Thought we'd better soak up all this unseasonably warm weather before the real winter shows up.. so when Zoe suggested heading out to Castlewood State Park this weekend, we jumped at the chance. What a beautiful fun place! We will definitely be back.
We started with a hike up a very steep hill up the bluff. Our Lady of Leisure of course suckered people into carrying her most of the way.
Once at the top we enjoyed some beautiful views of the river and hills.
Uncle Zach was mostly tasked with making sure Colin didn't go cliff-diving.
Colin, holding court. And short sleeves in December!
Guiness was there and the kids got to pet her, and a LOT of other four legged friends on the trail!
The kids were excited to use giant old trees as jungle gyms...
Dead tree see-saw: more fun than it looks.
"bunny ears" ... or C flashing the peace sign.
The kids really seemed to enjoy the trip... we went about 3 miles on some steep terrain which is a lot for their little legs - but we made it with almost no whining and no fits! So, totally worth it.
Last night we enjoyed the very St. Louis Christmas tradition of brewery lights at the Anheuser Busch Brewery. We started with dinner at Zoe and Zach's and then headed down to the brewery. We had so much (free) fun!
The whole brewery grounds are lit up - this was the biggest wreath the kids (ok.. or we) had ever seen!
You could walk anywhere around the grounds but they had a little tram ride from start to finish which of course Charlotte wanted to get on. They're actually the Grants Farm trolleys - the guide said it took them an hour and a half and a police escort to get them from Grant's Farm to the Brewery since they can't go over 10 mph! The trolleys had warm fleece blankets and we had fun riding Charlotte's favorite train!
the Z's were with us too!
So pretty!
Colin had fun playing with the giant life size "Bud Light Bright." Ha.
and some other weird games
Chacha was loving the lights!
They even had little fire pits everywhere for roasting marshmallows and making smores! (and the adults enjoyed the free drink samples too)
mmmm marshmallows
We had the best time! Definitely thinking about making this an annual tradition!
Took the kids out for breakfast at the little cafe near our house. Charlotte was crabby about spilling chocolate milk on her pants and Colin scooted right over to help cheer her up. I couldn't resist snapping a few pics of them being so cute together (despite the sun in charlotte's face, still cute pics :).
Our second Halloween in the 'ville (technically my ... 18th? Let's not worry too much about the math) and the kids have been loving it. Halloween is kind of a big deal around here. We've naturally spent the entire past week in Halloween celebration mode.
We kicked the week off on Monday with pumpkin carving. Here we are preparing our victim.
My pumpkinhead.
Lady chacha had zero issues diving right in to the goo.
Brother got a turn as well.
Since daddy was out of town all week, Aunt Zoe came over to assist. She had "issues" with my storage and usage of sharp knives around my children. It's like she's seen people cut their fingers off or something.
She ended up taking over to complete the task with surgical precision.
Putting the lid on it.
The finished product!
The eyes were "one triangle and one square" per Colin's request. So yes, we did that on purpose.
Next up this week was school parties! Here's Charlotte at school, preparing to head out for their Parade, where they visit the neighboring businesses and get candy....
Colin's school also had a costume parade down the street in Glen Carbon, followed by classroom parties. Mommy took advantage of her newfound job flexibility and actually showed up to a classroom party! I wasn't sure he'd even care if I was there... then I heard him tell Aunt Zoe later that "we had a party at school and MOMMY CAME!" So that was nice :)
Here is Colin about to decorate and subsequently inhale a donut. At 230 pm.
Donut time was followed by arts and crafts...
Some sort of game?
So then this happened.. which made pretty much the whole thing worthwhile. Later Colin said, "I didn't think I was ready to dance. But I was." Ha!
We got home from school Friday to find this cauldron full of candy and toys with a note we had been "BOO-ed" by our neighbors. The kids were ECSTATIC about this. So fun!
So Friday night was the main event... Trick or Treating time! Aunt Zoe & Uncle Zach came over to help out. This is immediately before I headed out with two very antsy kiddos to kick things off.
I couldn't believe how good they both were. Charlotte wasn't shy at all, marching right up to people's doors and saying, as adorably and as loudly as possible, "TRICK OR TWEET!!" Colin was chatting people's ears off, and keeping a running tally as we left each house ("Ok, that's eleven pieces of candy in 5 houses...").
Our neighborhood is INSANE at Halloween. I thought our subdivision in Indiana was packed - I've never seen this many people trick or treating.. we had throngs of kids streaming down our street and up our driveway. Next year we may take a tip from all our neighbors and set up a fire pit and party in the driveway. The neighborhood was so festive and you could smell the fires in the air.. so much fun!
After finishing our end of the street, I brought Charlotte home with the promise that she could eat a bunch of candy, while Z&Z took Colin out to hit up the rest of the neighborhood. She was FINE with this plan.
"Candy Candy CANDY WHEN CAN I EAT THE CANDY?!"
Saturday night we headed downtown for the E'ville Halloween Parade... Charlotte's first time!
These kids were pros... cheering on the floats (especially when we spotted Miss Alicia walking with the Goddard float - like a celebrity sighting!), dancing to the bands, and MOST importantly, grabbing all the candy in sight!
Unfortunately some mystery rain that didn't show up on radar or forecast moved in, and we had to cut the parade viewing short.. but they didn't seem to mind. Here they are back at home inspecting their haul.
A great, fun week was had by all. Counting down to next year's festivities!
