Fall Fun Part Two

One fall day we took Julie and her family out to the gorge for our semi-annual (or more) trip to Cor Cellars.  It was time for our fall wine pick-up, and we like to make a day of it.  Luckily, the rain held out, and we were able to take everyone on our mini-hike and to one of our favorite restaurants.

How did my boy get so grown up?  

I think I'll be saying this same thing until he's 20.

Our first stop is Catherine Creek. If you're a reader of this blog, you've seen a post (or three) similar to this before.  But this time we have the McGuires with us!  We love this "hike" because it's beautiful, paved, and, most of all, short.  This is important for our five year old who doesn't have much endurance and his mama's back which doesn't have much strength to carry him back to the car.

Conveniently, Catherine Creek is just up the road from Cor Cellars.  We stopped by to taste their delicious wines, pick up our shipment (plus some), and play some games.

After Cor, we drove to Hood River, played at the riverfront park while we waited for our table at Solstice, and then ate lunch.  The boys had a great time, and it was awesome to get out of town for a bit.

Once we got home, it was time to decorate our Halloween cookies.  The boys had fun frosting, and we had fun drinking some of our new delicious wine.

Case had a theory that if he put the cookies on top of the frosting, 

they would decorate themselves. 

Trey gets a little out of control with the sprinkles... 

Trey's school had a grandparents' day at their Scholastic Book Fair.  My dad came up to go with him and got to see his classroom and meet his teacher.  I think I was more excited about this than anyone else.  Trey was really funny (unintentionally) because when he introduced my dad to his teacher and then to the principal he said, "This is my mom's dad.  Her mom is dead."  Geez, thanks, kid for making the moment a wee bit awkward...

After the book fair, Grady and Case came over (with their parents, of course) to carve pumpkins.  The boys started out working on the project, but it didn't last long...

Family fun! 

They were much happier watching tv and eating cookies. 

Grady finally convinced Randy to take his snake out of the cage.

I can't believe Case was brave enough to touch it! 

And that Grady was brave enough to hold it! 

This was right before he dropped it on the floor... 

Trey and I have been loving Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books.  They are some of our favorites, and Trey can read most of them.

I saw that there was an Elephant and Piggie play at NW Children's Theater, so I bought us tickets.  The play was cute, and it was fun to do something different.

Trey's kindergarten teacher sent home a giant turkey and asked us to decorate it for their classroom.  She said, "Most people like to use things like beans, feathers, beads..." and  who knows what else.  I don't know if you know this about me, but I don't have ANY of those things in our house.  I may be the least crafty person that there is.  Trey is lucky to have markers and paper in our house with a stray container of washable paint.  We took a little trip to Jo-Ann's Crafts and got some supplies, and one day we got to work.  It wasn't a pretty turkey, but I think we were both proud.  When in doubt, go all out.

Halloween was upon us, and Trey couldn't decide what he wanted to be.  He ended up being a Minion Batman - a little bit of both (you can't see the yellow Minion hat under his Batman mask, but it is there).

My school did a dress up day by wings (we have three of them in our building plus the main office/specialists).  I was totally lame and did not dress up, but my assistants did a great job dressing up in the Where the Wild Things Are team.

The second and third grade team also did a Where the Wild Things Are performance for their classes which was super cute.  It is fun to work in a school that does cool things for kids.

Randy went to Colorado for Halloween weekend to see the Broncos play.  He also got to visit our friends Adam and Jenny and his friend Heather.  It was a long weekend with Daddy away, so Grandpa came to stay with us (although, I have to say that "taking care" of Grandpa was probably more work than being by myself...but whatever, it was fun).  He also got to spend Halloween with us and Julie and the boys.  It was great having him around for an extended weekend.

Heather and Randy at the Broncos game

Halloween night was REALLY wet.  We took umbrellas, but it didn't really matter.  We.  Got.  Soaked.  It also didn't seem as if there were that many trick-or-treaters out - maybe because of the weather?  Regardless, the boys got their stash and still seemed to have a good time.  As Oregonians, they will need to get used to trick-or-treating in the rain.

Here is Trey, working on his "stories" and writing.  Thanks, Grandpa, for being around while Randy was gone!  We appreciated it!