5 K Halloween Run...and boy was it scary

Who's brilliant idea was this anyway?  

I have two words to describe the race.  (see below)

Before the race-looking pretty great ladies

Finally making 3 miles

After the race

3 miles later-cold, wet, and tired

POURING.

GRUELING.

Rochester Museum

This is a crazy room in the museum that it built on a slant.  It really gives you motion sickness.  We had never actually seen this room.  We've gone in it a few times, but never noticed it.  I had to hold onto J's hand because she kept walking into the walls.  It was crazy.

Always a great time at the museum.

Pumpkin Farm

Clarence Pumpkin Farm

The kids love visiting this place.  They have TONS of pumpkins!  G kept saying that he wanted a tiny pumpkin.  He picked a baking pumpkin. We pointed out to him that he wouldn't be able to carve it, so he put it back and picked another one.  What a great place to visit.

LEAVES!!!

G sporting his awesome glasses.  He kept dropping them in the leaves and thought it was fun to find them.  He lost them and yes, they are as hard to find as a needle in a haystack.

There is nothing better than a great fall day and playing in the leaves.

SNOW

I am not ready for snow.  

Really, snow?

  In October?  YUCK!

  It snowed the other day for a split second, if you blinked, you missed it.  But it did.  Aaargghhh. They are predicting snow monday, tuesday and wednesday this week.  It's not even Halloween.  Maybe I'll dress my kids in their snow suits for Halloween instead of their costumes.  I had to include these pictures of Crystal Beach. We went about 2 weeks ago. Just 2 weeks.  How the weather has declined.  Depressing.  It's not to say that I don't love a good snow storm, but let's get past Halloween. Please.  It was a great day at the beach. The weather was amazing-78 degrees.  I couldn't believe it.  It was great except for some hornets that wouldn't leave us alone, but good thing C was there and lured them away with an apple.  The seagulls were also swarming us but other than that, a great day at the beach. 

Please don't let it snow.

Not until after Halloween.

Please.

Everyone think warm thoughts.

J's Second Birthday

Lady bug cake and butterfly cupcakes. For those of you who don't know, she is absolutely the hardest child to get a picture of.  She purposely looks away when I try to take her picture.  So, in keeping with tradition, a picture of her-doing her own thing.

Birthday presents galore.  Please notice the shoes on her feet.  She adores shoes.  The second she opened these, she wanted them on.  A girl can't have too many shoes-right?

How did I make it through almost the entire month of October without saying anything about J's birthday?  She is getting so big and becoming so much fun.  She says so many words and is so loving. She will walk up to us and give us a hug around our legs and walk off without saying a word.  She has also become feisty and can hold her own against her two brothers, but if she gets hurt, she makes sure everyone in the house knows it, and walks around wailing and crying at the top of her lungs and makes sure to get loves from everyone and then the tears and screams are gone. I can't believe she is two.  The time has gone by so quickly.  I have always thought that she fits perfectly into our family since the day she was born.  She is such a little lady.

Fall and Niagara Falls

A week ago, I was reading my friends blog.  She mentioned how her kids were growing so fast and how she only has a 14 more fall seasons with them. 

I also LOVE, ADORE, and CANT WAIT FOR FALL. I love the coolness in the air in the evenings, the crunch of the leaves under your feet, the vibrant colors, visiting pumpkin patches, apple cider, baking delicious treats...it makes me giddy!  This week has been beyond gorgeous.  We have tried to take full advantage of it by seeing what Western New York has to offer

First off:

Niagara Falls. 

This is an amazing place.  I think we take it for granted.  Last year, we visited niagara falls too many times to count.  I realized last week that I hadn't been for almost a year. REALLY? It's one of the seven wonders of the world and we live a stones throw away and we haven't been for a year.  We had to visit.  It is truly majestic. The mist from the falls can be seen from miles away.  It is such an amazing landmark.

Da da da (that's my fanfare music)

i love this part of the river, it is amazing

The only reason I put this picture in was because you can G in the background and it looks like he's relieving himself in the fountain (rest assured, he's not-just kinda funny)

It was getting   a little chilly as the sun was setting, well actually a lot more than a little chilly, it was 49 on our way home.  bbbbrrr.  J's little hands and legs were icy and when we got to the car, she kept showing me her hands and saying ouch!  (We didn't realize it was going to be quite that cold)

We stopped and grabbed some treats on the Canadian side of the falls.  It was a long walk back and it helped keep the kids happy.  C and I treated ourselves to some delicious hot chocolate from Tim Hortons-it's delicious!  (PS, the kids still have their suckers on our counter, I think they are like the everlasting gobstopper from Charlie and the chocolate factory)

I've included some other pictures of our fall outings this week. It has been so fun to spend time together as a family and all the while having great fun!

Boardwalk Park

There's a great little park by our house that has a board walk that winds through marsh and trees, it's  a  great place for a Sunday walk

The kiddos jumping off the bench-well, except  for J

Becker Farms

J loving the horses

look out below.  C gave this slide a try-it shoots you out the bottom

This picture is GREAT!  C also took J down the slide once, as you can see from the look of terror on her face-she was not a lover of it!

Pumpkins pumpkins everywhere

We went and got apples and this season they are MONSTERS!  They are some of the biggest I've seen.  

This picture makes me laugh for 2 reasons first, the apple on his head and secondly, his hair cut. C decided to give haircuts last Saturday.  I walked into the bathroom find him buzzing K's head.  After the shock wore off, I reminded C that K has school pictures in a few days.  GGRRR.  Now his nice beautiful head of hair will be non-existant and there may even be a glare coming off his head. 

Firestation fun

Last weekend a local fire department was having a fire day and had all sorts of activities for kids. The boys loved it.  We got to ride on a real fire truck.

lookin pretty great boys

J wasn't so sure about being in the truck

Lessons learned...

My friend and I decided to take a trip to New York City. We drove through the night.  Spent 12 hours in the Big Apple and drove home.  We had a blast!

Here are the lessons we learned:

1-  Don't drop water bottles out of the overhead bins on the bus.  They could hit someone on the head and then they scowl at you the rest of the trip.

2-  Don't pack your backpacks too full, they get really heavy.

3-  Conan O'Brian's set is really small, pretty old and dumpy.

4-  When there are signs all over at the Empire State Building saying there is 'zero visibility', there really is ZERO visibility  (like being inside a cloud).

5-  The Subway is really hot and humid, so dress appropriately.

6-  They won't let you take pepper spray to the statue of liberty-especially if it's really potent (in fact they confiscate it....where I come from, it's called stealing).

7-  They won't let you take knives either :)

8-  On a cloudy day, you can't see the Statue of Liberty from the shore line.

9-  Dont EVER go into a back room on Canal Street for purses.  You'll either barely escape with your life and  a $30 knock-off Stupid purse, or you might not make it out....

10- Even though Ground Zero is a construction Zone, it is still amazingly powerful to see.

11- The Temple is a great place to sit and rest for a minute.

12- Make sure you bring your camera and take lots of pictures (somehow I made out with only about 9 pictures...)

13- Wear comfy shoes.

14- H&M is a great place to get cheap stuff-especially hats that help when you have been walking in a misty rain all day.

15- Carry a detailed map and don't be afraid to ask for directions.

 

Twelve hours sure does go fast, but the lessons I learned will stay with me forever. 

so fun.