Happy Halloween!!

Wish List

Tuesday the Toys R Us Christmas catalogue showed up in the mail.  I gave Mike a marker and told him to circle all the toys he thought were cool - it bought me 20 minutes to cook dinner!  The downside is that he now thinks he "needs" every single toy in the catalogue.  Oh, and it was crazy hair day at school.  His hair isn't normally blue.

Peter Pan, Baseball, the Zoo and Running

See the title up there...yeah, that one.  Well that pretty much sums up our entire weekend.  Brad got called in early Saturday morning to operate so the boys and I (ok, just I) organized half of Ryan's closet.  The boys thought it was great fun because they got to play in the bathtub (without water) and jump on my bed.

After I finally convinced them to get off the bed we actually got out of our pajamas and headed out for the play Peter Pan.  Unfortunately it was LONG...2.5 hours long.  Which is asking A LOT from little kids, fortunately the boys both did great!

After we finally made it home that night we snuggled in (for at least 2.7 seconds) to watch the Cards and the Red Sox in the World Series.

Sunday morning we broke out all the warm clothes and headed to the Zoo where we pretended to be Spoooooky monsters;

 watched hippos fight (which was crazy);

 and measured up against some furry friends.  Ryan is approximately the size of a koala and mike is 1/2 way between a river otter and pygmy goat.

 Once we left the zoo, Brad and I settled in for a 6 mile run around Forest Park.  Ryan decided it was the perfect opportunity to take a little cat nap.

As I was cooking dinner that night the boys came clomping into the kitchen in Brad's shoes.  Mike proudly declared that he was daddy and Ryan was his friend Ryan (very creative).  He then proceeded to "go to work" and "talk on my phone."  Apparently after work "Daddy and his friend Ryan" went to the Cardinals game. 

Monday Picture

The Greatest Show on Earth, and other happenings last weekend

Even though it is completely out of order I'm going to start by talking about our trip to the circus, which happened Sunday afternoon.  It is out of order because I listed the circus first in the title and it feels wrong to talk about other stuff first.  I guess I could always go change the title, but then I would have to delete all of this and well...I don't want to.  So here is our out of order weekend:

On Sunday afternoon Mike, Ryan and I went to the circus (Brad was out of town).  I scored tickets from work (in the box nonetheless).  They loved it.  Mike couldn't sit still and danced most of the time.  Ryan LOVED the animals more than anything.

As a funny story.  Right as the tight-rope walkers were setting up for the stunt shown below, Mike looked over at me and said "Mom, I DO NOT think this is a good idea."

Before the circus on Saturday morning Brad left semi-bright on early with a group of friends for the Notre Dame - USC game in South Bend, which left the boys and I alone to our own devices.  I wasn't feeling great (yay for head colds) but decided to suck it up and get some exercise anyway.  "We" accomplished a chilly 4 mile run.

Saturday afternoon my sickness/tiredness caught up with me and that coupled with the boys indecisiveness about napping killed my idea of a trip to the zoo.  We hung out around the house and just played instead.

On Sunday, after the circus (see kind of confusing) we met Brad at home (yay he was back) and headed out to a pumpkin carving party.  Mike went for a traditional jack-o-lantern, while Brad opted for a more scary pumpkin, using the stem as a nose.

Eckerts - 2013 Edition

For some reason I didn't mention this when we went (probably because I forgot how to blog), so this is way past due, but here it is anyway.  For the fourth year in a row, we made our annual trek out to Eckert's Fun Farm.  The boys love this place.  This year (for whatever reason) we skipped the giant slide and the petting zoo, but took full advantage of the goats, jumping pillows, corn maze, carnival rides and apple picking.

Monday Picture

Things Mike Says: Counting

Mom, we can't count to a hundred. A hundred is like a zillion. 

Pumpkin Carving Part 1

The boy's daycare does an annual pumpkin decorating contest, last year Mike won with his mummy pumpkin, so we figured we should probably do something again this year.  The idea of a Pirate pumpkin was hatched by Brad and away we went...

The boys were pretty unsure about scooping out the pumpkin guts. 

And since it was quickly approaching bedtime, Ryan quickly lost interest and left the fun to Mike and Brad.  

Yaaarrrrrr!

The Cabin

Last weekend Brad was invited to go turkey hunting with a friend.  The friend had a friend who had a cabin in the Middle of Nowhere, Missouri.  Even though Sarah and I were not 100% on board with the idea, we decided to support Brad and load up the car and drive into the Middle of Nowhere Missouri after dark on a Friday evening.  Now some would argue that the trip was 50% ok and 50% terrible, that may be generous, but we will focus on the good parts and not talk about Brad being super hungover while hunting, or Sarah and I getting in a big fight which caused me to do a 2 hour cave tour alone with the boys and made her run from the car screaming up a hillside (through spider webs) in the Middle of Nowhere, Missouri or the musky smell of the cabin we stayed in.  We finally found the place around 9:45.  Both boys were ready for bed and they happily obliged and settled into their new surroundings.

 Which left us free to hang out around the campfire, make s'mores and consume some beverages (or a lot of beverages in some cases).  Around 4am we woke up to the sound of pounding rain on the aluminum roof, ensuring a great day of hunting (ha).

After everyone was up and fed, Mike decided to charm us with a little bit of harmonica awesomeness.

Then we headed down to the river to throw rocks, because when you are almost 2 or almost 4 there is really no better way to pass time than throwing rocks at things.

Sarah and I decided to go explore a cave we had passed on the way in (Onondaga State Park if anyone is interested) and passed these two on the way.  Looking oh so cheery (please ignore the lack of turkey).

Then there was the cave tour. I told Mike it was the bat cave, which made him think it was pretty cool. Luckily, we actually did see bats, so he was a firm believer.  Oh, and there were some cool cave formations also ;)

After the cave tour we hightailed it back to the cabin (and saw a turkey on the way), collected Brad and hightailed it back to St. Louis.

Mike's First Race

Brad and I have been doing a number of races lately and Mike is becoming more and more interested.  He kept asking when he could do one with us.  As luck would have it, the Go! St. Louis Halloween Run was approaching so I decided to sign Mike (and Brad) up for the 1 Mile Fun run.  As it is Halloween themed, costumes are encouraged.  Mike wanted to be Batman, so Brad was a good sport and dressed up as Robin.  As a funny side story, Mike didn't initially know who Robin was so we explained to him that Robin was Batman's helper.  They fight crime together, but Batman is the boss.  So Mike took this to mean that he was the boss of Brad (as long as they were in costume).  As soon as Brad's costume showed up in the mail Mike demanded that Brad put it on "so I can boss you around, daddy."  And then proceeded to ask Brad to make him a sandwich, bring him grapes and bring him a drink. 

Anyway, Sunday was raceday, so once everyone was in costume it was time for some Superhero poses:

As Mike and Brad lined up at the start line Sarah, Ryan and I wandered off to find a good vantage point to watch the race and cheer on our crime fighting duo.  Ryan wasn't exactly sure why he was there.  As Mike and Brad ran past us Sarah looked over at me and asked "why is this making me tear up" I answered that I had no idea, but I had tears in my eyes also.  It was awesome to watch Mike run with so much motivation with his cape flying behind him.

They finished the race in about 12-13 minutes (I think, I was too excited to actually check a clock) and Mike ran the whole entire time.  The last 1/8 of a mile or so he kept telling Brad that his legs felt like they were melting.  Once they found us at the finish line Mike proudly held up his medal and was quick to point out that he finished before daddy!  Can't wait for the next one!!!

Monday Picture

Monday Picture