Halloween Parts I, II and III

Halloween Part I
On Friday, Rudy's school had a Halloween parade.

Diego ready to go to school.


Smiling and happy during the parade. He was so excited to see me and Grandpa every time he walked past us.




Halloween Part II
Trick or Treating
It was a beautiful night - we were outside without coats and people who were giving out candy just sat on their front steps. Rudy had a blast. He really understood what was happening and all day said "It's almost dark" (because we told him trick or treating wasn't until it was dark). We started out on our street - one block long, maybe 10 houses at the most- and his bag was already full.





Many people on our street either leave a bowl of candy out (which inspired Rudy to take a handful each time) or they just gave Rudy a handful of candy. Fortunately, he had a backpack as part of his costume, so we emptied the candy into the back pack to start with an empty bag again at Grandmom and Gram's house.
Along with a little bit of candy, Grandmom and Gram gave Rudy some Halloween toys. He loved them but was also a little wary of them. You pushed down on the head and it would then start to wind up to pop back up. When it popped up, it made a noise - a cackle or screech or said Happy Halloween.

Posing with his new toys.



A little concerned as they are about to 'pop'.



After visiting with them, and getting the toys and candy they got for him, we went to the houses on their block. It was while walking along here that Rudy said he was going to just keep getting candy "until morning". You can't blame the boy for having high hopes!

Checking out a spider on a tree. Here he entertained the people giving out candy by singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".



Enjoying the fruits of his labor.








Halloween Part III

Halloween and Children's Sunday at church just happened to fall on the same weekend. So Rudy got to wear his costume one more time. He actually was a little unhappy this morning and kept saying he didn't want to be Diego. So we didn't make him wear his costume, but brought it along anyway. We asked him a few times if he was ready to put it on and he kept repeating he didn't want to be Diego anymore. Part way through mass, Mother Mantelle mentioned some of the costumes she saw and Rudy immediately grabbed his bag and wanted to put his Diego costume on.

FFF- Scary Hayride

Every year a local park does haunted hayrides but also 'family' hayrides that are not as scary. Some of the family hayride goes through where the other decorations are. Rudy loves going on it and calls it the scary hayride. Last year there was a big spider on a web and this year, that's all he talked about. Fortunately, there was another big spider at the end for him to see.

Fall is Upon Us

After a rainy Saturday, we were lucky to have such a nice day today. As our yard was in need of some major work, we headed outside after church to tackle it.
We have huge oak trees in our backyard and this year they have been dropping large quantities of acorns - more than any other year. This is just one area about 3 feet square, so imagine what the rest of the yard looks like. We can hear the acorns falling and hitting the roof in handfuls. One day Paul was in the backyard and noticed a large amount of crows sitting in the tree and shaking the branches causing the acorns to fall. So at least we know why they are falling in such huge quantities.

As Paul and I trimmed and raked, Rudy found a friend. My picture of the caterpillar.

Rudy's picture of the caterpillar (see the shoe in the corner?).

Rudy and the caterpillar.

As a bribe (I mean encouragement) for letting us do yardwork, I told Rudy we could ride his bike down the street when we were finished. Here he actually posed for a picture when I took out the camera.

The wooded lot at the end of our street - so autumnal!

Rudy was fascinated with these berries because the stem was pink (his favorite) - and then he tried to eat one!

Pretty fall colors.

FFF- Super Rudy

Okay, he isn't actually being a super hero. According to Rudy he is a "King Witch" and he has a cackle to go along with it. This is how he spent several evenings this week - sweatshirt tucked in as if it were a cape, running around the house.

I Like You

A few weeks ago, Rudy's former teacher, Ms. Jah-neen, called me for a playdate. Her daughter and Rudy are the same age and they spent a lot of time together when her daughter, Sanai, would visit her classroom. We had run into them at the store the week before and both Rudy and Sanai were very excited to see each other.
We met at the park and Rudy and Sanai had fun running around together. Jah-neen brought her camera and was able to get some great pictures (Rudy actually stands still and smiles for her pictures!). As they were walking up the steps to the playground equipment, Rudy said to Sanai "I like you" - so cute.

Oh, you have mulch in your shoe? Me too.



"Take a picture of me, Ms. Jah-neen."

Playing Hooky

Paul took off the day after we came back from DC, so Rudy also had the day off. It turned out to be a nice fall day, after all the storms and rain from the weekend, so they went to a local park. Here is our little explorer.

A Wet Family Weekend

We went to Washington, DC this weekend with my whole family to celebrate my dad's 75th birthday (a few months early). There were 12 of us for most of the time: Dad; his friend, Ed; my aunt, Barbara; Bill; Renee; Chris; Patti; Max; Lucy; me; Paul; and Rudy. Dad, Ed, and Barbara are all seasoned travelers so a little rain doesn't stop them, and the kids of course didn't care what the weather was.

We left on Friday and with some help from our navigator, we made it to DC before dinner.



Of course, because of the weather, the place I was most able to take any pictures, and have everyone all together, was at meals. Here is Aunt Barbara, Rudy and Patti.

Lucy, Chris, and Ed

Dad, Max, and Rudy

Saturday morning the plan was to head to the metro and go to the Air and Space Museum. We met in the hotel lobby and as we were planning our trip to the metro, the shuttle driver offered to drive us to the station. Fortunately, he had a van big enough for all of us. The boys were thrilled to sit in the front.

Here is one of the few outside shots I took. We're all waiting for the light to change. This was actually at the beginning of our walk in DC.

A view of the Washington Monument. Originally we had planned to go up in it, but plans changed and by the time we tried, it was too late to get tickets. It was probably for the best since we wouldn't have been able to see much. Rudy's goal was to see Barack Obama's house, which we did on the way home on Sunday. I didn't get any pictures since we were driving past, and Rudy was less than thrilled. We're hoping to go back again, maybe in the spring and see more things.

Here is Rudy 'flying' a plane at the Air and Space Museum. We started here thinking this would be what the kids would enjoy most, but it was still a little too old for them. We spent an hour or so here, had lunch, and then went to the Museum of Natural History, which they enjoyed much more.

Storytime at The Air and Space Museum. We just kind of stumbled upon this and Max and Rudy immediately sat down to wait. Of course, halfway through the story Max wandered off and a few minutes later Rudy realized Max wasn't there any more and he left too.

Riding the metro. We were sitting on the metro on the way back in what Rudy was calling the caboose. He noticed these two seats that someone vacated and HAD to sit there and be at the very end of the train so Paul sat with him.

Hotel room fun. We were fortunate to have two sets of adjoining rooms and rooms across the hall from each other. So when we were in the hotel, the doors were all propped open and the kids just ran back and forth. Here's Lucy laughing at Paul as he hides behind a book. (Trust me, she thought it was the best game ever!)

Here is Rudy playing with Max's Leapster. It's a good thing we already bought him one for his birthday because he really enjoyed playing with it.

Dinner night 2 at a Southern BBQ place. Great food after a cold, rainy day.

The boys - who's the biggest kid?

Patti, Lucy and Chris

Dad, Aunt Barbara, me, Bill, Renee

And breakfast Sunday before we left: This one shows the kids pretending for just a minute to be nice to each other before Rudy went back to telling Lucy to move and Lucy went back to pushing Max. Ahh, togetherness.

Although the weather wasn't great, and we didn't get to see much in DC, it was a nice weekend away with the family (or the circus, as Lucy apparently thinks of us). Now to start planning Dad's 80th birthday....