Leaves, leaves, leaves.....

Ethan loves to play in the leaves! Last week we went for a walk and found this huge pile of leaves, so of course Ethan had to play in them. I am sure the person who made this nice pile didn't appreciate Ethan rolling around and spreading the leaves out again, but Ethan had a blast. The leaves were so deep that Ethan could hardly walk through them. He looked like he was swimming!

Back to the Zoo

We loved the Reston Zoo so much we took Eric, Brooke and Sidney there while they were visiting. It was a little colder this time around, but we still had a lot of fun. The higlight of the trip had to be when Eric decided it would be a good idea to dip Sidney wool glove covered hand into the animal feed and see if the ducks would eat the food off of her hand. Luckily it didn't work as he had planned! Here are a few pictures from our outing. And yes that is a camel trying to eat our son while Jay and I smile for the camera.

Ethan and Sidney

Eric, Brooke and Sidney came to DC to spend Thanksgiving with us this year. Ethan and his cousin Sidney had so much fun playing together and they got along great! Sidney asserted herself early on so Ethan knew he couldn't push her around. Sidney followed Ethan around much of the time and Sidney taught Ethan some fun new tricks - like how to kick the bottom of the stair gate down. The visit was way too short and we all wish they could have stayed longer!

This year we discovered the Pumpkin Festival in a nearby town and I have to say it was actually a lot of fun. And yes that is a real pumpkin that Ethan and I are leaning on! I never knew pumpkins could get so big! The weekend after Halloween this farm has come up with a creative way to get rid of the pumpkins they didn't sell. Basically they have come up with all kinds of way to destroy pumpkins. They drop them from cranes, launch them into a lake from a catapult, smash them with a tractor, throw them at metal stakes. Tons of fun. They also have fun slides to go down and yummy kettle corn and apple cider. It was a great time. Our friends Steve and Katrina accompanied us on this outing and since my mom was here she came too. It was great!

And the winner is....

THE SKUNK! In the end, we just couldn't resist the cute lil skunk. And we also came to the same conclusion as Tanya did in her comment. This is probably the last year for cutesy costumes because starting next year he will want to be pirates and soccer players and superman. So we decided on the skunk. Here are a few pictures from the Halloween party and his friend's birthday/costume party. Ethan had so much fun at the Halloween party. There was even a moon bounce and they cleared out the big kids for long enough for some of the little guys to get in and bounce around. I love Halloween!