Thomas the Tank Engine

Eli was excited to choose his own Halloween costume this year. At first he wanted to be a doggy, just like last year. I thought this was a great idea until I began the search and couldn't find one big enough to fit him. Fortunately a visit to the costume shop saved me...as soon as Dada pointed out the Thomas costume, Eli's decision was made! He was so excited, and immediately said "don't want the doggy, want Thomas!" Since then he's gotten really into Thomas! He has a Thomas warm-up suit to wear under his costume, and a Thomas bucket to take trick-or-treating. The other switch is that when he gets to watch a show, he no longer chooses Wiggles - now it's Thomas every time! :) While he was posing for this photo with Emily, I asked him if he was Thomas the Train...he very quickly informed me that "I'm Thomas the Tank Engine!" Pardon my mistake! :)

I also had to do a little reminiscing, and I can't believe how different Eli was a year ago. My baby has definitely become a little boy! Enjoy the walk down memory lane...be sure to click on the YouTube links!

http://eliandzoe.blogspot.com/2007/10/eli-had-such-great-day-last-year-he-was.html

King of the Castle

Bellevue Square mall, where we've gone to play on the boat many times, finally opened their long-awaited new kids' play area. We went to the grand opening on October 10th (yes, this post is really late!), and despite being a madhouse, it was really fun. Eli loves the new play equipment and literally climbed and explored every single thing there was to climb and explore! It's ocean-themed, hence the name "Kids' Cove at the Square," so it includes several boats, sea creatures, sand castles, etc. There are several tunnels, slides, and lots of places to climb. Eli had a great time, especially when we were joined by his good friends Clara and Hannah. We all had a very fun day together, and I'm sure we'll have many more this winter as the rain keeps us indoors for playtime.

A trip to the pumpkin patch

Our family enjoyed a fun day at Fall City Farms today. We went to the early service at church to make sure we'd have plenty of time to meander the pumpkin patch for the perfect pumpkin. We visited this farm a couple of weeks ago for the Harvest Celebration, and Eli was excited to return. He's a big fan of their animals and sandbox, and was excited to discover that they also have a large pumpkin patch. He's been very excited about pumpkins lately, and couldn't wait to pick his own. It was a pretty cold morning, so we got nice and bundled up...complete with Eli's "dinosaur" hat! (Called such because of the "spikes' along the top).It may not be the cutest thing in the world, but Eli loves it, and I love that it keeps him so warm. After saying a quick hello to the animals, we headed out into the pumpkin patch on our hunt. Despite the patch being a bit picked over by now, it didn't take Eli long to find just the one that he wanted. Eli tried very hard to pick it up, and was relieved that Dada was able to carry it for him! :) He also wanted a small pumpkin that he could carry, and he was so excited and proud to carry around his own little pumpkin. After paying for our pumpkins we enjoyed a little treat; this is the same farm that has the yummy fresh mini doughnuts...mmmm! Eli also got a cute little pumpkin sippy full of (really) fresh apple juice - seriously, this juice was amazing. We actually got to watch them making it as Eli (with a little help from us) enjoyed his juice. We headed into the farm store hoping to take some home with us...unfortunately it was $10 per gallon! I have to say though, it was really good apple juice! :) We headed home after giving Eli some time to play in the sandbox. It was a great day on the farm, and we look forward to going back again.

Harvest Celebration

On Saturday all of our local area farms (and there are lots of small farms around here) participated in a Harvest Celebration Farm Tour. With Ryan in Portland all day for a cross-country meet, Eli and I were excited to have something fun to do. I told Eli we were going to a farm as soon as he woke up in the morning, and he was so excited! After breakfast we headed to Fall City Farms to enjoy the animals and a wagon ride. As soon as Eli saw the animals, he took off running toward them. After briefly visiting each of the animals (cows, chickens, and horses), Eli found a sandbox full of tractors. Needless to say, he was a happy camper! Despite my attempts to get him to explore more of the farm with me, my little digger wanted nothing more than to stay in the sandbox! :) He did decide to venture out for a treat, though...the farm had a little stand set up with a mini-doughnut machine. Mmmm! Eli sat down on a pumpkin to enjoy his snack, and we got to listen to some good bluegrass music by a local duo called Spoonshine. After our snack we enjoyed a wagon ride, which Eli thought was pretty great. The wagon was pulled by a John Deere tractor, so Eli couldn't have been happier...until he got to "drive" a tractor himself. It wasn't a John Deere, but he didn't complain! :) Finally we headed back to the car, with a quick run through the hay maze on the way. The next (and last) stop on our farm tour was the River Valley Cheese farm. Though they're a popular farm because of their fresh, homemade cheeses, it was the baby animals that brought us to the farm. They had baby cows, goats and yaks (when was the last time you saw a yak up close?) that visitors could pet. Eli loved petting the baby animals, especially the goats. By the time we were done it was past nap time, and both of us were exhausted! We headed home for some rest after a really fun day together.