Fall & Halloween Festivities

I saw a grass-hopper yesterday jump onto the shrubs in our front yard and thought that all of it's grasshopper friends in Northern Alberta must be jealous of it's ability to still hop about at the end of October. A blanket of snow covers Fort McMurray (where my father lives) yet we have been so blessed down here in Oregon to have had beautiful weather these last few days. Actually, I don't remember ever trick-or-treating in weather as warm as this. The kids were even coatless this year!

We started the festivities off with a fall festival carnival at our church. The kids dressed in their costumes off we went to experience some children's worship time and carnival fun. When the kids spotted their friend Ella (Snow White) in the sanctuary, we were hard pressed to keep all three of them away from the platform area.

I love this picture of Declan (a Train Engineer) and Ella in the pew at church. Looks like they are praying.


Miss Maya (or shall I say SUPER GIRL) in her costume and showing off her new face paint...a butterfly.


Saturday morning we headed to Tualatin for the Annual Pumpkin Boat race. According to the announcer, it is the WORLD'S LARGEST Pumpkin Race Regatta in the WORLD! (Could it be because it is the ONLY pumpkin race regatta in the world? hmmm!) It was fun to watch the Seed Extractors at work...yes carving out a hole in their ginomous pumpkins so they could have somewhere to sit when they began the race. It was hilarious and yet it looked like so much fun. Jeremy even said that we should try growing a huge pumpkin just so we could enter the race next year.

Me and the kids with one of the big pumpkin boats....


A Seed Extractor...



Maya and Declan wanted to paint & decorate a pumpkin at the regatta...

Grandpa's little buddy!

Grandma's little followers!

And the race begins...

Then it was trick-or-treating time. Super Girl got ready by flying all around the house...

Our little Train Engineer looked like a pro as he pounded the pavement, even though it was his first time going door-to-door...

Super daughter is off to the next house!.....SWOOSH!

"That's it daddy?! That's all I got?"

Better to come home early than to have kids bouncing off walls for the next week or so;)