Museum of Science and Industry

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We spent a good six hours in the Museum of Science and Industry when we were in Chicago, and could have stayed longer or gone back again we liked it so much. Maybe now I'll finally get around to blogging about the rest of our Chicago trip since I only covered Nauvoo before.

Halloween Week

We celebrated Halloween just about every day last week. First we tried out an idea from Family Fun; we made spooky eyeballs using ping-pong balls, flameless luminaries and permanent markers.

Wednesday night we had our church Trunk-or-Treat. Cakes made at least 4 laps around the parking lot because the kids just keep going around until everyone is out of candy.

Silly got plenty of use out of his costume this year; he wore it Wednesday night for Trunk or Treat, Thursday for part of Joy School, Friday for preschool, Saturday for the Zoo Boo and Sunday for the real thing.

My mom came up Friday afternoon and we kept busy all day Saturday with Silly's last soccer game, lunch at Jason's Deli, home to change the kids into their costumes and then to the Zoo Boo. The zoo was pretty crowded and they charge extra for everything at their special events now, but it seems to me they really need to or it would be completely out of control. The crowds are worth it to see all the animals playing with and eating their pumpkins.



Cakes and Silly on the termite mound



Bubbs hadn't figured out the whole candy thing yet.





After our zoo fun mom and I carved the two little pumpkins.



My pumpkin with ping-pong ball eyes



Mom's pumpkin with a spider Silly made in preschool. Scott's contribution was sticking the potato head parts in the white pumpkin



Silly the Park Ranger. He came home from trick or treating and complained that people kept calling him a junior park ranger, I had to explain that's what his vest says.

Cakes the cat. She kills me with her poses. Every time I took a picture of her in this costume she kinda puckered her lips, I guess that was her cat face.

And Bubba the Austrian wearing my oldest brother's Austrian socks, younger sister's Austrian coat and Silly's Austrian outfit. Best comments: that's not a costume, those are real clothes!; and Are you from The Sound of Music?

Raiding his loot

He did finally figure out the whole candy connection. Next year he'll master saying "trick or treat!"

Fall Fest with my family

My family lived in Michigan until I was about 6. One thing I remember doing there was going to a cider mill every fall. I can still picture the big mill with the cider pouring out. It was the only time we ever got to eat caramel apples and I remember looking at all the different kinds. And there were donuts, which I'm fairly certain were the only donuts we ate all year.

My mom was trying to figure out a weekend where a bunch of us could go apple picking and visit a cider mill, but it wasn't working out with all the various schedules and she couldn't find a cider mill that was "Michigan" enough so she created her own back yard fall festival for us. The weather was gorgeous and we all had lots of fun.

We bobbed for apples, filled buckets with acorns to earn a pumpkin from Mamie's pumpkin patch, ate donuts, caramel apples, chocolate apples, chili, and cooked hotdogs, s'mores and scones over Papop's firepit. Of course we drank lots of cider too, which Silly really liked.

Cakes positioning the apples just right; she eventually got brave enough to bob for one

Bubbs decided it was more fun to take the apples out then toss them back in to make a big splash. He eventually soaked himself.

Silly had so much fun that he bobbed all the other apples out of the tub once everyone had a turn.

Thanks Mom!