Halloween

The High Country offers a lot of thinks for kiddos to do during Halloween. The Mall hosts trick-or-treaters as do the dorms and the downtown area of Blowing Rock. We decided to take part in the "Boone Boo" in downtown Boone.

The library started off the night with music and readings from Miss Lisa, who teaches children's music classes around here. Jonah didn't really know what to make of it. He loves music and eventually clapped along, but there was a lot to take in for his first time.

 

The kids left the library to "parade" across the street to a house that had been decorated for the kids to walk through. (Think hauted house, but for the 4 and under crew.) Jonah was a little afraid of the house (he is hyper aware of anything "gary"/scary these days) but was super happy that we ran into his friend Simon there!! (I cannot explain how cute they are together!!)

 

 

Jonah also got a balloon outside the haunted house....and then lost it.

 

Next we moved on to the actual trick-or-treating. Most of the vendors up and down King Street participate. Everyone just walks up and down mingling and letting their kiddos get candy. We stuck pretty close to Simon and his family as we went along so the boys got to check in with each other. (Luckily I really dig Simon's mom too, so it works out perfectly!)

 

We suffered a little anxiety about the night as we had to deal with so many things being scary to Jonah. We hadn't really taken into account all of the big kids who would be wearing masks all around us. Luckily, nothing had any lasting effect on Jonah. In the end the experience was worth the cold and all of the explanations about all the big kids "just being silly".

Making Faces

Jonah got the chance to carve pumpkins for the first time this year. We thought it would be fun if he was involved with as much of it as possible. He was unsure about everything in the beginning, but remained curious about it none the less. (I love his facial expressions as he watches what I am doing.) I was sure he would like the slimy aspect of it, being a boy and all, but...not so much.

 

Next we scooped the guts out and got ready to carve. Jonah liked holding the tools and scooping, but only when the really gross stuff was already out.

 

Next came carving. Andrew likes to sketch the face on the pumpkin before he starts carving while I like to just dig right in and hope it turns out like I want it to. (Says a little about our personalities doesn't it!) Jonah had daddy help him with his pumpkin. Andrew even held Jonah's hand so he could carve it himself.

 

The finished product!! Baby Pumpkin! (Isn't Jonah strong? Look at that physique!! haha)

After a little clean up of excess goo on the pumpkins it was time to set them up as a family.

"Mama Pumpkin, Daddy Pumpkin, Baby Pumpkin", declares Jonah. Happy Halloween!!

Pumpkin Patch

Last week Jonah and I went with our mom and tot group to Red Wolf Farms pumpkin patch. To refer to it as just a pumpkin patch is a bit of an understatement. It is a real working farm that also does tours for kids during this season. There was so much to see and Jonah is getting to an age where he really enjoyed it.

The first stop of the excursion was to see all of the animals. They had pigs, goats, chickens, bunnies, calfs, and "creek" creatures (turtles and stuff). Jonah got to touch them all and was excited to see each new animal. (He was really well behaved too. No pushing, waited his turn, and followed directions. I was really proud of him!)

 

 

 
Personally I loved watching him feed the chickens and the calf the most. He held a handful of chicken food with one hand and would dole out the pieces one by one with the other. The chicken waited patiently for him.

 

When we went over to the calfs, he had a great time with one in particular. He went up to the fence and stuck his finger through the slats. The calf would lick his finger and as he moved the calf would follow. Too cute! The leader then lined all of the kids up and let each one of them hold the bottle of milk for another hungry calf. Jonah wasn't afraid at all.

 

We also walked down to the creek that runs through the farm to see the "wild" animals like the crawdads and turtles. (The turtle was just a shell, and Jonah kept trying to get the crawdad to crawl into his hand cause he thought it looked like his "catter-pitter".)

 

After we saw all the animals we took a tractor ride over to the pumpkin patch and play area. Jonah is crusing along next to his little buddy Simon. (They are soooo cute together!!)

 

Jonah took off for the pumpkins as soon as the tractor stopped. (Literally...a worker had to run after him cause I was still on the tractor.) He thought he was a big enough stud to lift a pumpkin himself. Not quite kiddo.

 

We ended our time at the farm with a little running around, a little playing in the corn and wheat boxes (in lieu of sandboxes) and a little tractor racing. All in all, it was a great way to spend a morning.

Jonah's ABC's

The other day, we went to the outlets to do some shopping.  While waiting for Vanessa to finish checking out clothes at Gap, Jonah and I broke out in song.  Well, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I did get Jonah to sing his ABCs.  He missed a few letters, but he did a pretty good job.

The video is very quiet, so you might have to turn up the volume to hear Jonah singing.

A Boy and His Bug

Please do enjoy Jonah and his "catter-pitter".

 

Woolly Worm Festival

New fun fact about the area we live in. A nearby town, Banner Elk, is the home to the annual Woolly Worm Festival. Being accustomed to cute, little town events in Iowa we thought we would take an hour on Saturday and check it out. Boy were we in over our heads!!

The 34th annual festival has grown over the years into an event which draws approximately 20,000 people over 2 days. (By the way, Banner Elk is normally a town of about 1,500) People even come from nearby states to race the infamous Woolly Worms. Folklore has it that Woolly Worms can predict the severity of the upcoming winter. The overall winner of the races is the one the prediction is made by. (You can look it up on Wikipedia) Over a thousand worms are raced and the winner gets 1,000 bucks!! Anyway...the traffic into town should have been an indication of what we were in for since a 17 mile drive took over an hour. (Let me also mention that I am going to TRY to give a more "cheerful" account of the days highlights. When we decided to go, Jonah and I were both getting over colds and were fit to be tied. Poor Andrew just went down with a sinking ship.)

Jonah was acting silly walking into the event and was having us essentially "drag" him there while holding our hands. Right inside the gate was the first attraction. Woolly Worm cutouts to pose in! Jonah actually wanted to do this so we got some cute pictures. (However he did have a fit when we didn't do it over and over. Another fit happened when we said he couldn't play with the dogs at the "doggie daycare" located right next to the cutouts since it was a daycare and not an attraction.) 

After that we headed over to the kids play area. They had a giant inflatable wonderland set up, which happened to be too old for Jonah (and too expensive). We settled for a "wee" right next to it.

 

We attempted to get some food after that. Again, we were not prepared for the scope of this thing and had to leave to get money before we even started. Fair food prices were in place and a simple bite to eat turned into an undertaking with lackluster results. Jonah did get corn on the cob to eat though, which is always a pleaser. Amongst the tents of the several hundred craft vendors was set up of a couple of women with huge birds. I don't really know what their purpose was...but Jonah is a boy and got to see a big bird.

We figured we should actually see the main event before we left so we went next to the worm-race-area. Again...look at the size of the stage. There are 25-30 worms racing up vertical strings all day long. I don't know if there is any actual training involved or just luck. (Look really closely at the second photo and you can see the worms on the strings.) Jonah and I looked on with wonder.

Since the day was kind of a bust in the worm department, and we had really talked it up in the morning, we decided to buy Jonah one on the way out. (Mind you, you can find these guys everywhere, but vendors make a killing off of them!) In the end I was so glad that we did in fact get Jonah one because he became a little obsessed with it. He was oh so gentle with it and had a lot of playtime with his new friend when he got home. (Next blog!!)