Fall Fun

Like pretty much everyone else I love fall, and I like doing those fun "fall-y" things. One night at the beginning of the newly changed season, we went to the State Farmer's Market to pick out our pumpkins. The boys each got to pick out several, and we also picked out a large one to carve. Then we headed to Yates Mill State Park to enjoy the beautiful evening. Finally, we went home to enjoy Papa Murphy's pizza and some caramel apples for dessert. Some of the best things of fall~ beautiful weather, pumpkins, and caramel apples~ all in one night! 

Another fun fall thing for me was making the wreath below, which I had been wanting to do for a couple years now.

It was inexpensive to make since it's made out of brown coffee filters. I love how it turned out!

The boys and I attended a pirate treasure hunt in Eastgate Park in mid-October (through Raleigh Parks and Rec). The boys loved it! They made a craft, got pirate scarves, went on a hunt outside to find the treasure chest (which was filled with candy, plastic gold coins, and pirate coloring books for all the kids!), and then came back in for a pirate story and game. The boys enjoyed playing on the playground afterwards as well. I love that we have so many parks to choose from here in Raleigh and that they provide creative programs like this one for the kids.

We also went with Granana to the zoo on a most gorgeous Friday. The weather was perfect, and we all had fun together!

Eating our lunch

I loved this geyser we saw walking between continents and kept trying to take a picture of the highest one. Alas, I never got it.

The guys loved this big, over-sized playground, and I loved that they wanted to hold my hands sliding down!

Sliding just the two of them. So sweet!

Here is Granana demonstrating how to hula hoop! The boys liked this!

Playing in the mud kitchen in the Kid's Zone. They also loved the treehouse/fort in that area.

Last weekend we went to the YMCA Fall Festival. It was going to be outside with inflatables and lots of games, so I didn't want the kids to wear their "real" Halloween costumes. We thought it would be fun if they dressed up in something, though, so we whipped up some pirate costumes a few minutes before we left for the festival! 

Pirate Charlie!

Love this picture with him laughing.

I think we had told them to say, "Argh!" here. Pirate Henry finally stopped running around enough to join the picture.

Saying, "Yo, ho, ho!" They wore the pirate hats they won at the fair, their scarves from the pirate day mentioned above, eye patches I made out of felt, and carried swords made from cardboard, aluminum foil, and electric tape. Homemade costumes at their finest, ha! I also drew an earring on one of each of their ears, as well as a couple of tattoos on their arms. It was fun. : )

Going down the inflatable slide. They did this OVER and OVER. Good thing there was no charge!

Oh, the delight. Love it.

The Ring Toss- with pumpkins, which was really hard. Henry finally just walked right up to them and put the rings on the stems since throwing them wasn't working.

Digging for treasure- perfect for pirates! There were gold coins, or "dubloons" as Jake the Neverland Pirate calls them, and Charlie dug for them for quite a while. We were some of the last folks to leave, so Charlie and Henry got to keep the coins they found at that point. Exciting times for preschoolers!

This was toss-the-candy-in-the-muffin-tin. Nothing fancy, and Charlie liked it. He also liked eating some of the candy pumpkins that he was supposed to be tossing. I can't blame him; I was hungry too and considered doing the same myself.

Henry had been eyeing this soccer goal since we first arrived, so Jimmy took him over to play.

And we all made it over there!

Precious boy.

Playing soccer with Henry. I kept telling him he couldn't touch the ball, but to no avail. I loved playing soccer with him, though! It's been a while, but it was fun!