Aldor Acres Pumpkin Patch

This year was the 30th anniversary of Aldor Acres Pumpkin Patch and I think we've been going for about 15 of those years. It's a great family farm that gets better every year. This year they opened up an area that used to be their dairy farm and had several pieces of old farm equipment on display. A highlight of the trip is the petting zoo area. No biting turkeys this year but there were lots of goats. Apparently goats really enjoy pumpkins. We saw two of them fighting each other over the chance to stick their head inside. They were very competitive.

We like to get a family photo in front of the pumpkins each year and as we were wandering around suggesting locations, Kerry vetoed a particular spot because it would have sheep bums in it. This of course was an excellent suggestion from the kids point of view so I immediately found a spot where I could get a family photo with the sheep bums. We took another elsewhere with pumpkins but I think the most honest smiles were the ones in this picture.

We took the hayride to the pumpkin patch and we got to go to the field up on the hill which is much more scenic then some of the other fields. Unfortunately it seems it's also been a bit cooler as many of the pumpkins were rotting and we chose not to get one from that area. We went to an area closer to the parking lot to find Carter's and Callie decided she would get hers from Superstore. This is okay with me as they are much cheaper and the farms sell the good ones to them first. Carter still very much enjoys the trip and hopefully we can keep going for years to come.

Drones

Carter had a goal for his birthday this year. He wanted to save enough money to purchase a drone. We spent quite a bit of time researching different brands and capabilities and with an initial birthday money push from us he saved up enough to get the one he wanted. It had a camera and automatic stabelization abilities and it can even do a flip in the air.

We were a bit quick to try it and avoided reading the instructions. Big mistake. Let's just say I had to bring the ladder over to the elementary school to get it after one of our first test flights. After carefully reading the instructions and starting off in the middle of the soccer field, we have now mastered the basics. Still a bit more practice required for close quarters flying but it's been fun so far with some neat aerial pictures.

Carter's Birthday Party

Carter's birthday planning started immediately after Callie's birthday in August and you would think this would have been plenty of time to plan for a party in mid-September. The theme originally started out as Guardians of the Galaxy however we struggled to find decorations and one week before the party Carter shifted directions towards a Medieval theme. This meant knights and castles and catapults. It also gave Kerry an opportunity to redeem her last castle cake. She made one for Callie when she was 2 and let's just say it's good that Callie didn't remember it. This year was a big improvement.

Carter had arranged for a four hour birthday gala at our house. Most parties are two hours at a location like bowling or trampolining so there was a lot of pressure to make the four hours exciting. Things started off at home with some knight fights, a trebuchet launch and then continued over to the school for some street hockey. Kerry had brought home some sticks from the school and the recently paved parking lot at Frost Road made for an excellent playing surface. It seems hockey is a dying sport though because none of the kids had any hockey experience. Everyone still had a great time.

Dinner for the party was pizza and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Pizza for those that didn't like the chicken and the chicken because that was what Carter felt the knights of the round table would have eaten. We finished off with the very chocolatey cake, gift opening and a dragon piñata which turned out to be really quite difficult to break. Every kid got several hits and we finally had to encourage one of the bigger kids to just wack at it until it was broken. There's nothing like a piñata to bring a big group of kids together in mayhem.

First Day of School

This year was a new first day of school milestone. Callie has moved on to high school. This meant for the first time she would not be just down the hall from Kerry and would truly be venturing out on her own. Just because she was going to a new school however, it did not mean that we could not still do our first day of school tradition of breakfast at Ricky's. The day started with some pictures and then a drive to drop Callie off at school. I didn't quite know what to expect because we had been warned traffic could get pretty bad. I think we went early enough that it wasn't too busy. Once I had dropped Carter off at school I went home for an hour. First day of school continues to be nothing more than a single hour to count attendance and then the kids are sent back home. I picked Carter up first and then we drove to pick Callie up. I was still worried about traffic so we had pre-arranged a pick up spot across the street from the school in the Mohawk parking lot. It worked out well. I was surprised we were the only family that had this idea.

After picking up Callie we went to have breakfast at Ricky's. Another first day of school first was that we did not get the treasure chest sent to our table so Carter could pick a toy. I guess both kids are growing up.