Mind the Pulp

Here is our collection of Tate-Made Jacks! And here are the various inspirations:

1. Polka Dots on a White Pumpkin-Martha Stewart (of course!)
2. Flaming Skull-Jack O'Lantern Blaze motif
3. Spider on a White Pumpkin-Jack O'Lantern Blaze motif
4. Frankenstein on a Green Pumpkin-Inspired by the green and the shape
5. Grinch on a big green(maybe Blue Norwegian variety?) -The shape and the color
6. Two Eyes on a Green Gourd-The shape just looks like an alien and the light shines through it awesomely!!

Boo to you my friends and family! Hope your Halloween is super creepy in the best possible way.

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Since the original post above I got a request to see the Grinch in color. Here he is!

A Spooktacular Weekend

Our long-planned fall fun weekend turned out fantastically. This is a photo-heavy post and the spacing issues on Blogger are driving me nuts--so forgive the layout issues, please!

We started out on Thursday with a stop at JerseyBaby's highly recommended fun spot--The Pop Shop. You know that with a cute sign/graphics like this its gonna be great!





Right out of the gate we ordered the JerseyBaby drink of choice--Ice Cream Butter Beer and shared it in a few cups. It and the place TOTALLY lived up to the recommendation.

It took alot of 'splaining to describe what a jukebox does, but C saw the little picture of Elvis inside it and said "Hey, mom, that's that guy from the Hawaii movie!"

And these are the chocolate chip Bettys--pancakes. Check out the tongue...

Now, if you weren't sold by the cuteness of the sign, and the jukebox, and the hats....then you've got to love a place that comes up with this as a menu item...

And even though I REALLY WANTED TO GET THAT THING BECAUSE I HAD THE PHEVER AND ALL....I figured I'd be somewhat good and carb conscious and get a nice little Cobb salad. Then, they brought out this monster in a MIXING bowl:

Let's just say the bowl was still 2/3 full when I quit. Bob had the Bobby Flay grilled cheese from the Throwdown episode he filmed there in February. Yum! Thanks, JerseyBaby--what a way to start the weekend and we're grateful for the insider tip. By the way, how cute is Collingswood? I grew up an hour away and never knew that place was there. Adorable. We staggered from the Pop Shop and headed up I-95 and over the George Washington Bridge. You can see Leilani on my dashboard in this shot as she hulas her way to Manhattan. My dad worked on NY waterways and I always think of this bridge fondly and remember one of my favorite books as a little girl "The Little Red Lighthouse". The next time we are there we will take the time to stop and climb the stairs of that sweet little beacon!

We arrived in Tarrytown and got settled in and raised a toast.

Nothing beats a hotel pool when you are five years old.

On Friday we headed up the Hudson to Kingston, NY, home of the Rip Van Winkle tour boat. It took about 90 minutes to get there on the Thruway and Kingston is an interesting town that is clearly struggling to find its way. It has a rich history as an inland port that was the terminus of a canal that came over 100 miles from eastern Pennsylvania that was used to transport anthracite coal. It also was the center of Bluestone quarry transportation to cites across the eastern seaboard. All of that is gone now and what is left is a small waterfront with hulking wrecks of canal boats and long lost dock pilings. There is a small Hudson river maritime museum with a very loud bell--I know because Connor rang it several times.

And lots of tug boats which gave us a great opportunity to tell fun stories about Pop Pop and his engine rooms.

We climbed aboard after our waterfront stroll and headed south down the Hudson toward Hyde Park. We got to see lots of Hudson River mansions--this is just a small one and I can't even remember who built it. Yes--this is a small one.

This is the Kingston Lighthouse. Its a bed and breakfast if you want to stay there.

This is the Kingston waterfront and that's the Rip Van Winkle on the right under the bridge.

It was chilly out on the river with the wind--even though the temp was in the 50s.

On Friday night we had a blast as the Great Jack-O-Lantern Blaze. My photos are lacking because I didn't have a tripod and I can't hold the camera still enough. First---a 20 foot high spider web. They thread the Jack-O-Lanterns on rods to make these sculptures. The whole field around the web was littered with other Jack-O-Lanterns carved with flies and spiders.

This is a shot of the VanCortlandt Manor front porch with a red spooky light and more Jacks lining the railings.

These are white pumpkins--my favorites. This shot is not good but take my word for it that some of them on the Manor were exquisite with delicate lace designs.

This is a field with hundreds of headstones topped with more Jacks and a big gazebo on the left made entirely of Jacks.

These are 10-15ft tall dinos that were incredible.

And this is the Jack-O-Lantern archway at the entrance. Overall there were nearly 5,000 Jacks on the estate property and you followed a lantern lit trail to see them all. It was literally incredible. Bob and I kept looking at each other and saying "Can you believe this"? It was so cool.

The next day we visited the Rockefeller family mansion, Kycuit (Ki-cut), built by John D. Rockefeller around 1904. The tour included the art collection of Nelson Rockefeller and the coach barn with John D. Sr's collection of carriages and many of the Rockefeller family automobiles. I was a bit worried that Connor would be bored but he surprised me as usual. He was very engaged and just like his PopPop used to do, nearly drove the tour guide nuts with irrational and hysterical questions. PopPop was FAMOUS for that and he used to make my sister and I cringe at these things. Well, he's back. Its the Circle of Life in action and I watched my little boy stand up there next to Connie The Tour Guide and raise his little hand to ask ask ask. He particularly liked Nelson's art gallery in the basement and under the garden terraces. I particularly liked this huge painting by Joan Miro which takes up an entire massive wall in the classical music room. It's actually a copy--Nelson got strong-armed into donating the original to the MOMA---his mother was one of the founders and they guilted him into it. I wouldn't have parted with it.

Later that night we headed over to the Phillipsburg Estate for the Legend event. Again, so cool it really can't be adequately described. You enter the grounds of the estate and follow a candle-lit trail around the grounds where there are storytellers, giant puppets, ghostly figures, interestingly lit landscapes, and the piece de resistance--the Headless Horseman who gallops through a dark meadow and wags his pumpkin head at you. Here's some creepy Redcoats in the barn.

This is a story-teller who told us of the White Lady. Connor loved it and randomly shouts out "Is that you my beloved?" about every 3 hours.

And this was the man himself---head missing and galloping forth to taunt us all.

And this is the only unshaky shot I have of how the architecture was lit at both events.

It truly was a Spooktacular weekend. The whole region is beautiful and the spirit of the season is high. I highly recommend this trip and these events if you are a family that loves Halloween.

Busy Day with the Great Pumpkins!

Happy - tired are we after a day roving around the countryside for the fall farm tour with Nana and Aunt Marilyn. The best stop was the hillside pumpkin patch at Wegmeyer Farms. We had a great hayride along the water and picked up that beautiful white pumpkin with the gray spots and a sparkling rind as well as a big green one that will get a Frankenstein face carved into it any day now.

The Boys of October

Today was the last game of Connor's first baseball season. What a great experience we all had. Nana and Aunt Marilyn were here to see it and it was a true October game--bright shining sun, golden and crimson leaves, and CHILLY! The spectators were bundled up. The boys had a great time. We'll need to really make a concerted effort to stay in touch with a few of them. Bob really enjoyed it, too. The families all pitched in and got him a really nice gift card and we had a fine end of season party at the Buffalo Wing Factory. The boys each got a trophy from the league and I made them each a little certificate that I mounted on cardstock. They loved it--and so did we.

Carson, Ryan and Connor enjoying their favorite inter-inning pastime...fence climbing.

Connor and Ryan being silly.

End of season group therapy hug.

GO STORM!!

Homework and A Test

At the beginning of the school year we cleared off the kitchen desk and made it "Homework Central". Connor loves that it is his space for learning and never fusses about pulling up his chair and getting down to it. He's been spending about 60-90 minutes a night either doing his assigned homework or his own connect-the-dots or art projects. Wow. It is shocking to me. I had so many dreadful thoughts about this whole thing--and none of them have come true. He just is a kid who needs space to control, structure, and accountability. So, the problem was his parents all along!!

Today he has his first test. Its a math test which at this point is shape matching and "alike" equation things. He doesn't even really sense that it is a test and I'm not blowing it out of proportion. He' ll breeze through it. He is all over it.

It might be the only math test that the child ever takes that I understand. Seriously, I am dreading upper elementary school math. I barely survived it the first time and I have to admit that there may have been some cheating off Rhonda Bassat's tests in multiplication tables during Ms. Tamalo's 3rd grade math quizzes. If there was said cheating, I have to say that he perpetrator would still be getting sweaty and having guilty chest blotching when she thinks of it 38 years later. In her third grade mind, she was really letting down Jesus and the Girl Scouts of America.

Apple Valley

Connor and I took a day trip out to Winchester and visited the Marker-Miller Orchards for their Apple Harvest Festival. Bob succumbed to some viral/fluish thing so he stayed home and rested. Its a great place with a fun playground, outdoor pavilion with live music, tractor rides, a cow train ride, huge orchards, and best of all: apple cider donuts and apple butter made by the local volunteer fire department. I didn't get too many pictures because I was a single mom, but it was a great day and Connor was decked out in his farm-cowboy best. We brought home two huge bags of apples, donuts, apple butter, elderberry jelly, and fresh Winchester valley clover honey. On the way home we stopped at Sonic for dinner--the first time for both of us. Connor had a great time climbing into the front seat to eat dinner with his mama. Oh! And we got some awesome dried corn stalks for the front door fall decorations. We're both tired tonite. It was hot out there and we ran around alot.

This week promises to be crazy. T-ball, football/cheerleading game, field trip to a pumpkin patch, and Nana and Aunt M arriving on Thursday. I'd better go to bed right now!

Baseball And A Geyser

Hard to believe-next Saturday is our last T-ball game. The season has flown by and that's probably because it has been so much fun. All of the families involved are fantastic and fun and the kids are all really nice boys and they want to do well. Spring league is longer and I think a bit more serious. We're looking forward to it! After the game yesterday we did a Diet Coke/Mentos geyser in the driveway. Fun. You can see a video of the geyser and one of Connor's hits yesterday right here.

More Funny On The Tiger

So, that face painting took place at "The Original Steakhouse" for Kids Eat Free night on Wednesday. C went with Daddy and his friend, Rick. I got home from a friend's house and he came roaring out at me all Tiger-ish from around the corner. I was stunned by how incredible it looked and I immediately asked where he had gotten it done (not, of course, thinking that there was face painting at a restaurant). His answer: "The Meat House". Hysterical. So, forever, "The Original Steakhouse" will be called "The Meat House" around here.

We watched "Iron Man" tonite. It was pretty good. Too scary for the boy, though. He had to be banished to the office to play computer games. I love Robert Downey, Jr. -- what a great actor he is. I haven't seen "Tropic Thunder" but I understand he was amazing in that. And his performance in "Less Than Zero" is so memorable to me--and sad. I guess its sad because it turned out to be so real for him. I'm glad his career is doing well---but knowing what I know about the kind of deep addiction he had, I still expect to hear he's back in jail or rehab anytime. Not very hopeful, I know.

Crazy Like a Tiger

Haven't posted much lately due to a major project at work, but I had to get this pic out there..

Is this the best face-painting ever, or what?