Halloween Fun

I don't feel like we really got into the Halloween thing this year--costumes weren't very involved and ended up not being quite what we'd originally planned, we never got most of the decorations out, and kids didn't make plans until the last minute, but we did have a couple fun activities, so I don't think it was disappointing for anyone particularly. 

Peanut had big plans for a medieval family costume theme this year and had gathered up the parts for his knight costume weeks ago, but when it came down to it, Daddy-o had to work the Saturday of the church Trunk-or-Treat and Bug wasn't feeling great and came late, so Peanut and I were the only ones who started off dressed up, and we didn't even get a picture. But I did get a couple pictures of our trunk which was a medieval magic shop.

And we decided that every good magic shop needs to have a dragon rabbit. Luckily, no one had any shillings because for some reason, she was priced really low, and I didn't want to let her go.

She was the hit of the trunk-or-treat for sure and had a lot of return visitors.

I was happy to be able to pull out all the Harry Potter potions and my science class skeletons to complete the look.

From what I heard, Peanut had a good time at the party (I was on trunk duty and Poppy sitting pretty much the whole time) and Daddy-o and Bug showed up for the last hour.

And as a total break from tradition, we did not go trick-or-treating as a family. With Bean gone, it doesn't seem like a big deal to further split up the remaining two kids. Peanut and Daddy-o headed out with some friends in the local neighborhood, Bug met up with his friends to go hit up all the neighborhoods they thought they'd get the best candy in, and I stayed home with a pretty bad cough. Not our best Halloween, but everyone seemed happy enough.

 

We Know It's Fall When. . .

Our mantle gets a makeover.

Some years I've gone with a more spooky look for October, but this year, I only added a couple of our Halloween decorations and mostly went for classic fall.

Love my little nature collections tray--there are so many great things to collect in the fall.

The guavas are ripe.

I look forward to this season every year. No one else in my house seems to care, but this fruit is full of nostalgia for me, as well as being really tasty.

Water polo is going full steam. This has been a rough season for Bug. He's personally having his best year yet, but his coach seems to have given up on the boys and is providing very little coaching or encouragement. It's been frustrating and I know Bug is looking forward to the club season starting next month (with a different coach who he actually likes), but he's trying to stick with it. He's been shooting a lot more this year and has scored some really beautiful goals, as well as getting a lot of assists (or, a high percentage--considering how badly they have lost some of their games, there isn't always a lot of scoring going on by anyone on their team.)

The Halloween House comes out.

This is actually not something we usually do, but Peanut had been asking about buying one of these kits, so I surprised him with it one day. And then the frustration with the frosting started and I remembered why I don't really care to do these, haha. Probably skip the gingerbread houses this year.

We get a new spooky game. We've played 13 Dead End Drive the past couple years, but this year, since Peanut and Daddy-o had just been to Disneyland, I decided to pick up the Haunted Mansion game when I saw it on a crazy sale. It's a really fun game and a nice addition to our fall-themed games.

The houses are decorated for Halloween.

There's a really fun street in Pleasanton that Peanut and I discovered last year, so we took Daddy-o and Bug this year to see the area.

Nothing quite lives up to the house we saw in New Orleans a few years ago, but there are some fun ones here, as well.

And, finally, the Primary program at church happens. These two cute boys were the narrators and did a fabulous job at their last ever Primary program. In January, they move up to the youth program, which is hard to believe, but they certainly are seeming responsible and mature these days.

Science and Field Trips

Science classes have been busy with our human anatomy study--

bones and muscles, 

which included a chicken wing dissection. Peanut and his partner enjoyed it the most out of the kids--they got to see the muscles up close and work with the tendons.

We've had some field trips--hiking at Lake Chabot where we watched a vulture drying its wings.

And back to look for tarantulas. Found two this time!

I can never guarantee animals when we head out for these field trips, so it's great when they show up!

Caught the beginning of another sunset.

We also got to do a class at a local nursery.

The whole place is set up for fall.

They started with a talk about bees. Peanut has spent quite a bit of time reading about bees because I hoped that after his bad experience with yellow jackets last year, we could use knowledge to overcome his fear. It hasn't really worked, but he was able to answer a lot of the questions. Actually, he came over at one point and whispered, "I'm going to stop answering all of them so the other kids can have a chance." Glad he's aware enough to know when to hold back, haha.

We took a tour of the gardens and talked about other pollinators, too. The kids got to plant a pea plant, learn a little about chickens, and traditional broom plants.

Then, the finished off with some pumpkin fishing. It is actually surprisingly difficult to catch a pumpkin in a funnel on the end of string.

We also bought some apples to do a little taste test at home. Turns out we prefer modern apple varieties.

Our circulatory system week included testing for blood types. I learned my lesson--even with the middle schoolers who wanted to do this, it took quite a while for them to get up the courage. The upper elementary kids mostly refused, and in the future, I wouldn't try with kids that young. I forgot that when I did this activity a few years ago, I was only teaching middle school ages. Peanut did his and no surprise that his is the same as his dad's and mine.

Lots of fun with this guy and his organs and parts. It's hard to keep everything together, so he's mostly been in pieces since the first weeks of class.

And then another week out at Sycamore Grove--this time to talk about fall/winter in the Bay Area and took look for walnuts and acorns and just enjoy the beautiful weather.

I'm glad that we've created this community to learn with. Peanut and I both get a lot out of these field trips and the friendships and the chances to explore. 

Just a Little Bit of Nature

I had a couple days of some serious nature time and thoroughly enjoyed the extra hours outside, starting with a gorgeous sunrise on my way home from dropping Bug off at seminary, and then a long solo hike. Peanut and Daddy-o were on their own adventure for a couple days and I was just on high school duty, which leaves a lot of hours during the day (and I'm hoping I can get them to do their own blog post soon!)

So, here's a photo dump of the fall colors, beautiful weather, and the start of mushroom season.

The End.

 

Party of 5

So happy to have our girl home for a weekend and be back to a party of 5! It was family weekend at SDSU and we thought we couldn't go because Bug had a water polo tournament, and Bean was more than happy to come up to see us for the weekend instead.

It turned out that Bug's team didn't go to the tournament after all, so we had a free Saturday and Bean asked if we could go hang out in the city, which we were more than happy to do. We hadn't ever made it over during summer for our usual summer adventure day, so this was perfect.

And can I just say how happy I was to have everyone together again? We miss this girl!

First stop was Golden Gate Park. We took a walk to the buffalo paddock and stopped to look at the fish and ducks in this pond.

Lots and lots of mallards.

Then, we went to have lunch at the Stow Lake.

It was a perfect San Francisco day--lots of fog and cool temperatures, which feel nice after what a warm end of summer we've had.

We hadn't ever been to this part of the park and it's so pretty!

We hiked around after lunch and found a waterfall.

There are so many great spots in Golden Gate Park.

Love these people so much.

After the park, our next stop was the Golden Gate Bridge. 

It was Fleet Week, so it was pretty busy over by the bay, but we found parking and walked down to the water.

because our destination was Fort Point, just below the bridge.

This was such a cool building--built during the Civil War, it's full of dark hallways and twisty staircases and lookouts.

They had exhibits on the building of the bridge, the Buffalo Soldiers, and the Civil War.

The old lighthouse.

This has been on our SF list for years, but it has limited hours/days that it's open, so we haven't timed it right in the past.

Glad we got to explore finally!

After the fort, we waited around for the Blue Angels show--they fly in over the bridge and it's supposed to be quite the sight. Too bad this is all we could see. We did hear a couple planes, but they ended up cancelling the show because of fog.

Final stop before dinner--the Andrew Goldsworth statue The Spire. It symbolizes forest rejuvenation.

Short hike, quick stop--most notable thing was probably the dog that really liked Daddy-o and kept bringing its ball to him to throw, and slobbered all over Daddy-o. It's the little moments, haha.

My (not-so) little hobbit.

Then, on to Pasquale's Pizzeria for Bean's dinner request. We've been coming here for 5 years now, ever since our friends who used to live in that neighborhood took us when they were in town. It's good food, and fun to have our regular spot.