Halloween Parties

Oh my, have we been busy party-ing it up all over the place!

Josie had her first "big kid" school event!

A scavenger hunt through a corn maze . . .

AT NIGHT!

She was thrilled!

It was a family event and we went with some of our

friends who also attend the same school as Josie. 

There were lots of yummy snacks and a hay ride to and from the corn maze.

We had a blast trecking through the maze with our flashlights and

we found all of our stamping stations for the hunt!

The next day we went to our YMCA's annual Halloween Party.

Their outfits pretty much reflect their personalities!

Clara Rose is Bat Man-- a superhero!

Josie is a beautiful Goddess! 

We again linked with our friends for this party and had

a great time!

There was a hayride through the woods. 

A few healthier snacks.

Lots of games! 

And creepy, crawly, slimy, stations where

you had to guess what was in the pumpkin.

Clara Rose, always the comedian, managed to come up

with answers that got a roaring laugh from her audience. 

We've had a great festive season leading up to Halloween!

The Ghourls are super excited to go Trick-or-Treating!

Spooktacular Season is upon us

Playing a bit of catch-up . . .

The ghourls and I made our annual visit to the Jack-o-lantern Spooktacular Patch!

This cute display was set-up near the beginning of the pumpkin trail.

Much to pink and prissy for Clara Rose.

Josie loved it!

As expected, the pumpkin trail was engulfed with hundreds--

Thousands (yes, seriously) of jack-ol-lanterns 

Traditional faces, happy, sad, scary, silly . . .

Magnificent carvings--  

The ghourls always like the few that have a green light inside. 

I like the super big ones!

If you look closely, you can see there is another jack-o-lantern

in the big one's mouth! 

At the end there is a small forest area filled with

a few super sized jack-o-lanterns as shown above

as well as assorted sizes all throughout the trees. 

Moving backward--

Clara Rose went to a birthday party--

she was invited by the birthday boy. 

We've enjoyed some nature walks during

to take in the pretty colors of Fall. 

Explored new playground equipment.

Made fun new discoveries stomping around

familar hiking grounds. 

September

September is over and I don't think I posted once to the blog.

We did take the girls on a camping trip with their beloved cousins (and parents)

over Labor Day weekend, but I think those pictures got mixed in with August.

I had to make an unexpected trip back to my hometown mid-month for a funeral.

It was a sad reason for a trip that provided me an extra opportunity to visit with my Uncle and one of my cousins whom I have not physically seen since she was about 11 years old!

Now a grown beautiful woman- who just got married.

School is going well for both the girls.

Clara Rose is enjoying Kindergarten and is reading easy books. 

Josie setteled in quickly to her new school routine.

All worries of a new school and riding the bus etc., are long gone and she is flourishing in First Grade.

She loves her school, teacher, friends, and riding the bus.

Not to mention that she is doing fabulously in all her classes!

With all the excitiment of school starting and mommy going away abruptly,

we did still manage to celebrate the Autumn Moon festival- albeit a bit late.

This year we tried something new to celebrate and I think we are going to make it

our tradition for this special holiday.

We loaded up ourselves and some of our friends after school on a Friday and

headed to the coast for an evening dinner picnic on the beach. 

The girls were ecstatic to say the least to go on this fun excursion.

They had a blast playing in the sand,

climbing on the jetties, 

I brought our camping stove and heated some soup to couple with sandwiches followed

by hot cocoa later in the evening. 

It was a great afternoone and evening!

All the girls had a fun time laughing, eating, and playing. 

More beach combing after eating dinner. 

Later in the evening the big, bright moon rose over the ocean.

It was a spectacular sight!

We had some yummy cream filled chocolate cupcakes for dessert!

The girls were giddy with the day and night by this point. 

We capped off the evening with a little bit of wave chasing before

calling it a night. 

Definitely a tradition in the making!

First Day of School

All the sweetie-pies started school last week.

Clara Rose was first up on Monday.

Her First day of Kindergarten!

Well equipped with her Retro Spiderman lunchbox and batman hoodie.

Clara Rose is at the same private school/daycare that she and Josie

have always attended. They have a wonderful accredited full day program.

Clara Rose in her classroom.

Today was a big day starting Kindergarten, but not a scary day since she knows everyone. 

The big kids humoring their Dad for pictures on their first day.

They and Josie all started school on Wednesday.

This is a big year for Gabrielle-- her Senior year of High School! 

Last but certainly not least-- Josie.

All decked out with her new flowery backpack that has a big sparkly heart on the back,

flowery water bottle, and a blue flower headband.

Her first day of First Grade!

This is/was a big scary deal!

New school.

New Teachers. 

Daddy brought her to school on her first day.

She was less nervous because she didn't ride the bus. 

Before he knew it . . .

She was gone!

Engulfed into the school with all the other kids-- off to learn new and fun things! 

Josie had a great first day and rode the bus home.

Riding the bus the next day was a little scary for her, but she pushed through it.

This week, her second week, everything is old hat.

Devil's Hopyard

Here we are, at Devil's Hopyard State Forest Campground--

campsite number . . .

13

I cut out of work a little early last Friday and the girls and I

went on a mini-camping adventure.

I grew-up camping and really enjoy it.

I love sharing it with Josie and Clara Rose-- and they are enjoying this time as well.

Josie was a bit miffed at first-- this was a rustic campground.

No running water, much less frills such as Yogi and Boo-Boo bear-- there wasn't even a playground!

But . . .

There were lots of woods to explore and we happened upon this really cool waterfall, 

so she soon decided that this place was fun! 

Clara Rose is easy-- she generally thinks most anything is fun.

Soon they were off giving me little heart attacks--

one right after the other!

Exploring the water all around the falls. 

Back at the campsite I sent them on a mission to forage some extra

wood for the fire.

I mostly needed to get a few things set up without any extra "help."

Imagine my surprise when I saw them coming out of the woods carrying this big log! 

Clara Rose told me she didn't think I could burn it in half!

Huh!?  Game on!

We roasted hot dogs, marshmallows etc.

Stayed up way past our bedtimes.

That log held fast! 

The next day we were off to a Dragon Boat festival

that was nearby to the campground. 

We watched some of the races,

 some of the performances, including one by China's beloved Monkey King.

It was quite hot, we cooled off with some tasty frozen treats. 

Then we headed back to our campsite, where Wim was waiting

for us and we all headed down the wooded path to splash

around and cool off. 

More waterfall fun! 

The girls thought Wim was hilarious when he pretended to take a shower! 

Another night full of roasting hot dogs, smores, and . . .

That ginormous log finally burned in half! 

We stayed up way past bedtime again--

The girls enjoyed a little leapster time in the tent before turning off the light. 

It was another fun camping trip!

And, that is 13 pictures, from camping at campsite #13 at the

Devil's Hopyard!

Late Nights and Sunny Days

We tend to let the girls stay up a little later in the summer-- mostly on the weekends.

During our vacation week, they get to stay up even later-- pretty much every night.

After our big day at StoryLand, they were thrilled to go

on an after dark walk with the a couple toys they choose at the park-- a "glow-up" wand and pirate sword.

 The mornings were filled with relaxed walks along the country road.

Phoebe especially appreciates this part of vacation!

There is a really old historic cemetery along the road we walk.

Josie has recently taken an interest in cemeteries.

Clara Rose lost interest once she realized there were no

mummies around for her viewing and comedic pleasure. 

Ye ye and I took a day back home to

hike along the scenic coast. 

It was a lovely day (with quite a breeze) to hike along the water

and as  always-- 

We had some great views! 

We compensated our fan-club for our absence by

bringing home to live treats for dinner. 

As one would expect, Clara Rose was a bit more enthusiastic to

hold one of the water bugs than was her big Sis.

I was barely able to get this Pict of Josie-- but she didn't want to

be completely out-done by her little sister.