We drove up to New York for a long weekend to kick off the month of October and ended the month with lots of Halloween festivities.
Rose's selfie October 2017 at 3.5 years
Farm visit in upstate NY October 2017
Girls on the bus at the farm
Indoor playground fun in NY
Because we dove back on a weekday, we came upon a lot of traffic in DC. Normally, when we travel on Sundays we leave NY between 1-2 am and get around DC by 8am. This time, the traffic started around Baltimore and we were bumper to bumper by 7am. Instead of staying in the car, we decided to drive into the city for the morning and check out the National Mall. It was a warm October day and the girls alternated between the stroller and running around.
They passed out before we could get lunch, so we took food to go and got home in time for dinner.
Walking around the National Mall on a nice October day
Girls passed out in the stroller as we order Shake Shack to go
In October, the girls' school had their semi-annual picnic. We look forward to the potluck lunch where the classrooms display the children's projects. Rose had a huge portfolio of 6 months of work. They had done lessons on the body, planets, super heroes, and so much more. Zoe's projects were also displayed, but because she had transitioned to her new class that month, she didn't have as much to show.
Rose and Zoe showing Rose's display at school
In October, Rose finished out her soccer season. After her amazing debut the first week, she struggled a little bit with getting involved in the game. There was one team in particular that had a few boys who were pretty aggressive. Rose ran off the field crying in her second game and it took a few more games for her to get back in the action. She was wonderful at participating in the practice and did a good job running around during the games. She just wasn't that into pushing her way through to get the ball. The final game included a celebration at the end to recognize each child's participation and a potluck lunch.
Rose celebrating the end of the season with her team
The second half of October was all about Halloween. We painted pumpkins, carved pumpkins, attended some Halloween parties, read Halloween stories, and went trick or treating. The final weekend of the month I was lucky enough to be asked to present at a conference at the Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte. Colin and the girls came with me and we all enjoyed the waterpark (as much as two parents can while somewhat tethered to two toddlers) during the evening of the first day. There was a trick-or-treating event at the lodge that evening, so the girls wore their costumes and got candy along a set of stations. While I presented at the conference, Colin took the girls back to the water park, and after we had lunch we went back for a little more fun. It was enjoyable, but we were all a bit limited in what we could do. I think we'd all have a little more fun in a few more years when we could ride the bigger slides together.
Painting mini pumpkins
Rose and Zoe's painted pumpkin creations
Arriving at the Great Wolf Lodge in October 2017
Rose in her peaock costume at Great Wolf Lodge
Zoe having her snack at the Great Wolf Lodge waterpark
Enjoying our stay at Great Wolf Lodge
Carving our 2017 pumpkins
Our creations L-R are Colin, Rose, Zoe, and Nicolle
Smiling for the camera after the Halloween walk at school
We celebrated lots of Halloween events over the past few days. Saturday we had a party for the Women's Birth and Wellness Center in Chapel Hill (where Rose was born), we carved and painted pumpkins yesterday, there was a Halloween parade at school today, and of course we went trick-or-treating this evening. Rose trick or treated like a pro, saying "Trick or Treating" at each doorstep, only taking a few candy bars, and then politely saying thank you. Zoe didn't want to miss out and lasted a full hour, also taking her fair share of candy. Everyone loved the Flintstones theme, and the girls were so cute in their fairy costumes. Zoe ended up wearing her cat suit for the parade. I'll have to dig through the camera devices to see if we got a picture. She loved wagging her tail while she wore it.
Fred, Bamm-Bamm, Wilma and Pebbles
Wilma and my little cloth-diapered Pebbles
Zoe paints, Rose paints and scoops, and daddy carves pumpkins
I think she got just as much on the pumpkin as she did on herself
My first time free-hand drawing and carving a pumpkin (L)
Colin is a pro and can draw Hello Kitty freehand (R)
My princesses
Darwin protecting his girls (or maybe checking to see if Zoe has food)
The Flintstones and Bamm-Bamm go trick or treating
Bamm-Bamm and Pebbles are joined by their friend skunk
Happy 2016 Halloween. Hope you all had a safe and fun day/weekend.
The best picture I could get of Rose in her Halloween outfit for school
On Halloween morning, we took some pictures of Rose and Zoe in their Halloween shirts and then headed to the party at Waverly Place in our costumes (thanks to my friend Katie for passing them on to us). We got lots of compliments as Rose enjoyed the playground, checking out the booths, and walking down the catwalk. At the end of the event, we shopped and enjoyed lunch outside on the patio at Whole Foods.
Rose and Zoe smiling for the camera
The Miller ladies
Daddy and his little girls
Fisher(wo)man and our lobsters
We hadn't been able to find time to carve pumpkins this past week, so after Rose decided she wasn't going to nap, we carved some pumpkins in the driveway. It was getting late in the day, so we wanted to be available to the trick or treaters in case anyone came early. Plus, it's easier to clean up outside. Colin is very artistic, certainly more than me and impressive for someone without any training. While he looked for some inspiration for his design online, I used my store-bought stencil set to design my pumpkin. With Rose wanting to help, there was no way my stencil outline was going to work out. Thankfully, Colin drew a face for me and Rose to carve. Rose managed to let me cut and then we both worked to clean out the inside. Meanwhile, Colin designed, cut and cleaned out a second pumpkin. I was surprised that Rose was so helpful at (and into) cleaning out the pumpkin, but once we were almost finished, she wanted to put all the seeds back inside.
You'll notice in the pictures below that Rose is in a cat Halloween costume that she only wore about 30 minutes. It's nice to have friends to give you costumes...she had choices to be a cat, a flamingo, or Winnie the Pooh, and ultimately didn't end up being any of those. We trick or treated in our fisher(wo)man/lobster outfits for about 30 minutes on our street only. Rose enjoyed trick or treating once she realized that you went to people's door, got to socialize a bit, and then they give you something to put in the bag. She didn't really get the whole costume bit and was terrified of daddy's scary mask (and a few scary costumes). Zoe slept the whole time in her stroller.
Zoe in her gifted pumpkin outfit while we carved pumpkins
Rose wanting to help mommy design her pumpkin with the stencil set
Rose helping to scoop out seeds and pumpkin filling
Daddy's amazing creations
Our many pumpkins from several farm trips this fall
I love that Colin's pumpkin is eating a little pumpkin
I was bummed not to have any pictures of trick or treating this year, but after pumpkin-carving (and Colin cutting his hand), the night was more of a challenge than it was fun for us Millers. Rose skipping her afternoon nap was the driving factor, coupled with her teething, a cold (runny nose) that won't quit, and our trying to fit too much in late in the day. It was a challenge to get her dressed, I couldn't find part of Zoe's outfit as we were ready to leave (which fell slightly under the couch), Zoe generally wants to eat/nurse longer most evenings, Rose dropped the iPad on the concrete while skyping and cracked the screen, and she was overtired when we finally managed to turn the lights out on trick or treaters to put her to bed.
Colin had set up the fire pit with our chairs in the driveway to greet trick or treaters (as many others in the neighborhood do), and it would have been nice to hang out there for a bit for the two hours most people come by. It probably would have been an enjoyable night if Rose had slept her 2 hours during the afternoon (and if her teeth didn't take so long to come through!). She's been teething for the past few weeks and I'm only now starting to see the two upper canines come through. We had a rough time in July with the four molars and are again experiencing challenges with teething. The poor girl is miserable when she's teething. I sure hope we get through this phase quickly and that the second molars that should come in 6-12 months won't be so hard on her.
