Boo!

It was once scary night here! Michael (a lion) and Mary (Heidi) made it for about a half hour and then it was off to the races for Addie, Clint, Derek and Emerson. 'Round 10pm they re-appeared laden with candy to feed an army. The highlight? Addie now knows where the school librarian lives :-)

Creative brainstoming

2 little pumpkins

Addie's teacher did a really fun craft with the kids this week. They each rubber banded a shirt and then Mrs. Loschy tie-dyed them in orange. The kids then turned each circle into a pumpkin! Addie was super excited that she made one for Mary :-)

Rainy day fun!

We have all been cooped up with illness and finally a healthy- but rainy- day comes along. We need a postcard from MN to send to Janie for a school project so we hopped on the Lite Rail and rode to the airport! 2 trams and about 82 escalators later, we had a postcard, some $3 MandMs and a lot of fun!

Gleason's

Thanks goodness for Gleasons- yes, the place Mary cracked her head open and required stitches! They have an open gym on Wednesday and Fridays for the kids to play on all the big gym apparatus. Its it so much fun and the kids always have so much fun when we go.

The Zombie Trolley

The Lake Harriet Trolley does a great job at the holidays - they decorate the train for Halloween, Santa rides at Christmas, it's loads of fun! Addie has gone with the neighbors every year for the Halloween ride and has always said how much fun it is.

That said, we thought this would be a fun outing for us and a couple of other families looking to do something "spooky" to celebrate Halloween. Well... I think they've changed the format of the Halloween Trolley Experience.

Last night we took all the kids, ranging in age from 2-7, over for a ride. The girls all wore their costumes, Michael wore the chicken coat. We had yummy drinks to keep us warm (it was actually a perfect fall evening- not too cold) and didn't have to wait long to get on the trolley.

At one end of the line, we stopped under a bridge all a lit with lanterns and a "city worker" got on to tell us there were flesh and brain eating zombie sightings and to stay on the Trolley. Suddenly, the lights go out and there is a zombie trying to get on the trolley! OK- I was expecting a couple of skeletons hanging from tree branches! Oh no! This zombie ate the city workers hand off and the kids all started screaming!

We finally take off and head to the car barn where our trolley is attacked by at least 30 zombies- pounding on the outside of the trolley, up and down the isles. One got me good from behind.

All I could do was laugh- Addie was hiding under her coat, Beth and Julia screaming their heads off, Raef was loving it- Erin wasn't too sure what to do.... and Mac just stood there and watched. It was unbelievable. I think the pre-trolley cocktails and the yummy drinks were just enough to help us all make light of the fat that our children were being terrorized by ZOMBIES!

Perhaps we should have listened to the woman getting off the trolley in front of us- she said not to go- it was really scary! I thought she was joking!

In the end, we all survived, and I laughed all the way home. I think my kids fared better than a few others- but only time will tell!

I wonder how they'll up the Holly Trolley this year?

Swimming Mac

The only think on Mary's Xmas list 2008 was a swimming puppy that wore goggles. The puppy is out of batteries, so Mac has taken the goggles for his own.

Playing with the boy

Clint took the girls to see 101 Dolmations at the Orpheum on Saturday afternoon. It was, therefore, my and Michael's job to get the Halloween decorations out. I am assuming that Michael doesn't "get" Halloween, but he is having so much fun learning about it! We've been reading lots of books- The Ghoul Bus, Goodnight Goon, The Night Before Halloween, and a house favorite, 10 Timid Ghosts. He loves to find the spiders in all the pictures, and thinks the pumpkins are pretty darn cool.

We had a great time hanging bats, and gohls, and witches, and then sitting on the lwan reading stories and having a snack.

Couldn't catch The Wave!

Saturday was the last day of fall soccer. The Wave went undefeated (8-0-2) and Saturday was a perfect fall day to finish it up!

Tea & Trouble

Whaen Michael is napping and Addie is at school, Mary and I get some quality time together. This week was T&T.

And the winner is...