Halloween!

Liesl was super excited about her costume this year, and a good thing, because there were multiple occasions when she got to wear it in the weeks leading up to Halloween! Her friend Diya's birthday party was Halloween-themed, so she first got to wear it for that sleepover party, and then there were two dance classes that allowed costumes, and then a school Halloween party, and then finally the big night!

She decided to be a 'dritten', or dragon-kitten, which is what the main character in the Upside Down Magic book series transforms into when she is nervous. Seriously, what could be better than a dritten? What could be better than a costume derived from a literary reference?!?! What could be better than iridescent glittery wings?

 Cat makeup entirely by Liesl, and created with a tiny paintbrush and washable paint. :)

 Costume week at Elite Dance Studio!!! The ballet troupe is above and the hip hop crew below.

The Friday night Harvest/Halloween fest at the school! (The balloon is for Campbell's brother, who did indeed get well soon.)

 This was Liesl's reaction to me wearing Sebastian's wig.

My boy decided to be a unicorn riding a unicorn. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but I can't dispute that he's really rocking that wig and that the unicorn costume is simply outstanding. These are from the school's party.

Sebastian was invited to join some friends for trick-or-treating this year, and since he's nearly 11, and asked nicely, and our neighborhood is safe, we let him go off with just his friends. He ran out of here at 5:30 and didn't come home until 8:45, treat bag filled to the brim with the most candy he's ever gotten. He had a wonderful time; we missed him, but were happy for his fun and independence. We walked the neighborhood with Liesl, meeting up with the Qualls family for part of it, visiting the Foleys' house (where they were having a garage/driveway party), and seeing most of her friends at some point. It was a fun night.

Sweet, patient Jasper let us dress him up as Wonder Woman for part of our night. He wasn't exactly happy, but he didn't try to chew it off either.

Steve and I dressed up too, as Nerds candy boxes, but we somehow failed to get a photo of ourselves. Lots of other people took photos of us, though, and we got lots of compliments. (Although Sebastian, in the time-honored fashion of children everywhere, declared us to be soooo embarrassing.) We'll have to see if someone texts us a pic, or we'll have to restage our costume.

pumpkin carving

Liesl and I scooped out and carved two of our massive pumpkins on Sunday, and roasted the seeds. (Also on the docket: two soccer games and a Girl Scout event... busy weekend!!)

 Sebastian's forbidding-looking pumpkin (with a funny mustache!).

 Liesl's happy, snaggle-toothed pumpkin.

We're ready for Halloween, just in time!

spooky Girl Scouts meeting

On Sunday night we had our second Girl Scouts activity, a Halloween-themed exploration of the five senses. First up, taste! Mike and Mieke, who were running the show, had filled Dixie cups with four drinks, the components of our witches brew. The first cup was full of unsweetened cranberry juice and downing it led to a lot of funny puckered faces.

A hand-shaped ice cube in the finished punch.

Elia introducing the next activity, to explore touch. The girls had to reach into a bucket and decide what they were feeling, and match the bucket number to their six options (bird bones, ears, intestines, eyeballs, teeth, and brains). They were so disgusted and grossed out and giggling madly.

Next sense... smell! There were four bottles filled with magical ingredients: witches breath and goblin socks among them ... aka anchovy paste, dillweed, blue cheese, and cloves.

Next sense, sight! We looked at a series of optical illusions and discussed what we could each see. The photo below has both a duck and a bunny.

And finally, hearing! We got on our jackets and rainboots and ventured out for a night-time, flashlight-lit stroll around Mill Pond Park. We tried (kind of, sort of) to be very quiet and focus on what we could hear in the dark. It was a little spooky and scary, but a whole lot of fun.

We played a a few rounds of Red Light Green Light and What Time is it Mr. Fox? in the grassy fields of the park, and then trooped back to the meeting room for cookies and GS badges.

Lakeview Farms

On Saturday afternoon, after both kids played in soccer games (and I went to a work event for a couple hours), we ventured out to Lakeview Farms. We've visited that particular pumpkin patch every single year since we moved to Portland and didn't want to let our busy fall schedule deter us from the pilgrimage. But of course, even though it's been the most beautiful and dry October in memory and was sunny all morning, just as we had the time to head out, it started to sprinkle. And then it started to drizzle, and then rain, and then pour. We were undaunted; or rather, Liesl was undaunted, and since it was her birthday, we were all along for the ride. We got soaked but didn't give up halfway -- we did the full corn maze, getting all 5 stamps and earning our prizes (candy and popcorn), and then we did the whole pumpkin patch shebang - ride the train, get a wheelbarrow and select pumpkins, ride the ferry back. We picked five enormous pumpkins. It was ridiculous and funny and so fun to be together.

Jasper loved the corn maze. It was like a giant Easter egg hunt for him - he kept finding and eating ears of corn, chasing after us, dashing through the mud, tail wagging madly.

I think this photo really captures the quantity of rain that's falling as we carefully study the corn maze map and decide where to next go in search of the next hole-punch station.

 Happy, muddy, wet Jasper.

I entertained the idea that we might head home after the corn maze -- which we completed in record time this year -- but Liesl and Sebastian were set on the rides. So we got on the train - dog and all - and traveled out to the field of pumpkins. Jasper was not happy about the moving train.

On the ferry ride across the lake, back to the beginning, with our pumpkin haul. Jasper was marginally happier on the boat.

Just for fun, I looked up all of our previous Lakeview Farms visits - every year!! (We moved to Portland in December 2012.) It's so fun to see the kids getting taller on the measuring signpost. Direct links to each blog post below:
2017: first time with Jasper!
2016: equally wet and muddy, and even colder
2015: with friends!
2014: the year that Liesl wouldn't let us leave the corn maze
2013: our first visit, when we didn't know what to expect