain all evening. Never enough to pack everything up, but enough to never let anyone fully dry out. Heather cooked some delicious hamburgers over the campfire, and the s-mores were a hit with everyone.
The next morning we wake up to a chilly 38 degree morning. Apparently, in addition to a higher than predicted amount of rain, there was a cold front that came in and dropped the temperature down around 12 degrees cooler than foretasted. We decided it was too cold for pancakes at the campsite, so we drove into town for some Burger King breakfast and let the kids play in the warm indoor play area for a while.
Once we got back out to the campsite, the sun had slightly warmed up the land, so we went for a hike.
On our hike, we found an abandoned structure by the lake. Sara Beth pretended it was an abandoned house. The rangers later told us it was an old bird blind built for an eagle scout project.
Hudson wanted to get into Sara Beth's things things in the tent when he got up from his nap. Sara Beth and Heather had gone out on a exploration trip with a cool backpack of activities from the ranger station. She had a microscope, plant and animal identification cards, binoculars, a notebook and crayons.
After dinner Saturday night, Heather and I were sitting by the fire while the kids played in the dirt over by the tent, when we hear a loud knock and Hudson starts crying. He tripped and fell head first into a landscaping timber. We decided it was a good time to pack up and head home.
After a good night's sleep in real beds in a solid house with functional heat, everyone was mostly back to normal. I told Heather it was a good thing that this was not our first camping trip. Otherwise, I don't think we would want to ever camp again.