New Playground

Hopefully, the rain will hold off and we'll get some good pictures tonight when we trick-or-treat!  Until then, here is a picture and a video from a trip to a new playground that we recently discovered.  It's called Stump Sound Park and it's about a 10-minute drive away.  The boys love this playground because the ground isn't covered in wood chips or grass--it's sand!  So I can take our shovels and dump trucks and the boys play in the sand without me having to worry about one or both of them making a dash for the ocean.  We went last Thursday when the weather was 80 degrees and sunny.  Today it's in the 50s and cloudy but it should get back into the 70s by the end of the week so we'll look forward to more trips to Stump Sound Park!

 
And here's a picture of Ben with the sun shining on his golden dome (people think that he's bald and this is proof that he's not--he's just a blonde baby!):

Trunk-or-Treat

One of the hardest things about military life and moving so often is finding a new church home.  People who have been in the same church family all their lives don't understand how difficult it is to find a church with all the criteria: services at a convenient time, child care, a reasonable drive, and, most importantly, the right "feel" as far as philosophy, members, pastors, etc.  It's especially difficult here because we live in a somewhat isolated area (there are a lot of churches nearby, but most of them seem to be the hellfire-and-brimstone type, which is definitely not for me).  It took a little while, but I found St. Andrews On-the-Sound Episcopal Church in Wilmington.  It's a bit of a drive, but services are at a good time, the nursery is great, and I really like the priests and the people.

Tonight, we went to church for Trunk-or-Treat, an annual Halloween event where people decorate their trunks and hand out candy to the costumed little ones.  To start things off, Father Richard told a ghost story in the cemetery on the church grounds, but Dan and Ben weren't too into that.  They were more interested in walking/crawling on the low brick walls surrounding each family's plot in the cemetery.  Luckily for us, everything is pretty casual here so there were plenty of other little ones walking/climbing/playing too.  Then we walked around and got candy from everyone, bounced in the bouncy house (of course!) and played on the playground.  We had a great time!

My attempt at "spooky porch." I am sooo not creative, so this is actually pretty good for me! 

HMHT-302 Halloween Party

Let the Halloween party season begin!  Our first party was today at Zach's squadron.  The hangar was decorated, the candy was plentiful, and the boys had a blast.  Dan loved the bouncy house (duh) and Ben loved running up and down the ramp of the helicopter.  We also went on a hayride around the flight line and even got an up-close look at a CH-53E Super Stallion landing while an MV-22 Osprey took off.  Dan was in heaven!

Dan loved his pterodactyl costume (and even wore the headpiece for much longer than I thought he would) and Ben tolerated being a triceratops (he only wore the headpiece for about five seconds, but I did manage to get a picture).  The costumes are already washed and dried and ready for Trunk-or-Treat at church on Sunday evening!

"Can we leave already?!?" 

Poplar Grove Halloween Fest

After naps yesterday, we headed to Poplar Grove (a plantation house near us that hosts events on its grounds--weekly farmer's market, antique car shows, seasonal parties, etc.) for their annual Halloween festival.  A few kids were dressed in costumes but Dan and Ben were not.  They're going to be dinosaurs and it was about 80 degrees yesterday afternoon and I didn't want them to overheat!  

We had a great time, especially Dan.  He bounced his little heart out on multiple bouncy houses and he even jumped around in a bungee harness.  I think gymnastics is helping a lot with his confidence because this is the kind of thing that he would have said that he wanted to do in the past, but then would have been too scared to once it was his turn.  Not this year--he stood in line patiently, holding his ticket, watching the bigger kids, and when it was his turn, he ran up to the harness and couldn't wait to get started.  

After bungee-ing, we had to take a breather with a warm brownie sundae.  I wanted funnel cakes but I was out-voted, 3-1.  What is wrong with everyone else in my family?!  Funnel cakes are the best!  The festival continues next weekend, so maybe I'll have to go back by myself, if only to get the treat I want.  

Note to self: Buy two lemonades.  Meltdown could have been averted. 

If Dan gets to bungee jump, then I'm going to stand in my stroller!

It's no funnel cake, but it'll do.

Lazy Fall Days

Zach's been gone for the past week and won't be home for another few days so we have been just hanging around the house, playing outside a lot, taking advantage of these 75-degree, no humidity days.  Nothing too exciting to document, unfortunately.  We have a lot of fall festivals/Halloween events/fun stuff coming up, though, so I'll be sure to take the camera along.  In the meantime, here are a few photos and videos to help you get through this dry spell:

I took the boys to the doctor's office yesterday (Dan has a nagging cough and Ben has a weird rash--everything is fine with both) and the only appointment we could get was at 1:45, right in the middle of normal naptime.  So I tried to give them lunch early in the hopes of getting in at least an hour of sleep.  Ben was no problem--he is the easiest dude in the world to get to sleep.  Dan claimed to not be tired, but I think this picture proves otherwise:

Mike's Farm

We journeyed out to Mike's Farm for our annual pumpkin pilgrimage and had a great time, as usual!  It's amazing to look back at the last two trips to the farm and see how much things have changed.  Our first year here, Dan was 14 months old and just toddling around, not too interested in pumpkins.  Last year, he was a little more into it and Ben was just two months old.  This year, both boys were running in opposite directions, throwing pumpkins, kicking pumpkins, trying to carry pumpkins twice the size of their bodies.  So it was fun!  Next year should be even better--I'm sure we'll find a pumpkin patch wherever we happen to live then.