Boustos!

I am a little behind on the blog again. With the excitement of Halloween documented in the last blog entry, we missed talking about our visit to New Jersey to see Nick and Liz DiProspero and their two boys. This was a quick trip up to Northern NJ to spend some time with my college roommate and his family. Colin had a great time playing will all of the toys in the basement. It is hard to say at his age how much he was actually playing with Peter and Andrew. The adults enjoyed Nick's new toy of his movie theater experience. Watch DVD's at home just like the movies with their HD projection system on one entire wall of the basement.

I know this isn't the best picture of the boys, but we just remembered to get a picture at the last minute and Colin did not feel like sitting still. I told the boys to all cry like Colin. Andrew on the left gave us his best fake cry, but Peter was trying to settle everyone down and get things back into control. Thanks for trying Peter.

First Time Trick-or-Treating

Colin had a great time his first time out trick-or-treating! He really took to it like a fish to water. Colin is a very strong willed little boy and he did not want to be carried up to the houses. He wanted to walk up himself carrying his pumpkin just like the older boys and girls. This slowed down the process a bit, so we did not get a big haul of candy, but he did get a lot of attention at each house. Besides he hasn't really had candy and he loves attention.

We visited about 7 or 8 houses and felt that was good enough for him to get the experience and then we went home to see all of our trick-or-treaters. Apparently, Colin was not of the same opinion and he grabbed his pumpkin and headed out for more (by himself if need be). After doing this a couple of times and chasing after him, I finally realized he was not going to call it a night that early so we had to hit a couple of more houses. I think we are in big trouble for the next several Halloweens.

In case it is not obvious from the pictures. Colin went as Pooh's favorite side-kick, the famous Tigger.

Pumpkin' Pickin'

The weekend before last, Colin, Kristin and I headed to the farm to pick out our pumpkin for Halloween. The place we visited was called Ramsey's Farm and they had a number of kid friendly activities. We met another family at the farm and we enjoyed exploring the corn maze. It wasn't too hard to get turned around in the maze but we managed to find our way out. Colin managed to not quite put everything he picked up into his mouth.

Giant Pumpkins

Here is a Bonus Blog post this weekend, so remember that when I miss a week. These pictures are from our visit last weekend to Longwood Gardens for their pumpkin festival. There was a contest for the largest pumpkins and then some carving exhibitions of the aforementioned giant pumpkins. Who knew that pumpkins could exceed 1,000 lbs? The carvings were really quite astounding!

Colin tried to push this giant pumpkin home for his jack-o-lantern but these darn kids would not get off.

Go Steelers!

We have not mentioned it so far this season, but you may be wondering if Colin is still pulling for his favorite team, the Steelers. At his birthday, he received some new outfits from his Grandparents in Pittsburgh to show his support. The Steelers are off to a good start at 4-1 and this week that take on the Bengals. Here is hoping the Bengals continue their losing ways.

Incidentally, we are convinced that he understands "Touchdown Steelers" and knows to put his arms in the air. The Steelers football that sings and talks is a big hit. Tomorrow the Steelers are finally playing again during the day so we can watch the game together.

Brandywine Zoo

We have had some great weekend weather in early October here in the Brandywine Valley. Last weekend we took Colin to his very first visit to the zoo. Colin was very interested in the animals and we heard him utter a few "Ooos". The highlights included a petting area where Colin had a close encounter with a friendly goat and feeding time at the monkey house.

Some of you might find the picture below familiar. There is a picture of Alison and Gavin at the same spot along the Brandywine River. Neither Colin nor my camera were cooperating so this was the best shot I could get.

History Lesson

Last weekend we went to Gettysburg for a nice mini-vacation. Colin and I had never been and it had been a long time since Kristin had been there. It was the special grand re-opening of the cyclodrama exhibit in the new visitors center so there were a few extra things going on. We did not know this when we made our plans. That explains why several hotels were sold out.

I think we will have to go back when Colin is older for him to learn about the Civil War, but he had a great time. He really enjoyed playing in the museum. I hope the other patrons didn't mind his enthusiasm.

There were folks in period costumes all over the place that weekend. Here is some Union Troops in parade formation. I am not sure where those Johnny Rebs ran off too. Probably back to Virginia.