Beautiful Fall Day

Chip's mom and I took the boys to Lynden Sculpture Garden for some fall photos on a beautiful fall day. 

 We tried to pose them but that never works. 

 They loved these cows. 

 Or hippos, as Chip kept calling them (think he was trying to be funny). 

 This is Calvin shoving leaves into my pocket. My pockets are always full of leaves this fall. 

 They loved running around this sculpture, too.

 Then it was on to this little garden 

 where they tried to woo us with flowers. 

 Last was a walk to the pond for a cookie snack

 and playing on the "beach". 

Picture perfect.

Gymnastics

We took Calvin to a gymnastics open gym time the other evening. 

 There were rings,

 and balance beams, 

 and lots of bars to hang and fall from. 

 His favorite thing by far was running down the bouncy runway 

 and jumping into the foam block pit. 

 Getting out was almost a fun as getting in. 

We will definitely be taking him there again for some late in the day energy burning. 

Jackolatern

Before Halloween, Calvin wanted to carve a pumpkin. 

 He picked out which one of the many pumpkins we have that he wanted to carve and did what he could to help. 

 When cutting the top was difficult, he agreed to scoop out "the guts". 

 That part he was pretty good at. 

 He picked a picture of the face he wanted on the pumpkin and helped me carve it.

 He was rather proud. 

Halloween is so much fun!

Hand-in-Hand

Calvin and I have been checking out an activity called "Hand in Hand" at our local Audubon Nature Center. 

 Our neighbor William and his mom were at one of the last ones we went to. 

 The theme was "ponds". 

The classes start with play time in a classroom with activities related to the theme, then a circle time with a story and getting to see and touch a real animal related to the theme. 

 Then we go for a walk and get hands on with what we just learned about. 

 Here they were trying to catch creatures from the pond. 

 They caught lots of water bugs and snails. 

 Calvin has no issues getting down and dirty with the activities. 

 Especially when there are mud puddles. 

Good "clean" fun! And educational!

Lilttle Pumpkin

Unplanned by us, a pumpkin vine grew in our front yard garden this year. 

 Calvin has been patiently watching it grow, looking forward to the day we got to pick it. 

 A few weeks ago, the day finally came!

 Calvin was very happy with how his pumpkin turned out. 

 He put it with the other pumpkins we had 

 and named it the "daddy pumpkin". 

It was very fun to watch it grow. Now he wants to carve it! 

Little Cal

A project we were given at Calvin's school was to decorate a large body shape however the child wanted to represent themselves. Here's Calvin's. 

It's the first one you see as you walk in the door. Calvin was the director of the project. He did the  letter stickers for his name on the hat.