Happy Halloween!

Fun times for our first Halloween in New Jersey. Even though our town mostly goes out in the mid-afternoon to trick or treat (kind of weird). We had a few kids come later, but they were mostly older kids. Just as well - the rain hit by about 6pm, so we missed most of it except for a few sprinkles.

Festivities started on Friday with the annual Halloween parade at Tamaques Elementary. The kids get to head home for lunch to put on their costumes. After lunch they have a parade around the horseshoe that connects the school to our street, with class parties following afterward.


Alex (aka The Beast from X-Men) waits with two of his friends/classmates for the parade to begin.


Grace in the parade as Hermione (or HAM-ione?) from Harry Potter.


Our toothless wizard.


Grace's entire class. The teachers all dressed as "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." Mrs. Riley had her dog there for the parade, which all the kids loved.


I had to put a picture of this costume on here. It's Paris Hilton. As portrayed by a 5th grade boy. Sadly, he walked better in those high heels than I would have.


Today for trick or treating we first hit the streets with some of our friends. Alex had already taken his mask off because the running from one house to the next for two blocks can make you sweat. We kept telling the kids they could walk, but they wouldn't listen to us.


And here's my little wizard and superhero ready to hit the streets in our neighborhood for some treats.

Happy Halloween everyone!

The boy turned FIVE!!!

I can't believe I missed posting a blog on Alex's birthday. Five years old! It's a momentous birthday! But to give those of you who (for the first time) were not able to attend his party an idea of what you missed, look at this video.



And this is early in the party BEFORE they got even crazier. We were supposed to get a bounce house and have the party in the back yard, but the weather conspired against us to give us a cold and rainy Sunday. So the bouncer was canceled, the furniture moved against the walls and we had 12 kids ranging in age from 4 to 7 inside the house.


We unfortunately didn't get a whole lot of pictures. Hard to get non-blurry ones when you've got a bunch of kiddos running around. But here's a few:


Grace's welcome sign posted on the door.


Kids loving each other before the party. Alex is wearing the birthday crown Grace made him.


The cake Alex picked out to go with his Batman-themed party.


We started out with superhero coloring while waiting for everyone to arrive.


Alex poses in front of his Pin The Batsignal in the Sky game before the game is played.


After the game is played. The winner got her signal suspiciously in the EXACT correct spot. I'm thinking that blindfold wasn't tied very well on that one.


We tried out some new games that were a hit.


And the wonderful shot of my big boy blowing his candles out. I love that guy so much!

Busy

I know I've been horrible about posting lately. Seems like we've just been a little busy the past couple weeks. A visit from Mom & Dad filled up our time nicely. And now preparations are underway for Alex's birthday party this weekend, which was supposed to be in the back yard with a bounce house. But since the weather has dropped to a high in the 40s with drizzly rain, we now are having twelve 5-year-olds INSIDE the house for two hours this Sunday. Had to suddenly shift gears in how the party was planned.

Anyway, as usual we didn't take enough pictures while Mom & Dad were here. But we did take a few at Central Park with Dad (Mom was struck with sinus problems and had to stay home). Once again it turned into one of the kids' favorite trips to the city. We went to a different part of the park (closer to the middle) than we did on our previous visit.


Of course the kids needed to climb over all the rocks in the park. Hard to tell from this picture, but they were on a pretty big rock. I think Grandad was getting a little nervous about it.



Looking over Turtle Pond toward Belvedere Castle.



Grace loved climbing the Alice in Wonderland statue. I can tell this destination will be demanded when we go to the park again.



This is called "Conservatory Water," where the radio-controlled boats sail. Lots of fun to see all those little boats out there.



We had to stop at one of the many playgrounds. This was a fun rope structure. Grace made it to the top.


Alex didn't go quite as high as Grace, but made a good show on the ropes too.



Patiently waiting for ice cream.



Dad and the kids on one of the overlooks at Belvedere Castle.



Isn't this just a beautiful place!