White Halloween

Almost everyone dreams of waking up to a beautiful coating of snow on Christmas morning. However, this year our aspirations of a winter wonderland surprised us on a different holiday. I almost said "surprised us on the wrong holiday" but then I rethought what I was about to write because God doesn't make mistakes. He gave us a gorgeous scene last weekend with the rusty fall colors against a solid white blanket of snow.

For a couple months now, I've searched for a nice winter coat for Caleb. For some reason, the stores feel September/October is too early to put out coats for toddlers and babies even though they have coats for older kids on the racks. Anyway, two or three weeks ago, I finally found a nice coat on sale. (Plus, I had a coupon!) The week before our snowstorm I also picked up a pair of snow overalls at Goodwill that matched the coat. I thought Caleb was well prepared for winter until it hit. The coat and snow overalls worked well, but when Dave looked for an appropriate pair of gloves, we realized all we had were knit mittens that really don't hold up well against the wet snow. Afterwards, Dave tried to help Caleb put on muck boots I purchased last year andwe ran into more problems; he could only get one boot to fit.

Looking sharp in his snow attire

"Are you guys serious? I don't know about these mittens."

"Why do I have to put on all these clothes?"

With tennis shoes and some dinky mittens, Caleb braved the snow anyway and had a blast.

Like a any good daddy, Dave made sure Caleb knew about snowballs and how to throw them at Mommy!

Caleb spent most of his time just trying not to fall over. Several times he flopped on his belly and lay there whimpering for us to help him up, unsure of how to get himself upright again. He asked to be picked up a few times but mostly trudged along trying to do it himself.


While snowball throwing is a blast, Dave also took some time to teach Caleb the important winter skill of shoveling and as well as how to knock the heavy snow off the trees. We only hope the kid enjoys it half as much when he's older and can actually help get our cars out of the driveway. :)

Despite the calendar's reminder that it was still October, we spent the next two days looking at the snow and even enjoying a few Christmas movies!

Monster Mash

I started casually searching for a Halloween costume for Caleb about two months ago. He's pretty into bugs right now so I thought maybe I would find some type of bug costume he'd like for a decent price somewhere. As I began looking online though, I found several other costumes that related to things he's interested in right now too: cows, Mr. Potato Head, and Yogi Bear. I didn't see any bug costumes that really jumped out at me and his cousin Daniel was a cow last year so I narrowed the choices to the other two options. While I loved the Potato Head idea, the price tag was outrageous for such a simple costume, and I thought maybe I could attempt to make it myself another year if he's still into that. (This is probably wishful thinking based on my current sewing skills but $40 for a lumpy brown suit with some eyes, a nose, a mouth, and some ears just seems too steep.) The Yogi suit was much more in our price range, plus Dave has mentioned in the past that he's thought at times that it would be interesting to becoming a park ranger so I thought maybe he could live out this dream on Halloween by dressing up as the Jellystone Ranger to compliment Caleb's attire. I considered going myself as one of the picnickers Yogi is always stealing food from in the park. With all those reasons to go with Yogi, I ordered the costume.

Dave leads a discipleship bible study group on Monday evenings and won't be able to go trick-or-treating with us this Halloween. For this reason, we've been looking for something we could do beforehand so he could see Caleb all dressed up and we could all have some trick-or-treat fun together. My friend Shannon mentioned on Facebook that she was taking her baby to the Apple Blossom Mall tonight in Winchester for their annual "Monster Mash." We thought this would be the perfect opportunity for our pre-Halloween family fun activity.

While Dave and I didn't get our costumes together as I planned, Caleb's had been waiting in his closet for some time. We'd tried on the head piece a few times to practice wearing it to see how he would do because I heard other parents say their kids wouldn't even wear the costumes they'd purchased. Today was the first time, however, that we tried on the entire outfit. Almost as soon as Dave finished dressing him up, Caleb went over to his toy refrigerator and raided the ice box. Next, he headed straight for a picnic basket I had sitting in the dining room.

Does this boy know how to get into character?

"Hey, Boo Boo. I found a pic-i-nic basket."

While Caleb is smarter than the average bear, he didn't have
the claws or sharp teeth needed to break in the basket on his
own so Daddy had to help.

Mmmm...Victory!

After playing at the house a for a bit and searching for Caleb's trick-or-treat pumpkin to carry his candy in that had been displaced, we finally were on our way to Winchester. The mall parking lot looked a lot like Black Friday to my surprise. I hadn't realized what a big event the Monster Mash really was. After a little searching though, we found a spot not too far away. We'd taken the suit off for the car ride so Dave quickly redressed Caleb in the back of the vehicle and then we headed inside. Once in the doors, we saw a huge line of people looping around the entire mall going from store to store filling their loot bags. We decided to walk a ways and take it all in a bit before jumping in line ourselves.

Out of all the crazy costumes and the ton of parents and kids in
the mall, Caleb seemed oblivious that anything was different
from an ordinary trip to shop. Here you might guess he is pointing
at a unique outfit or maybe someone giving out candy. No, no.
His little finger and his attention are focused on a stand selling cell phones.

Right after the cell phone stand though was another table
with a lady handing out candy. This was our first real trick-or-
treating of the evening.

Most of the kids had similar costumes: princesses, superheroes,
ladybugs or bumblebees, witches, etc.There were two really
awesome ideas I saw though. The first was the kid in this picture who
dressed as a fisherman and donned a fishing boat full of gear. The other
was a Hershey kiss costume that looked like the kid had made at home
out of aluminum foil.

Here we're trying to decide where to jump in this giant line. What a crowd!

I have no idea what he's excited about here but am glad he was having fun.

This guy had stickers instead of candy. This is probably the only
toddler appropriate treat Caleb received all night. Don't worry
though; his parents will do what any good parents would do with
all that sugary loot - eat it themselves to protect their sweet baby.

Several of the adults thought Caleb had a unique costume and were excited to see a miniature Yogi running around. I didn't think it was that uncommon of an idea since it was a cartoon character, but I guess because it's an older one it was nostalgic for many. I doubt many kids knew who Yogi even was. One little girl asked me if Caleb was supposed to be a monkey. I told her no he was a bear, and she kind of looked at me strange so I didn't even bothering to try to explain who Yogi was.

I told Caleb to only take one piece of candy from this gentlemen. He
tried to grab an entire handful instead. As I tried to stop him and
make him get just one, the man said "It's okay; he's Yogi." This was pretty
funny since as this point he didn't even have his Yogi face on anymore.

Aside from being interested in Yogi, Caleb's other favorite character lately is from a book - Clifford! When he saw this large Clifford ride in front of Sears, he was immediately sucked in and ran for it.

He tried his best to tell us this was Clifford. His toddler babbling
may not have been decipherable by those passing by, but after
reading a fair amount of Clifford books lately, we knew exactly
what he was trying to say.

With everything else going on around him, this was the highlight of
his night. This excited face was just because we let him sit on Clifford.
He didn't even need us to plop in any quarters to start the ride; he
was more than thrilled just to be this close to his big red friend.

"Let's go, Mommy."

This "lifeguard" told Caleb he could have one piece of candy from
the pool. Much to my surprise, this time Yogi only grabbed one piece
and went on his way.

We waited in line for a few more stores and then ended our trick-or-treating.

Yogi got to stay up a little past his bed time; Daddy (aka the undercover Park Ranger) got to experience some trick-or-treating with us; and Mommy got to gather some good pictures for her blog and scrapbook. Despite the huge crowd, crazy parking, and long lines, I think it was a success and a trip we may have to make again - next time with another little one in tote.

Pumpkin Patch Picnicking And Other Adventures

Last year at this time, we had just moved and were in the process of unpacking. Dave was switching jobs, we were church searching, and our whole routine was shifting. Unfortunately, all of the changes made it difficult to do a lot of fun things as a family and so we missed going to a pumpkin patch for Caleb's first October (although, we did go to a local nursery to check out a few pumpkins). This year we made up for lost time; Caleb and I got to visit two!

I found out from a friend's Facebook post about a local place called Hartland Orchard that is just minutes from our house. They appeared to have a lot for kids to do including animals, a hay ride, a corn maze, and of course a pumpkin patch. Since my granny has been wanting to take Caleb, Anabella, and Daniel to a petting farm, we decided this might be a good option to enjoy the animals and fall activities at the same time. There was a steep $9 per person price tag that we weren't too crazy about but the kids got in free so we decided to go ahead and check it out.

Like most of our excursions with the twins, we went during the week while the toddlers' daddies were at work. We didn't realize that most of the activities listed on the website were for weekend visitors only. While we didn't get to go on the hayride or try out the corn maze as a result, we also didn't have to pay the $9 fee and got to enjoy the day for free. The little ones enjoyed themselves despite the mix up and so did adults. First, we explored the pumpkin patch:

Afterwards,we trudged up a steep hill to find the animals. The kids found a tractor, wagon, and horsy swing at the top as well.

While the boys were examining the farm equipment, Anabella and Granny spotted the goats. Anabella tried to make friends by pulling the goat's ear; the goat responded by butting her to seal the friendship. Granny found a bucket of food beside the fence and handed the babies a little to feed the animals. Anabella bravely stuck her hand right up there for the goats to eat; Caleb, on the other hand, stuck his little arm out to feed them as well but then backed away from the goats with his arm out stretched like he was trying to give it to them but didn't want to get too close. Needless to say most of the food he was given ended up on the ground. After all the feeding fun, we walked to the other side of the gate and guess what we saw? A sign warning visitors not to feed the goats. Oops!

The goat feeding was our only animal sighting. They supposedly had pigs that raced on occasion but we missed them. So much for the petting farm experience... But, when things don't go exactly as planned, take a lesson from our toddlers - move on and find fun elsewhere. Cornhole? Pumpkin picking? Giant pipe slide? Take your choice.

A morning full of new adventures builds up everyone's appetite. Luckily, Stacey thought ahead and planned a picnic lunch. After looking for a place to have our lunch, we decided right beside the pumpkins was best. None of us had ever picnicked in a pumpkin patch before. Daniel and Anabella enjoyed sitting in their little chair together savoring the meal; Caleb didn't want to sit in a chair though so I tried pulling out a big blanket for him to relax. Pumpkin patch picnics are just too exciting to sit still though in his opinion (and I didn't have a bungee cord to hold him still...) so my little man was on the go all through lunch, grazing on whatever he could find. At one point, he walked over and stomped on the chicken that was sitting on my plate; I think this was an accident but can't be sure. After I peeled the piece of chicken from his shoe and wiped off the BBQ sauce, he was on the go again. Caleb's favorite food seemed to be the string cheese while Anabella was all about the strawberries. Daniel was in love with an unopened can of soda that he kept carrying around for some reason.

While a lot of the pumpkins and produce had been picked over by the time we visited last week, we noticed some late tomatoes still on the vines. Granny asked the man if we could purchase a few since the two of us both love tomatoes. He told us just to take as many as we'd like as long as we came back next year or told our friends about them. Not only did we get free admission, now he was offering us free tomatoes! Yes, sir! While we picked tomatoes, the kids played more in the pumpkin patch and kept themselves very entertained figuring out how to make the sides of a little wagon come down.

After filling our bellies with lunch and our bags with tomatoes, we put our sleepy toddlers in their carseats and made our way back home. What a beautiful day at Hartland Orchard!

Leaf Lookers

Last Sunday was a a leisurely fall day for the McKinstrys. We started out like normal with a trip to church which was followed by a beautiful drive on the Skyline Drive.

While waiting on Mommy to get ready, Caleb decided to mow
a little wearing his church clothes.

I couldn't help sharing this handsome picture of my two fellas
dressed up and looking sharp.

Dave purchased a park pass last November so he could hike, but none of us had used it since. We decided now that the colors are so vivid it would be a good time to take advantage of the pass before it expired. Of course there were a ton of other "leaf lookers" (as my Granddaddy Theodore used to call them), but I think we went early enough in the season that we beat the worst of the crowd. Most of the overlooks were pretty crowded but we found a couple to visit. Caleb enjoyed the rock walls and kept trying to run down the side of the mountain. Dave did a good job keeping up with him. At one overlook in particular, Caleb liked walking along the wall while Dave spotted him.

I noticed the traffic in the area was much heavier today with all the tourists pouring in to see the colors as they grow more vibrant. It makes me even more thankful to live in such a beautiful place and to be able to enjoy daily how God has blessed this valley. If He wills it, we hope to spend many more days for years to come making memories in the Shenandoah National Park.