Thanksgiving at Great Wolf Lodge

We went to Great Wolf Lodge with the Burns and Nold family for Thanksgiving for the third year in a row. We had a ton of fun (how could we not when Syd's most favorite thing is swimming). Here are some pics from our adventure.

Field Trip to Country Lane Tree Farm

Last Wednesday, Syd's kindergarten class (and all the other kindergarten classes at her school) had a field trip to Country Lane Tree Farm (http://countrylanetreefarm.com/). Mom went along as a parent volunteer to help out. We boarded buses at about 9:15 and headed to the farm. At the farm the kids got to pet baby chicks, baby ducks, donkeys, horses, ponies, rabbits, etc. as well as milk a cow and see a bunch more animals. They also went on a hayride and got to pick out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, rode in a really cool barrell train pulled by a four wheeler, and got to see bees making honey. There was also a playground (that probably would have been enough for most of the kids). And one of Syd's favorite parts was a straw maze in a barn, at the end of which were two slides, one really tall one and another winding tunnel one. The kids ate lunch there in between all of the events and animals. We left the farm at about 2:00 or so and headed back to school. It was a really long day and we were all tired, adults and kids, by the end. We lucked out with weather, since it was 75 degrees and sunny. People were actually complaining it was too hot. Crazy for November 5th.

Here are some pictures from the trip.

This is the kids at tables listening to instructions from the farm owner.



Here is Syd petting a baby chick and rabbit.




Here they are in the barrel train.



And here's Syd having some fun on the playground.

Halloween 2008

Sydney decided she wanted to be a SWAT officer this year. Her original choice was a fire fighter, but since she was that two years ago, she compromised and went with the SWAT costume.

Here are some pics of the front porch, and especially our pumpkins. The first is of Mom and Syd's pumpkins and the second is of Dad's pumpkin. When we went to Fleitz' last week Syd insisted on buying a bunch of baby pumpkins, so those are the surrounding ones.

Syd looked pretty good in her costume. Unfortunately, we didn't remember to take a picture until the end when it was very dark, so it's not a great picture.

The really cool part about going trick-or-treating this year was that Syd knows many of the kids in the neighborhood now, because they all go to school together. So, everywhere we went, we saw kids she knew or we heard kids screaming her name. Four of the kids in the neighborhood are in her class, so she knows them well. Another two are three in are in other kindergarten classes and first grade classes, so she knows them too. We had a lot of fun going around with her. She lasted the longest so far, a little over an hour.

Halloween Parade at Woodland Elementary

Syd's school has a Halloween Parade every year followed by a party in the classroom. Parents are invited to the parade and the kids, class by class, parade through the gym in their Halloween costumes. It was pretty cool, but the lighting in the gym is horrible. And for whatever reason the pics came out weird and often blurry. Here are some pictures from the parade and her party after. The first one is very far away, they were on the other side of the gym. This is zoomed in. She's in the black SWAT outfit between the firefighter and cowgirl. The second one is closer, but blurry, sorry. Oddly enough, this one looked the clearest of all of them in the viewing box on the camera. The third and fourth pictures are from their Halloween party in the classroom. They were playing pin the "something" on the witch's nose.