Huckleberry Railroad

On Saturday we were going to go to Mackinac Island but the frugal part of me decided it probably wasn't the best idea so instead I found something a bit more affordable to do. We went to Huckleberry Railroad and Crossroads Village in Flint. They do a fun Halloween themed train and village there. The forecast said rain for the entire day and I was worried it was going to be a bust but the rain held off and it ended up being a total blast!

The first thing we did when we got there was ride the steam train. There were Halloween cut outs all along the way for the kids to look at and a fun announcer who told silly jokes for the first half of the ride and then turned on fun Halloween songs for the way back. It was a 40 minute train ride total so it wasn't too long, Penny only got a tid bit fussy for the last few minutes. Unfortunately, another mom in our train car was not so lucky and her little one pretty much screamed and cried the entire time. I felt so bad for that poor lady.

Lucy looking out the window, the beautiful Fall colors were definitely a bonus for us adults:

After the train ride we got to go trick or treating through the village. There were different themed house (Alice in Wonderland, Little Red Riding Hood, Pirates...) and each house carried a different kind of treat to hand out. Our most favorite was the Twix station, Grandma hit that one twice and the cafeteria where we got doughnuts and cider (which Benny spilled all over). Our least favorite would have to be the Cider Mill, that handed out apples- super lame ;)

There was also lots of fun set ups through out the village. There was this fun forest where "the trees have eyes":

And a Minion themed straw maze where Benny and Lucy decided to just come back out the entry point and only Steven and Grandma preserved to the finish:

A grave yard with witty grave stones:

(it says "Stay Scary"}

And Scooby Doo and Shaggy:

Tyler and Penny got locked up for eating too much candy:

And as if the train ride and village weren't enough fun, we got to ride the Genesee Belle Paddlewheel Riverboat:

The boat made for a windy ride and Penny was a bit done with all the fun at that point but I managed to keep her from totally breaking down with goldfish and lollipops and the Fall colors were absolute perfection:

After the boat ride we were all properly pooped and would have all probably been happy to go home and take a rest but we had a Halloween party to go to that our friends, the Schnieder's, were throwing so off to that we went. It turned out to be a really nice time with yummy Halloween themed food and good friends and it was the perfect way to end our day.

Doughnuts. Kensington, Pumpkins & Potter Park Zoo

Grandma came to visit us and with Fall in full swing we made sure to enjoy all things Fall to the fullest while she was here! Well, except for her first full day here when we hit up the outlet mall, that was not so Fall-ish...Unless you consider shopping for shoes and clothes a Fall activity? But it was still super fun and surprisingly the girls did really well with hours of shopping. My mom and me also went to a not so Fall-ish book club that night where we ate French Bread and talked about the Scarlet Pimpernel (which apparently we were the only ones who didn't love the book).

The next day we got into genuine Fall things. We started off our morning by walking the boys to school in the crisp autumn air and then we dropped by the bakery for some yummy doughnuts!

Then after taking a little break, we headed to Kensington for another walk. Penny was super irritable for most of it, snacks and lollipops just would not persuade her to calm down, but wouldn't you know that just a few minutes before we arrived back at our van, she conked out. Despite her craziness though, I think we still managed to enjoy the beautiful Fall colors:

That night we headed to the Oak Haven Farm in Holly because with 5 acres of pumpkins we were sure to find the PERFECT pumpkins for Halloween. It did not disappoint! Before pumpkin picking though we had to take advantage of a photo opp. Too bad Tyler and Penny were to LAME to fill that one empty spot: 

With the sun in our eyes, we didn't manage to get great pictures with the pumpkins, just one cute one of Ben, but we did end up with 3 very heavy and very good looking pumpkins (30 pounds worth of pumpkins people!) and I can not wait to pull out all their guts and get carving. Ok, that is a huge exaggeration because I dislike the pumpkin gut removing, but I am excited for the final results :): 

On Friday, I let the boys ditch school and we took Grandma to Potter Park Zoo. This Zoo is in our state's capitol, Lansing, which is a long ways away but I think it was worth it. Not only was it super affordable compared to the Detroit Zoo but it was also way less crowded (as in there were only like 2 other people there) and way smaller (as in my kids were able to see the whole thing without complaining about tired feet). It was the perfect zoo for the kids and I think Grams enjoyed it too.

There are only 3 out of the 4 kids in the picture below because the eldest child tripped right before this picture was taken and managed to get a rock lodged in his hand. It was a sad story.

Penny was not very nice to Grams for most of her time here (crying at poor Grams when Tyler and I went out to dinner Friday night) she definitely has issues with pretty much everyone that is not me, but at least I managed to get this sweet picture of them at the zoo:

Grandma was the perfect kind of Grandma and bought the kids some popcorn at the zoo. Lucy laid claim to this popcorn fairly immediately:

But we also had about 3 peacock friends that wanted to lay claim to it as well and they hovered about waiting for it to fall- can you see the one behind her head? That one behind her head had some guts and tried to steal some goldfish right out of my backpack. They are sneaky things!

The lion at the zoo was by far the biggest hit with my kids. This guy got up on his rock, looked at us and then roared. Not a super loud roar but a perfectly entertaining roar. It reminded me a lot of the lion on Madagascar, like he was performing just for us. The kids thought he was absolutely hilarious! Not the best picture but it was the only one I got: 

Although this guy is probably my favorite lion:

After seeing the performing lion, and the monkeys that look way to human like and bats and snakes and penguins, and... I managed to get a great shot of Grandma with all her Hatch Grandchildren:

Such a fun day at the Zoo!

COLD!

This week all the Fall colors have really exploded! The road I typically take to Walmart has been under construction so I have been taking a back road instead. This is a bumpy, dirt road but it is also surrounded by trees and right now, so pretty! As I was taking it to Walmart this week, I had to stop once to let a deer cross the road and another time for wild turkeys. It's a pretty beautiful life. I just wish this road had somewhere to pull off so I could take pictures of all its beauty. 

About Tuesday, the weather took a turn to the cold. We've been in the 40's and low 50's since then and I'm already pulling out my sweaters. But before it got cold, we did manage to do some playing outside. While playing, Tyler insisted on pulling out these super prickly bushes using his truck. The boys enjoyed riding in the back of the truck while he did this. Here are the cute pictures of them on top of the truck after the bushes were removed:

The boys had their annual check ups this week (I was only like 7 months late scheduling these). I told them there wouldn't be any shots, except it turns out flu vaccinations were out. Since Steven has asthma, they couldn't do the nasal spray on him and he was NOT happy about this. He completely freaked out when it was his turn and hid himself in between the check up table and the wall. From his hiding spot, he insisted that Penny get her shot first- isn't he a good older brother? After she got hers, with some bribery, I was able to get him to sit for the shot but he cried like a baby after they gave it to him. So embarrassing!

His behavior also got Ben & Lucy freaked out, even though they just had to get the nasal spray. Lucy kept saying "I'm scared!" and then afterwards she told pretty much everyone "Doctor got my nose" and then would sniff like she had to do after getting the spray.

The next day, I went to Meijer's to pick up Steven's inhaler (which was a ridiculous $50!) and I decided to take Lucy to look at toys in hopes of finding something I could get her for her birthday. Well, she found 2 things she absolutely had to have and since they were on sale I went ahead and bought them. The only problem was Lucy did not understand that she couldn't have them until her birthday so she threw a royal fit. So when we got home I plopped Lucy's whiny self in front of the TV, got the presents out of the van, hid them and then lied to her (I'm such a good mom right?). I told her that a bad guy stole her presents and she fell for it hook, line and sinker. When Tyler came home she very angrily told him "Dad! Bad guy stole my presents!" And every time we get into the van she will gaze where the presents were in it and say "Mom, bad guy stole my presents." Apparently my lie will not be easily forgotten.

Wednesday night, my Bunco group had their first game night. I was invited to a BUNCO group with some ladies in the Ward, most of them are about a decade older then me so I am the youngin' in the group. There was a nice sit down dinner of lasagna, then they went over the rules so we could get a rollin'. Although I didn't win anything, it was nice to get out and socialize with some fellow ladies.

Friday morning I took the girls to an indoor play place with our buddy Wesley and they had a blast:

And that is my week in a nutshell :)

Conference, Haircuts & Fire Station Fun

Last weekend was Conference weekend which I love Conference itself but I don't love trying to watch Conference with kids. I'm still not sure what to have the kids so during Conference. I know many families put together fun conference/church related activities for their children and I've done that before and I'm just not sure it's worth the effort. The last few conferences we've had the kids earn candy when they hear the prophets and apostles say certain words but the novelty of that activity has worn off and their less inclined to listen these days. Frankly I find conference a lot more enjoyable when they go play in their rooms but then I feel like I should start getting them in the habit of sitting for conference now so that they understand it's important. Ugh, kids make everything so difficult! But at least they're cute. Penny & Lucy did take turns sitting in their favorite little chair during Conference:

This week the weather started off super lovely. A little cool in the morning and the perfect temperature come lunch time. Due to this delicious weather, I walked the kids to school THREE times this week. I am really starting to love walking TO school with the kids but I still do not love the walk back. The girls usually get cranky and whine the whole wagon ride home. It makes the walk back not so fun. 

This lovely weather also made for some nice lunch times spent on the front porch:

And lots of time coloring on our sidewalk. (Please excuse Lucy's zombie look above and angry face below. This girl is something else ;) ): 

Also this week, Lucy and I got haircuts- maybe you can tell from the pictures above but here is the back of it:

Other happenings this week: lunch bunch with an apple themes (I made a trail mix with dehydrated apples that was not super delicious), I had an eye appointment where I learned my vision was not miraculously cured but at least it hasn't worsened, and Tyler and I had a temple date courtesy of a friend in the Ward. 

And today I took the kids to an open house at the Wixom Fire Station while Tyler was at a Scout Meeting. The kids got to spray a red ball with a fire hose to make it move down a rope. Lucy was so eager to hold the hose but then when the fireman told her he was going to let go and let her do it, she just walked off. We got to go in the building where the firemen exercise and do practice runs. Against one wall their was dummy that had duct tape around its mouth and it looked like it had seen better days. When Lucy saw it she said, "Mom! Dead guy!" As we were walking up the stairs in the building, Steven looked out the window at a stopping point and got super nervous and refused to go any higher. YET, he was the only one of my kids who would climb down a ladder that they had on the bottom floor. Weird kid. We also got to see the firemen chop up a car, that was pretty fun. Steven got really sassy at the end and made me cranky but besides that, a good time was had.

Long's Farm

Here are some pictures from our trip to a park in Kensington last week, my kids are cute:

For family night Monday, we took a trip to Long's Farm for some doughnuts and cider. We had to measure ourselves first though:

And then we had to sit in their ridiculously over sized chair:

The doughnuts were delicious but the bees thought so too so we didn't sit very long. 

It also got breezy and Lucy loved watching it blow her dress:

The rest of the week went as follows: I walked the boys to school twice (and there were no meltdowns! Lucy even adopted our neighbor's mother as a stand-in grandma during one of the walks), we got a pretty princess dress cookie at the bakery, we had a park play date (and we got a little rained on), the girls & I had a lunch date with Tyler at the Burger Joint, we hung out at a friend's house, I took each of the boys on an errand so we could have some much needed one on one time (I found I kind of love grocery shopping with Steven, he's super fun to talk to and super helpful), I took Tina out to a belated birthday dinner at The Cheesecake Factory (I learned not to jest with her because she takes the things I say literally), and we went to Wesley's birthday party (where he cried when his fun cake had to be cut). Also, on Monday Ben came home from school smelling like poop and then Lucy peed in the van (her only accident this week) and moments later Penny pooped her diaper. That was a fun afternoon that I shall remember forever.

And I finished Steven's PJ pants so now the brothers are matchy matchy: