Waiting for the Cows

He was so excited to see the "cows" He doesn't forget anything. He also feels the need to hold a toy in each hand. Current favorites. His jungle animals. Since he doesn't forget anything, he takes inventory every time we leave the house to make sure the "gangs" all here. There is no fooling this kid. And you better not leave any behind or you'll hear about it for the next week.

The secret is the milk

I just want everyone to get a chance to have the Hersheys theme song in their heads like it gets in mine for about two days after we take the tour.

TREATVILLE

After the "ride" at Chocolate World, we continued onto the "Trick-or-treat adventure". The best part is that the candy they pass out is actually good candy, since the park is owned by the Hershey CO. it's all my favorites. Then we made our way to "Treatville", where you go through the water park portion of the park, which they turned into a trick-or-treating little village. Very fun.

THE RIDES

We had to hit all of Liam's favorites. But with different names.





















The Dinosaurs- Spooky-O-Saurus,Swings-Web Sinner,Traffic Jam- Ghost Caravan,The Train- Tricky tracks, The Carrousel- Nights Mares, and . It was really fun. More so for Liam, but hopefully Nate will get to ride a few of the coasters next weekend.

Gifts from Papa & Corinne

So a quick Thank you to my dad but mostly his wife Corinne. We got a fun Halloween package in the mail the other day, and these were Liam's favorites. Thanks for the fun gifts. You guys are the best.

The Great Pumpkin

So my favorite holiday is in full action. But my next posts are about my favorite part. Going to pick out our pumpkin. It always makes me think about the movie "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown". I've still been waiting for the great pumpkin to come out on Halloween night and bring me presents but I learned my lesson through Lucy's. Nothing happened and she missed out on all the "Treats and Tricks". Maybe this is my year?

Our Great Pumpkin 2007

You know how your spouse or significant other or whatever will ask you a question that's not really a question or make a request thats not really a request? Does this just happen to me or is this everyone? I can never tell. Let me explain.

Every year Jen and I go pumpkin shopping. Jen has a great eye for decorating and pretty much every thing that you would call cute. I, on the other hand, have no such talent, but seem to think that I have a keen eye for detail. So when we go pumpkin shopping every year I get a number of these "requests" and "questions". The "request" is that I go pumpkin shopping. Now, I have to interject here that I recognize the fact that my wife has a great eye for these things and I have none, but I relish the days when I pick something that she looks at and agrees with. Come on guys, you know what I am talking about. It's just nice to actually be right about something sometimes. Anyway, when Jen asks me if I want to go pumpkin shopping the unedited testosterone fueled jerk that speaks in every male's brain says "First, I couldn't care less about pumpkins. Second, I know any one I pick out will be over-ruled, and my presence or opinion will have no effect on the pumpkin actually chosen. So I would rather sit in my own filth on the couch as watch football in an ever growing pile of potato chip remnants while I watch football and scratch my unmentionables." Then the reason run part of my brain shows the Testosterone Jerk how saying such a thing will lead to me eventually becoming Jon Bobbit type national punchline, or to my eventual loneliness or death. So the reason part of my brain edits the Testosterone Jerk. (Ladies, let me just say here that you have no idea how much effort it takes to continually edit the Testosterone Jerk. Cut us some occasional slack). In earlier years my attempts to chose a proper pumpkin have been thwarted again and again. Before last week I was an abject failure in the art of pumpkin selection. I'm here to report that those days are no longer.

This is a picture of this years pumpkin. It is here celebrated due to the fact that I picked it and (pause for effect) Jen signed off on it. I therefore declare it the best pumpkin ever picked and look forward to the day that I might slaughter it to engrave a terrifying image on it to celebrate this pagan festival of death...

That sounded much more festive and much less crazy in my head.

So proud of his pick. And I had to add these pics of Liam helping dad eat an apple. Reminds me of when Nate would feed Liam baby food. He had to open his mouth too when spooning the food into his mouth.

The annual picking of the family pumpkin

Much to Nate's dislike, I have a great LOVE of Halloween. It is my favorite holiday. Yes more than Christmas, my Birthday, Easter...I don't know why but I love everything about it. Except that is of course Haunted Houses which I hate and was somehow talked into going to one last year and it was aweful. (but that's a whole other story, back to the things I like.)
I love that the weather starts to turn colder (not cold but colder). My favorite are the leaves that are turning to the most amazing colors I have ever seen. Pictures to come shortly!
While Nate's Mom was here we also took her to a roadside farm. Liam of course went straight for the corn??? But got into the pumpkins after a bit.

Blanket Heads

Have you ever been so desperate to stop a kid from crying that you were willing to suffer any humiliation to make them stop? About a year ago now Liam was absolutely inconsolable. I mean he was absolutely breaking down. So I threw all caution to the wind and threw a blanket over my head and pretended I couldn't see him. A year later you can see the aftershocks. He still thinks is absolutely hilarious when there is a blanket over my head. It's not voluntary on my part. He will just come up and put a blanket over my head and laugh. If I am watching TV or trying to read it does not affect his desire for me to fulfill his blankethead demands.

Recently there has been a new turn of events. It is apparently not enough that I have the blanket on my head. It is now only entertaining if we both have a blanket on our head. As you can see above this has become a common practice.

Pumkins

Pumpking picking PIM

 

So this weeks PIM outing was to a farm, to pick out our pumpkins. They did a little presentation on the different kinds of pumpkins, and squashes. I never knew there was such a variety. Then they have you go through a small corn maze. This was Liam's favorite part. But sadly made him uninterested in the pumpkins. All he wanted was corn, corn corn...
He even tried to eat it but decided that I was right and it was "yucky".
They had a pumpkin pooch who loved the kids and Liam thought she was fun. She liked to lick the kids while they chose their pumpkins. I never knew pumpkins just grew out of no where in the dirt. At least thats what I can tell Liam.
Then they took us for a stroll in a tractor trailer around the crops. All in all a great day.

Gettysburg

Nate's Mom went on a girls trip with some friends to New York. When she found out it was only a three hour train ride to our house she had to stop on her way home to see Liam. I would like to think that we were also a part of her wanting to come and visit but I know that if Liam weren't here, three hours would be a much longer train ride and not worth it.
Nate surprisingly got a day off while she was here, so we jumped in the car and headed to the scene of the War at Gettsyburg. I didn't realize we are only 50 miles away. So all you history buffs, come out for a visit.
It was really interesting to see where it all took place and how the surrounding area hasn't change all the much. They have pretty much kept the land where the battle took place an open field and have since then put up monuments to all the different leagues who fought in the battle.
I'm sure we'll visit again, I can't wait there was so much more to see but only the one afternoon to do it in.

To Infinity...

Sorry this was taken on my cell phone, so not the best quality.

Liam has recently discovered the movie Toy Story. He likes to watch it every day now, and is fairly convinced that if he watches it just enough he will start to absorb the abilities of his hero from the film, much like a Peter Petrelli (yes that was a Heroes reference. Go rent that series. Now.. I don't want to hear your excuses). Liam has convinced himself that to infinity and beyond is a real possibility for him. Like Seinfeld says, most boys look at comic books not as fantasy but as possible career choices. I am not man enough to break it to him that Star Command won't come calling. I myself wanted to be Spider Man, but none of the spider bites I gave myself did jack (you would be surprised just how hard it is to find a RADIOACTIVE spider. Regular spiders, however, are a dime a dozen, and many will oblige you if you push them to bite.. but thats a long long story). So I turned to my second career choice, fire truck (yes truck. Ask my mom its true. I wanted to be the truck, hence my current girth). Oh well, keep dreaming buddy. At least our hopes always take us to infinity, and perhaps luck can push him beyond. Until then, he will keep doing his super hero reps as you can see above.

A day out with Thomas.

My new neighbor and I took our boys (Liam and Sam) up to the Strasburg railroad in Lancaster for a day out with Thomas the train.
It was a little hot that day, and Liam was in one of those, I woke up on the wrong side of the crib moods. (hence the Binky) But they enjoyed riding the train(s) and looking at all the Thomas Paraphernalia you could imagine.
I came home and needed a nap myself.

Thomas in all his glory

I don't know about you, but it weirds me out that he's always smiling and his eyes move from side to side???

Hanging with the Girls

Another friend, this time one since childhood, Missy, drove up from her home in Ohio for a quick weekend visit with her three kids. Her husband is finishing his last year of med school and was doing an away rotation. We had lots of fun and her kids are great! Liam loved hanging with her girls. And the moms enjoyed putting them in front of the TV while they took a break after a long day of rides and shopping at the outlets.
They were my first house guests in our new home. Anyone is invited. Chocolate world was a hit with all the kids. We did the factory ride twice. But I can't complain, they give out free Hershey candies at the end. Mmmmmm