Happy Halloween!

Trevor ended up having two Halloween days--one at daycare the day before and then one on Halloween. I was in Apple Valley and didn't get to go to the daycare event but John got to go over and help out and play along a bit. From his description it seemed like a pretty serious affair with lots of time spent looking in the candy bag to see what was there. When I saw him at home he was pretty excited to tell about getting candy from doors and his friend wearing a hat (John explained she was a witch).



























John took video too... at the beginning he's commenting on the doors that don't have candy, then he hears airplanes (they hear them a lot since the daycare is on base), then he's correcting one of the teachers that he's not a dragon, he's a dinosaur (which seems obvious, I don't know what she was thinking).



Halloween at home actually took a bit of convincing in getting him to trick or treat at home. We put the costume on and I told him that we were going to say trick or treat to houses and they'd give him candy. He was pretty insistant that there was candy in the bowl (that we were passing out)and we should get it from there instead. Which, technically I guess that would be the easier way over all. But he went along with doing it the hard way anyways. He'd say "trick or treat" before the door opened, but that was about it. A few people asked him if he could say trick or treat and he said "yes". He appreciated the Halloween decorations people had outside and talked a lot about one of our neighbor's "scarey windows". And of course, the candy was good.

Pumpkin Time

We went to the pumpkin farm (ie. Murray Farms in Bakersfield) to do all their Halloween activities again this year. Trevor is so good on drives--it was about an hour and a half/two hours to get there and he reads, talks and sings the whole way there. Trev and I took a picture in front of their pumpkin height thing. We did this last year too, and I think I was more aware of the pumpkin picture at the time. This year I seem to be covering up most of it. If you click on "2007" on the blog archive section to the right and scroll about halfway down to a last October you can see he's grown about a half foot according to the scientific pumpkin ruler.




















They had a spider maze to go through and took some pictures...



















John was very diligent about finding the 'spider facts'. Some were pretty disappointing, like the most common spider found in your home is the 'house spider'.















Trevor surveying the land on top of the hay stack (the big ball and string are supposed to make up a black widow)

And here's a video--the music in the background was being played in the maze area--seemed to go well with the 'Daddy Chase'. Towards the end he was doing his little groove walk too--sort of dancing and walking at the same time.




There was a tractor ride out into the pumpkin patch were we got to pick out a pumpkin each. Later this week we can change them into "scary pumpkins"

































And the finale was the petting zoo. Trevor is super brave now with the wildlife. He seemed most interested in the chickens since they made the most noise, but also followed some goats around a while too.














It must have been an energy burning morning because he ate an entire cheese burger at in-and-out and a whole bunch of fries. I think that's going to be the conclusion of the out of town fall trips for this year. Next weekend Halloween activities start, so I should really finish his costume. And I should figure out a way to get him to want to wear it too...

On the baby front--we still haven't completely decided on a name quite yet. But we still have six weeks, so there's time left. I had an ultrasound on Friday and everything looks good, but not quite like the little picture of the baby on the side of the blog--this guy is still head up. Not too big of a deal though since he's not coming out the more traditional way. I'm supposed to schedule the surgery date this Monday and am hoping for the 21st of November.

Dinosaur in training and fun fair

As some of you know, I'm venturing into using a sewing machine AND a pattern this month to try to make Trevor a dinosaur costume. So if everything works out he better still like dinosaurs, not grow too much in the next month, and wear the costume happily. If it doesn't work out, he'll have to develop a new interest in blue mummies, or maybe ghosts...

Here's some pictures of dinosaur practice.



































Here's some pictures from the family fun fair. The boyscout area was definately the coolest with the 'big tent' and rocket making booths.

Day in "Hach-happy"

We went to Tehachapi earlier today--partly to visit somewhere that you might need a jacket and partly to go apple picking. Tehachapi is a town maybe an hour or so away, but a little higher elevation--one of their claims to fame is that they have four seasons... and technically they do... it only takes minimal snow to pass off as a winter season around here.

Here's a video of Trevor apple picking. He thought it was pretty dang fun and ended up picking about five pounds or so. I think I'm expected to make pie this afternoon. And maybe apple cake later in the week. And maybe apple crisp. And maybe apple sauce. We have a lot of apples now. I was trying to get him to say "Tehachapi" because he says it pretty dang cute, as in the title.
































Two apples!



















Trying out the goods.

While we were out there we went to the Harvest Fair and Oktoberfest events going on downtown. It worked out good because the fair was at a park with exciting play equipment and the Oktoberfest area was next to some train tracks so Trevor got to see a real train. One of the funniest things was watching him with this person in a chicken suit. Usually he finds these kind of things to be very suspicious and does not want much to do with them. But today after he was the chicken suited person, he hopped out of his chair, telling me "I be right back" and then went on to follow the chicken (at least 4-5 feet behind) all around the area. When the chicken would wave to others, he'd wave too. If the chicken stopped and turned around, he'd stop and wait to see what was next. I think he'd make a top notch chicken suit guy assistant.















Picking apples and trailing chickens is pretty hard work, so he's asleep now. And I suppose it's time for me to go make something out of apples.

Grandma and Grandpa came to Town

And it was pretty exciting. He took no time to remember that they are good at following directions and playing all sorts of games. They brought him a 'bug gun' to try out--it's pretty much this little vacuum gun that sucks the bugs up into a plastic compartment with a magnifying glass. He was able to catch some of the dumber slower bugs with it, but doesn't seem to have any interest in examining them quite yet. So for now the gun is more fun to use on hair, noses, elbows, hands, etc. instead of the bugs.
























It was close enough to Grandpa Steve's birthday for him to request a surprise party. So Grandma and Trevor made a cake and we had some people over for spaghetti (grandpa and Trev's favorite). Trevor helped Grandma pick out some presents for Grandpa and it turned out that some wont fit in his suitcase... so Trevor was gracious enough to hold on to them for him.

























You might have noticed the matching shirts--they've had them for a while now but when Grandpa Steve wore it this time Trevor was truly in awe that they had the same outfits. Instead of Trevor wearing a 'grandpa shirt', he pointed out that grandpa's is "like Trevor's shirt!".

Mike and Alisha Party

Well... more like we went over to Mike and Alisha's for dessert, but if there's ice cream or cake Trev seems to declare it a 'party'. We went over for a visit last night and I managed to remember to take a camera.


















Alisha teaching Trevor how to "chill" in the hammock

















Last time we were over, Alisha taught Trevor how to use one of those little back rubbing things to rub her back. This time Trevor found out that it works on his back too, so no more free back rubs from Trevor. He seemed to inherit my back rubbing gene because he loved it.

Other than back rubs and cake, we've been coming to the end of summer break. I start back at the schools bright and early tomorrow. John is in Ohio for the first half of this week, so the next couple of days will be extra busy for me. Trevor has moved to one of the toddler rooms at daycare and seems to find it pretty fun--you can tell by how messy he gets the days that he goes. He has learned some new songs that he has been singing at home--we'll have to ask what they are because all we can make out is "fish swim swim fish swim swim (etc.) and then BUBBLE! Pop!" Sometimes he throws in a crocodile too... so I'm not sure if that's part of the song or an embellishment. His language seems to be booming the past few months, so it's a lot of fun hearing him talk about things, sing, and interact in new ways.

Aaron visit, development of office and baby

We had our anatomy scan this morning for babywithnoname and everything checked out with good proportions, size and location. Here's a few ultrasound shots--the first is of his head, the second is proof of his manhood.






















And we got our cabinets in last week for the office nook... very pretty... I've been excitedly moving things into them today. As you can tell, they still need the desk tops, so you'll have to use your imaginations a bit.



























And our last recent event was Dr. Aaron Garnett (aka "Dr. Wiskas") coming to visit. He and a friend were meeting in Lone Pine to climb Mt. Whitney, and he stayed with us the day before and day after. Trevor found Aaron to be hil-a-rious and we took some pictures as proof of Trevor now liking Aaron.

okay, Trev does look a little concerned in the second picture, but he was having fun during non picture times :)