Dream Halloween

9 years ago when Rebecca was in town for a fall weekend, Zion's daycare gave us free tickets to a Halloween party. We noticed that the price of the tickets was $100 each, so we decided it was worth checking out. We dressed Zion up in his Winnie the Pooh costume and made our way to the Windy City Field House. Little did we know that the tickets we had acquired were the entrance to the Dream Halloween Gala, a posh and elaborate event put on by the Children Affected by Aids Foundation. We stared in wonder as we walked into a beautiful grotto full of amazingly designed jack-o-lanterns, fantastic decorations, and costumed characters that looked like they had just walked off of a movie set. Jamie Lee Curtis was there; there were dancers and bands and trick or treating stations that were handing out treats that were more like Christmas presents than Halloween treats--Barbie dolls and race cars and lego sets--we ended up with a carload of abundance. There were tables piled with food and drinks donated by some of Chicago's favorite restaurants, and a raffle giving away a Lexus SUV to a lucky winner (we dared to hope). The whole evening was so cool and so unexpected. I remember walking out of the party with a dazed happiness that felt a little like a trip to Disney World.

I spent the next 9 years trying to cop some more of those free tickets, and this year...score! The gala did not disappoint. We had to make 4 trips to our car to carry out our bounty. Zion and Zen were so excited to go home and play with their newly acquired toys that we didn't even wait to enjoy the Trinity Irish Dancers or the hip hop group that performed. When we came home, it was like Christmas morning. Of course a large portion of this went into the basement to be donated to holiday charity and shared with cousins in the future. It was fun to share the experience with Zen, who has been dragging around a giant, remote-controlled motorcycle with him all this week, courtesy of the party.

Pumpkin Carving

I was so proud of Sam for undertaking this task this year! I had to go to a leadership team meeting after work--when I came home, there was a nice jack-o-lantern and pumpkin seeds fresh from the oven. We used the pumpkin the next night for our annual "haunted bath", a tradition that started with Zion at age 2 and has continued until this day. You fill the tub with water and some orange food coloring, light up all the halloween candles and the jack-o-lantern, garnish with some halloween bath toys, decorations, spooky music, orange shaving cream if desired...turn off the lights, and splash away! Zion still loves his haunted bath at age 11. Maybe he'll do it with his own kids someday.

Pony Ride!

If you were reading the blog a year ago, you probably remember how Zen was so terrified of the ponies at the fall festival that he crawled up my arm, shoulder and neck trying to get away from them (this happened AFTER we had already paid $5....no refunds!). He did much better this year. Made his mommy proud!

P.S. our pony's name was Lightning!

Zion's Costume

I was so proud of myself for picking this up at the Salvation Army for less than $10. Of course, Zion has already customized it with all kinds of plastic guns, a gas mask, a helmet, etc, etc.

Didier Farms

Faye and Kyle asked us if we would like to go to Didier Farms with them on Zion's day off of school. They've been going there since Kyle was a baby. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and not (like our other Fall activities) insanely crowded. The boys all got wristbands so they could do each activity as many times as they wanted. Zen just loves Kyle, and Kyle is happy to engage Zen with his playful nature. He patiently rode all the baby rides with Zen and accompanied him through the corn maze. We all enjoyed the hay ride and the tiny petting zoo. By the end of the trip, we were exhausted but happy.

Zen Shows his Musical Side

Zen was somehow enticed to get on the table to sing and dance AND let himself be filmed. (Yes, we let our children sit and stand on our dining room table. Often. I figure it can't hurt--this is the table that I grew up eating on, so it's over 40 years old, crafted by the Amish in northeast Missouri. Naked dancing, painting projects, homework...this table does it all!). Enjoy Zen's dance!

Halloween Cupcakes

Decorated by Zen, Zion and Elijah. Amazing how much Zen loves to help out in the kitchen--he will happily sit on the counter and watch us cook, participating in any way he can. He has really enjoyed our recent cupcake events, especially the sprinkles and food coloring. I think these cupcakes lasted about 2 days at our house.

Tail Gate

We were introduced to the joys of Northwestern tailgating through an invitation from Elijah's mom, a Northwestern graduate. The stadium is walkable from our house; it was a beautiful day, and I learned that there are always free activities for the kids 2 hours before kick-off. We painted up in Wildcat purple and went on down. It was a blast! Fun people watching, great food, and we even got some pictures with one of the dance squads (which Zen didn't look too happy about, but Elijah and Zion were DEFINITELY into it!). Zion played football with Elijah's bigger brothers. It is amazing to see how tough our littlest boy is. Everyone always remarks on his coordination and his enthusiasm for all things sports-related. Do we have a little jock on our hands? I wouldn't mind going to some NWU games in the future--as a parent! :-)

Trip to Goebbert's Pumpkin Patch

I thought I would be really smart and plan a trip for Zen and cousin Madison to the much-crowded and sought after Goebbert's Farm in Barrington. I have a love-hate relationship with Goebberts, I think. It has so many fun things--corn maze, straw maze, hay ride...you can buy all kinds of farm products, ride a pony or, if you are more adventurous, a camel. There are things to climb and play on, acres of pumpkins of all kinds, and a Halloween store. There is a haunted house (not for anyone under the age of 5, as we found out with Zion years ago). There is a pumpkin-eating dinosaur and a track for pig races which take place regularly throughout the day. The best reason for me to go to Goebbert's, however, is its absolutely amazing, un-toppable petting zoo. It features 4 tents of exotic animals, including baby zebras, giraffes, antelopes and rare goats and deer of all sorts. It's clean and thrilling and (for a price) you can feed just about any one of the animals by hand. I, personally, could spend all day there.

What's not to like about Goebberts? The prices, for one thing. Everything is expensive, and on the weekends, they jack things up even more for the poor working suckers that can't get a weekday off. The second thing is the crowds--oh, the crowds! On sunny Sundays in October, the line to turn into the parking lot can literally be a mile long. Want a pony ride? Be prepared to wait for 40 minutes to buy your tickets and another 40 minutes to ride the little beasts. Hungry? You'd better hope you brought food of your own, not like that inexperienced mom waiting for her hot dogs for 30 minutes with 2 toddlers screaming their heads off. All of this is enough to turn an ideal family jaunt into the 5th circle of hell after a very short time. I know this--I've been coming to this place for years!

This year, however, I was smart. I decided to take the kids on a Monday. Zion was supposed to be in school, but he accompanied us at the last minute due to a headache. I packed some snacks and, as usual, some horse treats (we don't pay a dollar a cup for animal feed at the petting zoo--no way!). I packed some water and a camera to capture the fun and photogenic moments we were sure to have as we romped, crowd-free, through the entire farm. The one thing I didn't take into account was...Columbus Day!!! Evanston is one of those enlightened places that DOESN'T celebrate Columbus Day, so you just kind of forget about it when you live here...until you approach the parking lot of Goebbert's Farm and see about 2,000 cars in the parking lot!!!!

Well, a promise is a promise. We modified our agenda, skipped the pony rides, and just tackled the petting zoo area. Our high point (literally) was up on the giraffe platform, when we discovered that the giraffes really preferred horse cookies to the $3 carrots that everyone else was shoving in their faces. They ate cookie after cookie out of our hands with their big, soft, gentle mouths as dozens of people pressed against us, trying to tempt them away.

Here are some pictures; we didn't get as many as I thought we would.

Oh.....Yeah.....!!!!!

Zen loves this toy microphone. He will mostly sing when he thinks no one else is paying attention, but lately he has been more tolerant of an audience. Oh, yeah!

Grandma Pam Visits!

Grandma joined us for a week at the end of September/early October. It was fun to have good weather for a few days so she could join us at our favorite spot. Little hard to get good pics, since neither Zen nor Grandma are really into having their picture taken these days, but I managed to get a few good shots in.

Sprinkles

We got this giant shaker of sprinkles free with a grocery coupon. Not really sure WHY we needed a giant shaker of sprinkles, but it was FREE, so...As you can tell, Zen just loves it. We sometimes have scrambled eggs with sprinkles, or scrambled eggs dyed blue or green. Sam wasn't in on this until recently, when Zen requested "boo eggs". Sam made two very lovely "boo eggs" and Zen ate every scrap, although they ended up looking more like green play-dough. Go, Notre Dame!

August, 2010

Yes, we went without any photographic record of a whole month in our lives. August was a lovely time, with days spent enjoying beautiful weather at the beach, walks, family bike rides, interacting with neighbors and playing in our park. It also included a trip for Kristin to see Mom, Bec, Jess, Michael, Jake and our newest family member: beautiful baby Quinn. School loomed; Zion started 6th grade at the enormous Haven Middle School, a huge transition for us all. Zen began to use complete sentences when the mood struck him. These treasures usually popped up when he was bossing the dog around (no jedi no eat my food!) and when he was telling on his brother (nion 'ave my toy! give it, nion!). The whole family delighted in translating "Zen-speak", with its unusual pronunciations and elimination of at least half of the consonant sounds in the English language.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat

Zion did a week of musical theatre camp in July with his friend, Kyle. They performed a condensed version of "Joseph"; quite good for only 40 hours of rehearsal! Zion even sang and danced (in public...he's an enthusiastic shower singer and impromptu dancer at home, off camera)