Pumpkin Patch

I don't think we've ever gone to a pumpkin patch twice, although a lot of that is just how much we've moved.  This was our first Halloween in Utah with kids, so once again it was a new patch.  We liked this one, it had pony rides, a tiny corn maze, free food, a country store, and a hay ride (that we skipped because of the line).  I think that we might keep looking and try to find a better one next year.  

Kaelyn LOVED the pony ride.  It was her first time, and she did great.  It was actually Alexa's first pony ride, too, but only because every other time she flipped out as soon as we got her on (or near) the pony.  She actually wanted to skip it this time, until she saw how excited Kaelyn was. Nothing like peer pressure, and getting shown up by your little sister, right? She ended up enjoying it too, just not to the extent of Kaelyn.

 They both really liked messing around on all the old tractors this place had.

 And they thought the corn maze was pretty cool, but it was pretty sparse, and wasn't really maze-like at all.

 They did really enjoy the slide, although not the hay that got stuck everywhere.

After all the fun stuff we picked pumpkins.  Alexa got a monster- the biggest out of all of ours, and Kaelyn refused to get one big enough to carve, and actually ended up picking a white pumpkin.  Guess that will be a good canvas for painting!

Camping

We had been talking about camping pretty much all summer, and we finally went in September.  Of course, it was the coolest weekend in months, but we had a lot of fun.  The girls were filthy within about 5 minutes of getting there, literally- we hadn't even unloaded anything yet.

 They were pretty excited to sleep in the tent.

 And there were a couple of tiny little paths through the trees that went up the mountain and had gorgeous views.  It was pretty steep, but the girls loved hiking up it!

 They also thought it was pretty cool walking up the road to the big cage full of wood piles, and took their jobs of picking our bundle out very seriously.

We're looking forward to going again, probably next year, when it gets a bit warmer at nights again!

The Cuddler vs. The Terror

Sometimes I think Kaelyn's got a little Jekyll and Hyde thing going on.  On the one hand, we have the girl who loves to curl up ON you (as opposed to next to you) to watch movies or games or anything really.

And on the other you have the girl who puts an entire roll of toilet paper in the toilet....

 Or a whole container of baby powder and bottle of shampoo on the floor (it's a couple of inches thick on the floor)....

 And who seduces her older sister to her evil ways, and wastes probably about $25 of spices (there are more piles to the right).

And those are just the worst messes, but there was one that was another bottle of shampoo, multiple sink floodings, many clogged toilets, and a few others.  All within about 3 weeks.  It was a weird, and terrible time in the house, with a very strange smelling bathroom, and a very spicy smelling kitchen.  Luckily, she seems to be over this phase. Thankfully!

First Day of School

Only two months late, that's not so bad, right?

Alexa started Kindergarten this year! She was very excited, and not at all nervous.  I think it helped a lot that Preschool last year was at the school, and was at pretty much the same time.  

 Kaelyn has been enjoying some time without her big sister around.  It might be that Mommy doesn't care if she touches Alexa's toys.... :-)

Alexa has been loving school, and has made several new friends, as well as becoming closer to a few friends from her class last year.  So far it has largely been review, but she is getting much better at her reading, which she is over joyed about.  And I'm pretty sure Kaelyn is counting down until she gets to go to preschool next year!

Review: The Martian

I was very curious to read The Martain by Andy Weir when I saw previews for the movie, because, let's be honest, books are almost always better than movies made from books.  The story is about Mark Watney, who gets left behind on Mars, and keeps a log of his time stuck there.  He has no contact with Earth, or with any other people, like his team, and has to use what it left behind from the failed mission to try to survive.  He knows another mission is planned to come to a different part of Mars in four years, but know he does not have enough food or water to last that long, or a way to get to where the next mission is planned to land.  Luckily, he happens to be a botanist and mechanical engineer,  so basically he is the person with the best chance to survive in these circumstances.  While the book is largely written in first person point of view, as he is keeping a detailed log of his days and activities, it also switches things up by including the perspective of the people trying to save him, both his team, and NASA and their helpers.

I really liked this book.  Mark's entries were filled with humor, so it wasn't nearly as depressing as you would think a book about a guy stuck in space would be.  It also had enough twists and such, that just when you thought you had figured out if he would survive or not, you suddenly weren't sure anymore.  My only complaint would be that there was a lot of scientific jargon, which is rather unavoidable when he's explaining how he's trying to make water and such, but still was a little hard to follow, and got boring pretty quick.  I am now interested in seeing the movie, to see how it compares! I would recommend this book to anyone interested in science, it has a lot of different types included- nutrition, botany, engineering, chemistry, and more.  However, I'm not interested in science, so that's not a requirement. Those who enjoy sarcastic humor would also enjoy this book.


I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.