Next Generation

Back in early September we went to a park with Grandma and the cousins.  I took the camera so I could practice some action shots, and here are the results!  (It makes me miss summer…but we’re almost to the shortest day of the year, and then it starts heading back that direction!  There’s hope!)

This park has a playground with a huge slide:

I got A to do a little photo shoot with me:

The other two joined in for some of the shots as well:

We had a picnic lunch…

…then climbed some trees…(I love her expression on this one! =)

There’s a great fountain, made intentionally for kids to play in, I believe!

E wasn’t too sure about it at first, and sat watching his cousins for a bit.

E joined in eventually and had a great time!

E had so much fun he was the last one out.  He was very sad to go.  We’ll definitely have to go again next year!

Sometime in October we visited a farm called Baggenstos.  The kiddos played in the hay maze, E’s older cousin went with Grandpa through the corn maze, and we went on a tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch.  (Or at least the place where they put pumpkins out in a big field…they didn’t actually grow there, but hey–at least it’s on a farm!)  We had a great time!  (Again with the point-and-shoot, but it’s better than nothing, eh?)

E’s learning to say “Cheeeeeese!”

“OK, now do a NICE smile, E!”

Rock climbing!  Yessss!

No “cheese” this time…

A had fun startling the kiddos:

More “cheese”:

What could be better than a tractor ride?

E’s been getting into drumming on everything.  Pumpkins are good for that.

A charming shot of his little cousin:

We didn’t buy any pumpkins because we grew some in our yard–but then we never got around to carving any anyway!  I might cook them up and make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins with them, at least (if y’all in the area are lucky!).

Here are some pics from a while ago of E and his cousin finger painting with Grandma.  They had a great time!  (Sorry the quality isn’t up to our usual level…this was with my point-and-shoot.  But you get the idea anyway…)

And one more, just for the cuteness factor:

We had a little dinosaur this Halloween!  Joel was unfortunately sick, so he couldn’t go with us.  E and I had a splendid time anyway.  The first shot is of E when he first got his costume:

The afternoon of Halloween we had to have some way of keeping him occupied until it was time to trick-or-treat…

Here’s the back of the costume:

Yay, all dressed!

First stop: The Coffee Cottage, where they gave out free hot chocolates or apple ciders to kids in costumes.  Here he is waiting for his drink…

and trying it out!  Mmm…tasty.

We trick-or-treated around downtown and he got basically a full pumpkin’s worth of candy.

We went home for dinner and photo ops.

Then we traipsed over to his cousins’ place.  These two are next to impossible to get a photo where they’re both looking and have a pleasant expression!

I was experimenting with the flash, and when I edited these two shots I thought they looked cool even though it wasn’t exactly what I meant to do:

Darth…

Let the trick-or-treating begin!

Getting a little tired, but still gung-ho.

Also present were E’s cousins’ cousins and some neighbor kids (and their parents).

After a long evening…

E only had 2 pieces of candy all evening, but was up until after 11!  He had a great time…now it’s just a matter of getting rid of the candy without a hyped-up kiddo.  *sigh*  It’s a rough job, but somebody’s gotta do it!