Happy Halloween!

Happy Post-Halloween everyone! Here's some photos of our little Disney "princesses". As you can (hopefully) see, McKenna went as the Little Mermaid, Ariel, and Molly went as Tinkerbell, in keeping with her love of all things Peter Pan.

Our trick-or-treating got off to a not-so-great-start last evening... We were coming home from our church meal and decided to "quickly" stop off to say hi to our friends, the Pedersens (of Andrew fame). Turns out it wasn't a quick drop-by. Ron and the kids decided to trick-or-treat with the Pedersens, and I was going to head home to hand out candy in our neighborhood. Well, as I hopped in the car and prepared to be off, the car wouldn't start. So, here we were with 2 very excited children, geared up to go door to door with their friends (amid the sheer mob of children in this very well-to-do neighborhood) and Ron and I are stuck trying to jump the car... all to no avail. And still it sits outside our friend's home this very minute.

Despite our car trouble, and me not being able to go home and hand out candy (which I had a big guilt complex over... we never wanted to be THAT kind of house on Halloween!) we did end up having a nice time trick-or-treating with our friends. Though, admittedly, it was a bit hard to shake the feeling that we were the "poor" neighbors who bussed ourselves in to take advantage of the "better" treats in this extremely nice neighborhood. :-) Oh well. I guess it's one for the books... or at least the blog.

Fall in the Mountains

This past Sunday through Tuesday, we travelled up to Bear Den Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway and met Ron's folks. We all enjoyed being together in our rustic cabin and getting to visit with one another. We also enjoyed the gorgeous fall color the mountains offered on the parkway.
Of course there is going to be hiking when Ron is involved, and these photos are from the hike we took to see Linville Falls, in the Linville Gorge area. The sky was robin's egg blue, the air was crisp, and the reds, yellows and oranges of the leaves were simply beautiful. It was a wonderful, relaxing couple of days, and we all came home refreshed and ready to take on Halloween! More on Halloween to come...

Pumpkins... Before and After

Last weekend we took the girls to a farm to pick out their pumpkins. The farm is actually a Christian theraputic riding farm, and they offer pony rides, games, a story trail, treasure hunt, face painting, in addition to a "pumpkin patch" from which to select your pumpkin. Basically, it is just tons of fun, and this was our second year going. We thought you may enjoy seeing the girls with their pumpkins... pre and post-carving.

Crop Walk

Last weekend our family joined with several members of our church to participate in the annual Crop Walk, which helps raise money for the poor both locally and throughout the world. McKenna is entering an annual contest called "Reflections" this year through school. The theme for this year is "How I can make a difference..." We thought this would be a great opportunity, so she grabbed her camera (she is entering the photo portion of the contest) and snapped away during the walk. Below are some of the photos she took.

By Popular Demand... the "Rat Hamster"!

This is for you, Dad! See how big your former backyard-squatter has grown?! McKenna loves this "little" guy. We never dreamed Flower would get so big! She really needs a new cage. Anyway, as you can see, she is alive and well. :-)

Walking With Dinosaurs

Last evening, we had the privilege of going to see Walking with Dinosaurs, the Live Experience. Originally, McKenna and I were just going to go ourselves, as the cost for 4 people was prohibitive, and as well, Molly took one look at the ad for the show on the internet and promptly requested a babysitter. However, a friend of ours who knew we were going to the show had received 4 free tickets from her place of business. Her husband and daughter had no interest in going, so she offered to swap her 4 tickets for our 2. We accepted her kind offer and started preparing Molly for the show. We needn't have worried, as she did great!
The show was simply incredible, very much on par with the kind of quality you would expect to find at Disney World. McKenna was in dino-heaven, and we all came away from the experience in awe of the scale and magnitude of these incredible creatures. (Not to mention the artists and others who produced this spectacular show). Here's some photos from the show. They give you a good idea of the scale of the dinosaurs and quality of the production. Enjoy!

Like Father, like daughter

It seems like not a day goes by that I don't hear some form of the exclamation, "OH MY! McKenna looks just exactly like a clone of her daddy!" And, indeed, one of the first sentences uttered from Ron's mouth upon seeing his seconds-old firstborn was, "Oh no! She looks like me!"

Yes, there is no denying the strong resemblance between this Daddy's-girl and her Daddy. And just to prove how much Ron is wrapped around McKenna's pinkie finger, here's a photo I couldn't resist posting of McKenna and Ron at a picnic our church had at the UM Children's home last Sunday, which included, among other things, face painting. Only his daughter could convince Ron to get a pink butterfly painted on his cheek. Now that is proof of the strong father-daughter bond right there, folks!