Halloween Events 2017

The first event we went to was Home Depot’s Halloween town. It was on the side of Home Depot’s parking lot. Baby Kermit got a Spiderman outfit for his birthday and wanted to wear that. Pooh also got an outfit for his birthday, Batman. That’s what he decided to wear. Duke was lumberjack with a homemade axe and a painted-on beard. Bubbles was a pop star with a homemade microphone (a ball painted gold and hot glued to a toilet paper roll). Jem was a butterfly without antenna. I was Batgirl with a blanket for a cape and a mask. Dad wore the same thing he wore last year, (Cowboy/bandit) but at least he dressed up 😊.

They had games in the small sheds on the side, the sheds were decorated with bats, skeletons, ghost, etc. The games were fake pumpkin toss, pop a pumpkin, a nerf dart toss, and witches hat ring toss. They had a few bouncy houses set up in part of the parking lot. There was also haunted house (it was in a shed) it was not very scary even Baby Kermit and Pooh went inside. Inside was kind of like a maze but there was only one way to go. They had regular decorations that you may find at a haunted house like a cloaked being and a jumping spider. Someone gave us candy on our way out of the haunted house. We ate hot dogs, we made a craft.  There was a hay ride that when near the garden supplies. They set up the kind of decorations you can buy at stores. My favorite one was the werewolf that they put behind fake trees. I thought it was pretty well done!

Another event we attend was Trick or Treating at Bass Pro Shop. We all dressed up as pirates (except Bubbles and mom, mom was a gypsy, Bubbles was a mermaid). Months before we went shopping at thrift stores to get stuff for our costumes. Jem made a telescope (which was made out of a kind of Pringles container). We trick or treated at departments in Bass Pro Shop. We got our picture taken, the background was based off of the Great Pumpkin Charlie brown. There was a bean bag toss and they gave us Halloween hats. There was a pumpkin craft we took it home and made it. We had lots of fun there!

On Sunday we had a Fall festival at our church. A few days before the festival we got together with some of our friends to make/put together the games. Jem, me and a friend worked on the fishing game. We found a big box and taped a blue table cloth then we put sea creature stickers on it. The younger four (Duke, Bubbles, Pooh and Baby Kermit) and some friends made fake turkey legs out of brown and white paper bags. They stuffed them with newspaper and added some rocks, used glow necklaces as rings. The other games we had were a pumpkin ring toss, scavenger hunt, bean bag toss, pumpkin bowling and a cookie walk (it is like a cake walk but with cookies). I was lucky to be in charge of the face painting. I painted pumpkins, spider web, flowers and a car. We all had fun!

The day before Halloween, we attended a Trick or Treat/Halloween party at my Dad’s work. My Dad works on Maxwell-Gunter AFB. This was a special party just for the kids. We trick or treated at the decorated offices. Duke and Bubbles kept repeating Trick or treat smell my feet (which stink, Bubbles doesn’t wear socks most of the time) give me something good to eat. We went to some kind of meeting room. There we decorated Styrofoam pumpkins in teams of two (Jem and Baby Kermit, me and Pooh, Duke and Bubbles). Baby Kermit’s pumpkin was a cat, Pooh’s was a mummy, Duke said his looked like dad. Then there was a costume contest. A guy dressed up as a pilot from a video game won first place and a boy dressed up as a blue Power Ranger won second. We ate deviled eggs, pigs in a blanket, some pudding, cookies and a cat litter box cake. My favorite dish was the cat litter box cake.

On Halloween before we gave out candy, we fixed our outdoor decoration which were a scarecrow, a spider web, a lit-up Boo sign and some fake pumpkins. We took turns giving out candy while we watched the Book of Life. We watched the Book of Life because November 2 is the Day of the Dead. There weren’t a whole lot of kids about 10-15. I’m kind of sad we didn’t go trick or treating ☹.

I hope you had a Happy Halloween!

If you read it all you earn 20 Brownie points!

*special thanks to all the people who set up the events*

Pippi

 

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Red Mountain Park, AL is Awesome!

We went to Red mountain to walk and to see Mr. Steve, Mine hole’s and nature. I saw lots of big leaves. We also saw a huge statue of spectacles. Spectacles are glasses. There were a whole lot of trees.

We walked a lot to see two mine holes. There were different trails to take and we went down a random path. On the way we saw mine hole 13. The last thing we saw was people zip lining. I personally think Red Mountain is Awesome! I hope we go there again!

Anyway, after we went to get ice cream. It was my first time eating Dippin ’Dots. I got birthday cake. They were good😊. Pooh got a king cone, baby Kermit got a popsicle. It fell on the floor :(. Duke got a Oreo cone. Jem and Pippi had Icees. Then Mr. Steve played a trick on me. Everyone laughed but me! Then we went home.

The end now you may stop reading this.

BY BUBBLES

p.s good bye

 

 

Peach Park, AL

A couple of weeks ago we went on another fun adventure. Kevin, Crystal and the kiddos invited us to meet up with them at Peach Park. I was excited to see that this place was only about 30 mins from Montgomery. The weather looked like it was going to be perfect and we are pretty free with our Sundays besides RE and Mass.

The drive up was pretty easy. I took the normal approach of not telling the kids where we were going or who would be there. They were very excited to see our friends. Kevin, Crystal and their kiddos are always a fun bunch to be around. We explored the garden with it’s cute pond, swings, and giant peach sculpture. When there are 10 kids around it doesn’t take long before there’s running and laughing going on. After the kids short lived exploration of the garden we headed to the playground. There is a really kewl barn area with slides, places to hide and climb. The kids tried out every piece of playground equipment there before complaining about being thristy or needing a bathroom break.

That’s when we decided it was time for a trip to the bathrooms/water fountain. Then all 14 of us got in line for a scoop of ice cream. I chose peach cheesecake because well cheesecake. The kids all scarfed down their ice cream before heading back to the water fountain for another drink of water. Then off to play again in the garden or swing on the swings. George sat back and did his normal thing of being the quiet guy while Kevin, Crystal, and I sat and chatted about what the kids had been up to..

We couldn’t stay too long because George had work in the morning and we had school. I like to stick to our schedule. So we said goodbye to our friends with plans to get together again soon. It was a fun afternoon at a peach themed park.

Visiting OK and our Framily

The adjustment of living in Alabama hasn’t come as easy as we thought but I think that has to do with our move 4 years ago from Oklahoma. DC was a hard place to live and knowing it was temporary made it harder. We had lots of friends move away and move on. We have been alot more leary when it comes to making friends because I think we don’t want to get too attached. The more you move around the harder it seems to get.

We received an invitation to a friends surprise birthday party. When I first saw it I thought man how badly do I want to go to OK to see our church family. I really thought we wouldn’t have the funds to make such a short trip. I told George thinking he would say no, I would be sad and have to let it go. But to my surprise he said “Yes , let’s go. We miss our friends dearly and it would be really great to see them all.”

The drive up and over to OK went better than expected. Our kiddos have spent alot of time in the car traveling but you just never know how they are going to react. We did our best to get a good 2-3 hours in between each stop. For lunch we made sure to find an area where the kids could get out and run around. Rest areas really are becoming fewer and further between each one. The kids were easily entertained by Archie’s Weird Mysteries and Dungeons & Dragons the animated series. The also spent some time playing I spy or Hangman. The kids are great little travelers.

We arrived in Oklahoma on Friday night after a long 12+ hours in the car. We were happily welcomed by our really good friends and the kids Godparents, Larry and Jill plus their 5 kiddos. They were very generous to share their home with the 8 of us for the few days we visited. The also made us some really delicious meals. 11 kids plus 4 adults and grandpa made for a house full of fun.

Saturday, Duke had the fun opportunity to do something I’m sure he will be talking about for years. Duke became fascinated with lizards when we moved to Alabama. He has grown to love them so much that he talks to everyone we know here including the librarian and our neighbors about lizards. His God-Father, Larry took him to see the lizards. By lizards I mean lots of different types of lizards, all shapes and sizes. He was able to touch and even hold some of the lizards. He also got to hold a cockroach that made him chuckle as it climbed up his arm. Duke was very happy to share his love with his God-Father.

Saturday Night, We all headed to the 50th surprise birthday party of a very good friend of ours, Frank. We decided to keep our visit a secret just in case something came up last minute. Our secret was a welcome surprise for everyone. We received many hugs and handshakes. It felt like going home. We ate some delicious food and chatted with some awesome people. We toasted our dear friend Frank and his 50 years with many more to come. The kids ran around and played with friends they hadn’t seen in years. It felt just like the old days when we lived in Oklahoma. The boys started to get a little cranky near the end so we decided to head back to Larry and Jill’s house.

The next morning we woke up alot earlier than normal . Well, it at least felt like it. We slowly woke the kids up and told them to get dressed. We are very much a military family in that we are almost always 15 minutes early for everything. If we are late to anything I can promise theres a story, Anyways, St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church is where some pretty important events happened. After Our Lady of Fatima Church was closed we found a great church family at St. Teresa’s. It’s where I was confirmed into the Catholic Church and Pooh was Baptized. It’s also where I had the fun honor of teaching crafts for Vacation Bible School and made some really great friends. I am very blessed to know so many amazing okies and to have been a part of a very active parish.

A little later that afternoon when went to a pool party at Frank and Joelle’s. The kids had a blast throwing water balloons, splashing around in the pool, and running around with their friends. We had an amazing buffet of food for lunch. It was a good afternoon spent with some pretty amazing people.

We spent the rest of our Sunday with Larry and Jill plus kiddos. We let the kids stay up as long as they wanted. I just figured they would spend the next day sleeping in the car. Duke and his buddy spent their time hunting and rehoming toads. Pooh and Baby Kermit built many Lego creations. The girls did make overs and dressed up. George went to bed early so he would be well rested for the drive home while I stayed up to chat with Larry and Jill whom I knew I would miss as soon as we left.

The trip home was about the same as the drive to Oklahoma. Knowing that the kids can handle a long car ride gives me alot of hope for where we can go exploring in the future. It was a really short trip to Oklahoma but I’m really glad we went.

 

 

The Montgomery Zoo

Last week we took the kiddos to our local zoo in Montgomery. George found out about a Military Appreciation day which meant free admission and lunch. Money has been a little tight since our move so this was a great opportunity get out of the house and the kids to run around.

Since we have wrapped up school for the next couple months the kids have been sleeping in which makes for an almost impossible task of trying to get to something when it opens. The kids are usually pretty good about it but they are becoming quite the night owls and getting up just isn’t fun. After some coaxing we were able to get out the door and make it to the zoo shortly after its opening.

I kept to my normal of MO of not telling them but Hubby let the cat out of the bag. The kids were pretty excited as they all have their favorite animals. The biggest being Duke who has quickly fallen in love with every lizard he sees. Plus they really do love exploring somewhere new. It does help a little that they have grown to appreciate the word FREE!

The zoo has an amazing playground with a petting zoo. There were plenty of kids coming and going. The boys ran around trying to climb on everything while the girls helped other kids play on different parts of the equipment. George even jumped into helping and praise was given for his efforts. They kids played for a while until they realized it was just too hot. The zoo was great in providing cups as well as a cooler of water for its patrons.

The zoo also has a museum. The Mann Museum reminded me alot of the Anniston Museum of Natural History. The kids were able to see taxidermy animals set in natural habitats. The also had a fun addition of a touch zone with different types of furs. The museum staff is very proud of the fact the Smithsonian has asked for the collection. A pretty big accolade for a museum to be wanted by the Smithsonian. The kids walked around and ohh’d and ahh’d at all the animals until they were ready to go. It was nice to get out of the sun for a little while but they kids were starting to get tired.

After a very hot and tiring day at the zoo I thought it would be a great idea to stop at the splashpad. The kids loved this idea and happily enjoyed a chance to cool off. They ran around until they got tired again and had a snack before we headed home. A day full of fun was exactly what we all needed.