Chimney Rock, Pumpkins, and Halloween ~ October 21st - 30th 2012


We love fall! Each year we take a day trip to see the fall foliage. This year we went to Chimney Rock about 2 hours away. In the picture below you can see us on a  mountain, but Chimney Rock is at the top of the picture. While Aaron and AJ walked up 500 stairs, Audrey and I took an elevator to get to the top. It was a beautiful view from many different angles. 



 

There was a small set of stairs to get up on the rock itself, and once on top the kids went crazy. There was a sturdy fence around the top, so I wasn't worried about the kids falling off. But the rock was huge and Audrey was literally running up and down the rock jumping between people and just all over the place.









We all decided to walk down the steps together. It was an amazing view and there were benches along the way to sit if necessary. We all made it down safely and went to the town. We walked around the little shops and found a beautiful river that we took some more pictures by.  After lunch and ice cream, we headed back home having had our fill of beautiful leaves and mountain views.







We had a few windy days and was able to get out AJ's 3D jet kite.  The wind wasn't very steady, but we got it flying a few seconds at a time and had to be satisfied with that. 


Audrey wanted to paint her pumpkin this year. She was so excited to get started that we didn't even take time to remover her ballet shoes from her little class we had just finished. AJ drew a picture of what he wanted his pumpkin to look like, then I carved it out. Neither of the kids will even touch the insides, but I want to get every pumpkin seed out to bake so I didn't really mind.




 Halloween breakfast pancakes.  They are purple per Audrey's request, but a very light purple.



I can't tell you how excited Audrey was to be Cinderella.  She constantly refers to herself as a princess and tells anyone who listens that she has a Cinderella dress at home. AJ wanted to be a ninja this year and picked out the costume himself. He used his allowance to buy the sword.  We met up at the Blauer's house and went trick or treating in their neighborhood.  The kids ran from house to house and had a great time. 





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