Trick or Treat

I have a sort of animosity towards Halloween.  I love pumpkins and the symbolism of fall passing into stick season.  I love the kids excitement about costumes and the pumpkins.

This year, we had a fireman and a moose hitting the streets of Jericho.  Cally had been a monkey last year and the costume (with some modifications) was able to double as a moose this year.  She did say that it was difficult to walk up stairs, because the costume was a bit tight but we managed.

 We have headed up to Jericho Center for the trick or treating for the past three years.  The Country Store has a cute haunted barn and there are a manageable number of houses to visit.  We hit 7 houses in 30 minutes and it was perfect.  There is a little old lady who sits on her porch and loves seeing children and they get some candy, but not too much.  At this point, they don't know that there are some kids who get to hit dozens of houses and get tons of candy.  I'm not really sure what would happen if we got more candy than the kids already get.  It becomes the bane of my existence. Every day after school, they ask for a piece of candy and it feels like it will never run out-- and we only went to 7 houses!

My favorite part of Halloween is the pumpkin glow on Cilley Hill Road.  I've mentioned it before, but it's so much fun.  People carve hundreds of pumpkins, including a 1600 lb one!

In other recent events..... the kids and I attended a Buddy Dubay concert at the library on a rainy Saturday and they loved it!

It's so sweet to see how well they play and dance together.

Hazen got to wear face paint more than one day because he had a make up day at Poker Hill.  While they don't allow costumes, they do an amazing job with face paints!

Hazey is learning to be a good cat lover-- petting in the right direction and giving light hugs. 

And we went on a hike to find snow.  It was the kids idea!

And we found it on November 2nd! We all can't wait to ski.

Owen

 Hazen has been anxiously awaiting a visit from Owen the stuffed Hippo for weeks.  He's his class "animal" who gets to stay with us for a week (along with the book about him).  And, we had him over the fall break from school, so we got to do a lot of fun things with him......

Picking up the last of our CSA veggies at Arcana

On a hike with six dogs, six kids, and a hippo named Owen

Dinner with the Krull girls and Henry

Making a family tree during our "free time"

Picking out a pumpkin

    

Snuggling with Owen and Hippy

We also signed Cal up for the Bill Koch Nordic program that will be hosted on this beautiful piece of property in Underhill.

 And Cally was finally able to bring her first big piece of art home-- a Moose in Alaska.

O+

We've been on the road a lot recently.  I like traveling and getting away.  I do not like having to worry about finding Zephy care, packing for three member of the family, having to clean the house, load the car, remember iPad, chargers, activities for the car, and snacks.  Invariably I forget something, but usually it isn't super important.  John had been dreaming about going to the O Positive Festival in Kingston, NY for almost a year.  It's a gathering of artists and musicians, doctors, and health practitioners.  The idea is to offer free wellness services to under insured artists in trade for a weekend full of art and music. 

Kingston is a very hip town, made even hipper by this fantastic event.  We drove down on Friday night and stayed with our friends Tim and Sophia (although Sophia is in Milwaukee for ten weeks performing in a play) and their dear kids, Beckett and Iris.

Saturday was a gorgeous day and we had a great time checking out wall art installations, listening to music, and eating great food from a farmers market.

To end the day, Tim treated us to a harvest dinner fundraiser for a local nonprofit.  The kids continued to have a ball.  Swinging like monkey's from the tent and wrestling with each other.

They really do have fun with each other, sometimes. 

And they are goofballs!

Sunday was spent watching a kids music band and driving home.

We are all a little road weary, but so glad to have been where we have gone this past month.  

Harvest Market

The Harvest Market Parade is yet another favorite fall event for us.  The kids from Poker Hill School (or graduates, as is the case with three out of the four in this picture) love being in the parade and marching through town.  The Harvest Market is hard to explain-- a mix of flee market, old fashioned fair, town wide garage sale, and ecclectic gathering.

Hazey took his job holding the flag, very seriously.

Cally hanging with old friends

kids watching a pole climbing competition

Poker Hill has a tent where they offer face painting for a recommended donation of $3.  John made the mistake of excelling at this a few years ago, so I now sign him up for his duties.  He's really good.  Unfortunately, the booth was so crowded that I ended up having to attempt some face painting myself.  It was nerve wracking, to say the least.  Especially when a three year old asked me for a Curious George (which Cally informed me looked more like a turd on the girls face)

In celebration of the Harvest, we went apple picking as a family the day after Harvest Market.

And finally, here's a picture of Cally's t-shirt and banner that she made at Poker Hill Arts.  An after school arts class that she's been doing every Monday.  She absolutely loves it!  They were hung in the village green to advertise a local arts weekend. 

Freshgrass

One of our favorite events last fall was the Freshgrass Music festival in North Adams, MA.  We drove all the way down there and back in a day, but it was well worth the trip.  The festival is at Mass MoCA (an old mill that has been converted into a beautiful/funky gallery.  There are three stages, a kids tent, amazing local food trucks and beer.

This year, we decided to make a weekend of it.  There is camping on site, but pricey (and surely loud).  So John pulled some strings with his colleague at Williams College and we "roughed it" at their Outing Club cabin. It had electricity, running water, a wood stove, and friendly mouse housemates.  Our friends, the Dormer's joined us.  They were sort of horrified by the accommodations, but fortunately, we didn't spend much time there.

The weather was beautiful, the music so fun and the kids had a ball.

At one point, I ran into the father of a few of my students (who have all since graduated).  He saw me trying to hold a beer and an ice cream and wrangle kids at the same time.  He said, "I know it's hard now, but it's great that you are doing this with your kids.  We did this too.  Now I'm going to these events with my adult children and there is nothing better".  While it would surely be a little less hectic to go to one of these events without the children, but they have been doing it long enough that they are starting to "get it" and really have fun.