Bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, FUN!

We went to “a” pumpkin patch yesterday.  Not “the” pumpkin patch, which is more of an excursion, just one a few blocks away, which, really is a pretty sorry excuse for a pumpkin patch, seeing as it’s a corner of a parking lot with the blacktop covered in blue tarp.  We’re jaded.

While it may be a pretty pathetic pumpkin patch, what it is is a really nice outside bouncer place.  Upon entry, you pay the fees, get the kids into wristbands, and off they go onto some incredible bouncy slides.

For a couple of weeks, every time we drove to Target we went past this lot and I was serenaded with a chorus of pleeeeeeases.  So, yesterday was the day.  They really have crazy prices that more or less force you to buy an all day pass, so I was determined they’d get their $15 per kid out of the place.  It wasn’t so hard, to be honest.

 

This shark slide was the one that got ‘em really going every time we drove by.  It is pretty crazy.

I kept thinking that it looked like Jaws here was spitting out kids that didn’t taste very good.

After about an hour and a half, everyone was thirsty, had to go potty, and was also hungry.  Since the ‘patch’ was open until 9:00, I got us all fed, grabbed sweaters from home, and we went back again for another hour and a half.  These three never stopped moving as afternoon turned to dusk and finally the moon and stars came out.

You can see how sweaty this bunch was near the end.  They all earned their baths that night!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.

Chocolaty, Salty, Pretzely…

…okay, that last one’s not a word.  It should be, okay?

I am a sucker for Matthew Mead’s seasonal magazines.  Saturday I was flipping through Autumn 2011, trying to decide what to make the next day when Paul asked me what I was looking at.  He assumed it was a Martha magazine, and when I told him about Matthew M. he wanted to look for a while.  Anyway, he developed an instant crush on a recipe and asked me to make it ASAP.  And an extra one to take to work to share.

His photos to go with the recipe for Chocolate Pretzel Tart are far superior to mine, especially since I didn’t remember to take a photo until I was boxing up the second tart for travel.  Fancy aluminum foil and all, it still looks good, and it tasted even better.

My word.  Pretzels in the crust?  Salt on top?  It is a very good thing I forced our guests to take home the 4 slices that remained Sunday, else I’d a been a nibbling on that until it was gone, gone, gone.  I drizzled some warm Fleur de Sel Caramel (Trader Joe’s in a jar) on top when serving it.

Looking at that photo, I kind of wish I had one more nibble, though.  ;)

Creeking

Yesterday summer decided it wasn’t really done with us after all, and gave us a gorgeous day.  Bunny asked to go to the park and play in the creek to look for rocks and play.  No problemo.

After the sun got really low and dipped behind the trees, I insisted they come out from the water and change into dry clothes.  There was still time enough for some playground play, though.

And then – then! – the coolest surprise.  We parked near “airplane park” and walked over the bridge past the train to go to the creek, and at 4:whatever it all looked normal.  By the time we were walking back, we noticed the train, which usually pulls into the station the last time at 4:30 or 5:00, was still running, and then we saw they were offering free carousel rides.  That alone would be awesome, but the kicker was that they had only the decorative colored lights on and were playing scary(ish) music.  You know what?  I liked that music about 1,000% more than the usual calliope stuff.  It was like my kids were in that scene from The Lost Boys.

The light was… problematic for my camera to get anything that was not an overblown icky flashy shot (I have plenty photos of my kids on merry-go-rounds and don’t need a super crappy one), so I played while they rode.

 
15 second exposure, using railing to stabilize

We ogled the Goblin’s Glen stuff for a while, promised to think about returning to do more one evening when we’d really planned for it, and then returned home to a crock pot full of beef and veggie soup waiting for us.  I was glad I had thrown together that earlier in the day, so I didn’t have to stress over making dinner.  Winning!

Hello, Goodbye

I love the idea of the highly organized, theme meal. One day I hope I’ll be organized enough to do a back to school celebration for the kids, remember to plan for Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day… all those things that seem just out of my grasp so far.

However, I decided, as the first of October began to loom, that I wanted to celebrate... something or another. I love the summer, but I also love fall for different reasons. The light changes, but in a way I really like. Some of the more florid colors fade away, but others come right in to replace it. Typically it’s not rained enough—or at all—to make the hills turn green, but the leaves turn yellow and red in response to shorter days. I don’t love the darkest winter, but I love the turn of fall.

It seemed right to say goodbye to summer and hello to autumn as the world struggles to decide whether it’s time to change over once and for all.

Goodbye, Hello Menu

Cannellini and Kale Soup
Tomato Pie
Roasted Corn Salad
Creamy Scalloped Potatoes
Roasted Marinated Filet
Caramel Sundaes*

Sangria
Cider & Oktoberfest Beer

*these were going to be Caramel Apple Sundaes, but by dessert time I just didn’t feel like hollowing apples. They’d have been so cute, though, like the classic fall treat, but with ice cream. Oh well, maybe another day soon…

I was too me to remember to take photos of all the yummy food, but I did remember a few.

I know it sounds weird, but try the Tomato Pie. I adapted my recipe a little, making it single crust, using mozzarella and cheddar, and adding one egg yolk because I worried about it setting with the juicy tomatoes. It was so good I ate it for breakfast the past two mornings. Trust me, if you like tomatoes, this is something else!

We pulled out out little bounce house for hyper kids, and enjoyed an outside fire afterwards. Welcome, fall. I like you just fine.

First Day

So, my baby started preschool today.  He’s been very anxious about it, so he’ll attend for one morning a week until he’s ready to add one more morning.  I was certain it would be very hard to leave him because he flips out if I close the door in the bathroom, telling me, “I want to be in there with you, mama!  I love you!”  That kid never gets tired of me, and it’s really something, since even I get tired of me now and then.  He’s my baby.

We arrived, found the cubby for his stuff, and looked around the room.  He asked me to read him a story, so, of course, I did.  We assembled one puzzle.

It’s almost time for me to go.  I’ll go, you’ll stay and play, then after you all play sleeping animals, I will be there with Carter waiting for you.

Cole’s round little face went blank, then I saw the wheels turning.  His cheeks began to flush (he gets mad hives that’re hot to touch when he’s really upset) and his eyes watered.

I want you to stay here.  With me!

I will stay a few more minutes.  We can do one more puzzle.  Then it will be time for Mama to go—but only for a little while.  I will come back, always.

We did the puzzle.  Cole looked up at me, his eyes bright with eagerness to be big, and a good dose of uncertainty.

Bye, bye Mama.  I love you.

We hugged and I suggested he go to play nearer to the back of the room.  I called once more to say a final goodbye, and we waved to each other.

As I walked to the car and crossed the crisscross walks I looked back once to be sure he wasn’t thinking twice about it all.  But he stayed out of sight.  I hope he’s enjoying himself.  I know he’s proud of himself.  He should be.

 
Ready for his first day, insisting on shorts and a tee shirt though it’s in the low 60s.

Carter Appleseed

Over the last couple of weeks Kindergarten has been working on the theme of apples.  Every student brought in an apple, which they graphed (how many red v. yellow v. green), they stamped with apples, they tasted apples, and they learned about Johnny Appleseed.

I always love it when the kids come out at dismissal with their special hats they made in class.  Bunny resented the heck out of what she fully knew to be a humiliating hat, but Carter… well, he doesn’t love the silly hats either, but at least he doesn’t look like he might prefer to be on the Bataan Death March.

Putt-ering

Yesterday we met up with friends at a mini-golf nearby.  It was a great diversion on a perfect first day of October afternoon, and the kids were, well, kids running amok.

We didn’t even attempt to keep score, and really, the adults could have skipped playing completely, but I did get a hole in one and a couple of 2-fers… and a lot of ones where I decided I was never going to get the ball up that stupid volcano shaped thing and into the cup, so I just picked up my ball, because I was bringing up the rear and our party of 8 was already slow enough.  :)

Later Paul kept saying how weird his back felt.  I think it had something to do with how many times he helped a 3 year old putt.

18 holes times however many putts… honestly, I have no idea why his back would have been twingy after that.  Sheesh!  (I’d have been in agony with my funk-a-dunk back.)

Bun and her buddy basically ditched us and played by themselves after a couple of holes, because they’re much cooler than we are.  And the little boys were cramping their style.

So, all my photos of her are from afar.  Here we caught up to them somehow—I’m guessing the party in between us played through when they were busy being girls giggling about something.

Carter likes to hang out by the hole where balls pop out on the cooler holes and generally mess up the lie of everyone’s ball.  He’s a helper like that.

This hole only took us about 52 minutes to complete. 

I love all the detail that goes into the course, which has to be about 50 years old.  Wouldn’t this be the craziest playhouse or garden shed?

Afterwards we let the kids have Icees and didn’t let them play video games.  Carter can’t really play them anyway… but he sure likes to mess around anyway.

And after that we all gathered at their house for some dinner and playtime.  For a Saturday that began with us not sure we’d do much at all, it worked out to be a pretty great day.