Clem's Artist Party

 

 

 

 While starting to think about this girl's birthday celebration--back in August, of course--she stated emphatically that she would like to combine her love of Art and her love of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Of course.

 So, we decided to break this soiree into parts: first, an Artist party with her friends at Creativitea in Fairhaven.

Clem and I have been here several times and totally love it. It seemed like a great place to do a birthday. I had no idea that the kids would have the entire loft space to themselves, a staff member to help move things along and everything planned so I could just snap pictures and chat.

 

Pumpkin Patch v2.0

 We sure love our Pumpkin Patch excursions around here. We've done two this fall, so you would think we'd know what we're doing. Nope. (This second Pumpkin Patch outing proves we're still a couple of rookies.)

 This pumpkin patch is at Bellewood Acres, which mostly deals in apples. My kids loved all the family style things to do there: tractor tires for climbing?? Yes please!

(Rookie mistake #1 dressing your two year old explorer in white when headed toward muddy pumpkin patch.)

 Fences for posing upon? I'll take some!

 Pumpkins for hugging? That's right up Dutchy's alley! (Yes,  he hugged every pumpkin we passed.)

(And it was at this point that Rookie mistake #2 became evident: while I knew to dress my children in rubber boots, I kicked it into high-gear wearing my favorite pair of Converse. My now destroyed pair of converse--as I lost one shoe, completely lost it, in an unseen patch of mud.)

 This pumpkin patch also has corn. And the inedible corn gets shot from blasters toward targets 50 yards out. Clem had a pretty keen eye!

(seriously, look at my shoe!)

Pumpkin Patch 2014

 

 We had a beautiful burst of sunshine over the weekend so our little crew high-tailed it to Stoney Ridge for a bit.

 Dutch has been once before but he was so itty bitty that he slept through it. Needless to say, this was a very exciting trip for him. He was excited to explore, excited to run and excited to make a TON of noise.

 Dutchy loved the scarecrows and pumpkins,

and loved running in the wide open spaces most of all.

 

Clem liked the snowman made of tractor tires,

 and her little train ride.

I realized, quickly, that I really wasn't getting the pictures I had hoped to with Dutchy's constant running. So I bought a bag of fresh doughnuts in the hopes he'd hold still. I got this, above, shot. Not my favorite, but he WAS holding still. For the rest of the day, he carried around the same doughnut in his hot little hand.

 And at the same time, Clem found this gourd someone had dropped on the ground. She immediately started scheming: "What can I use this for??" And she carried this little gourd around for the rest of the day in her hot little hand.

 There was a tractor ride, of course.

 And more pumpkin-patchin'.

 Clem found her perfect pumpkin (which I made her carry).

While this last picture has neither of my children in it, I had to share because I love this chandelier so so much. It's made of like 50 mason jars!! I loooooooove it.

Indian Summer

 Our (mostly) beautiful weather has decided to stick around into Fall this year. It's made for summer-like weekends and lots of outside time for these rugrats.

In mid-September, we hit up St. Sophia's Greek Festival where Cam  hoped to get his hands on the gyro of his dreams. No dice.

 But Clem got her face painted beautifully! It was a gorgeous day so she and I headed on down to Semiahmoo to throw rocks into the water.

 Another weekend, the whole crew head down to our secret beach spot. Dutch was happy to throw rocks into the water while Clem and Cam flew froggy kites.

Museum of Flight

 We had a great time this weekend in Seattle celebrating YaYa's birthday and Dutchy's undying love for AIRPLANES! Naturally, we hit up the Museum of Flight!

 Before you even go in,  you can get up close and personal with all kinds of planes.

 And Dutch did, right away. This should have been an early indicator that areas partitioned off to avoid touching mean nothing to this boy. I think it actually made the exhibits MORE tantalizing!

 Dutch has been our kiddos most in love with airplanes. He loves to listen and point them out in the sky. Dutch has an absolute blast, of course, but it's been Clem who really surprised us with her enthusiasm at the Museum. Her curiosity was definitely piqued and she's been talking about it a lot since we got back! 

 At home, Dutch has a Disney Planes coloring book. He has colored the big round nose of every airplane a bold red. Imagine his excitement when walking up the stairs only to come face to face with a big, bright red nose of an airplane. It was very very exciting.

 After Dutch stepped over the barrier and bee-lined it straight toward a Wright Brother's replica (ahem), the docent on the floor came over and suggested Dutchy might be better suited for the Kid's Area. I didn't even know that existed so I was very glad he pointed it out!

 And so were these kids! Clem tested out a hang-gliding interactive experience.

 While Dutch proclaimed this plane HIS.

 And this helicopter HIS.

 Clem's pretty used to all that. She let him join her in a simulator.

 And then was very curious about the hot air balloon (pulling the lever fills the balloon with actual hot air and it went up to the ceiling and back down).

 She also liked listening in on the air control tower conversations happening all across the U.S.

 But she says her favorite part was the glass elevator (seriously). She isn't used to such fancy get-ups.

There was SO much to see and do at the Flight Museum. Clem could have easily stayed here all day long. After nearly 2 hours, Dutch had his fill of AIRPLANES! But I have a feeling we'll be back for more once he's a little older.