Halloween

Halloween was a little different this year. It fell on a Sunday, so it felt like we celebrated Halloween all weekend. Friday was dressing up and parties at the school. And Saturday we had a soccer game, a baseball game, and some of us enjoyed an adventure at This is the Place Heritage Park's Little Haunts.

First, we carved pumpkins. The boys love carving pumpkins, and they are starting to get big enough to do most of it on their own. Well, some of them. Mom and Dad still end up scooping A LOT of seeds. But the pumpkins turned out great.

Seth always sticks out his tongue when he concentrates.

Mark worked very hard on his pumpkin.

Seth's final product!

Mark went with the Buffalo Bills theme!

For some reason, I have a bunch of videos of Dax carving his pumpkin, but no photos.
He made a BYU jack-o-lantern.

All of the pumpkins turned out great.

Friday: All of the boys dressed up for Halloween. Well, Mark put on a jersey that morning and said it was dressing up. Seth had been planning his Reggie Jackson outfit for months. Dax threw his biker gang outfit together a few days before Halloween. But they all looked great. 

Halloween 2021

Seth was amazing as Reggie Jackson.

Dax was very serious.

Mom got to help in Dax's class party!

Dax had practice and everyone wore their costume.

Saturday: We started with Seth's last soccer game. He played great. Dax also reffed a few soccer games. Then Mark had a baseball game, so he and Dad headed to the field, while Mom, Dax, and Seth drove to This is the Place to enjoy Little Haunts. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun with all of the pioneer activities.

One of the buildings had some live reptiles and the boys got to pet them and even hold them. Seth was so brave and held a snake even though he was very nervous. Dax held the snake too, like it was no big deal, but Mom didn't get a picture of him with the snake. We also got to pull a handcart, which was a new activity! But the kids love plowing the fields best of all.

After This is the Place and Mark's baseball game, we all met back up at home. Then Mark had a bunch of friends over to hang out and watch the old Ghostbusters, while Dax and Seth trick-or-treated together. It was a fun ending to Halloween (a day early).

This is the Place is one of our favorite places in Utah.

Seth was so brave to hold the snake.

Seth loved his pioneer chore of beating the rugs.

And Dax plowed the field like 20 times.

We loved pushing/pulling the handcart together even though it was hard work.

The tin smith was dressed as the tin man--it was a great costume!

Can you spot Dax?

We had a lot of food and treats.

These four boys are such good kids!

Sunday: This was actual Halloween and we expected a few trick-or-treaters, but we saw none. So it was a regular, relaxing Sunday!

Rowley's Red Barn

Rowley's Red Barn is an iconic stop on the 1-15.

We hadn't been to Rowley's Fall festival for a while. In fact, the last time we went, Seth was pretty small (as you'll see in a picture later). We decided to go visit in October, and we had such a great time. We took a lot of fun photos and played a lot. The most disappointing part was they sold out of their famous apple cider donuts, but we got ice cream instead. 

We rode the wagon back into the farm for the Fall Festival.

Dad and Mark look great in this painting.

 Mark could easily be a farmer.

They have added a Zipline since the last time we were here.

The boys had a lot of fun on these bikes.

Especially the big two!

We took a great family photo.

The best part was shooting the apple canon.

We recreated this photo from last time. See below.

So cute!

I want to tell you the story of Dax and the pumpkin. Dax really wanted to find the biggest pumpkin. So we hurried in to the field to look while Dad, Mark, and Seth waited in line for the wagon to ride back to the red barn. Well, the wagon arrived just as we had found the "biggest" pumpkin that was acceptable to Dax. Unfortunately, he couldn't move very fast carrying, so Mark dashed over and ran with the pumpkin back to the wagon. What a great big brother! Dax was very happy!

Dax is serious about his pumpkin picking.

The pumpkin made it on to the wagon in the nick of time.

The ice cream was delicious!

Fall Soccer

 Dax and Seth both played soccer this Fall. We love watching them play!

Seth's team was the _____ (we can't remember)

Seth had a new coach this year, but he was awesome. He was so kind and patient with the boys and really helped them learn about soccer. Seth played a lot of forward and scored a lot of goals this season. He also had the chance to play goalie, and was great there, too. He worked really hard and we were proud of his soccer season. Seth seemed to have more fun this year, but his team won almost all of their games.

Seth got to kick off for his team quite often.

Seth played so well at goalie!

It was a fun soccer season!

Dax had his same coach for the last few years and we love him. He teaches the boys so many new skills, but also helps them learn to be good sports and teammates. Dax played striker the entire season and scored well for his team. He didn't score hat tricks or double hat tricks every game like years past since he plays against older kids now. Although he is still small compared to the other kids, he held his own and fought well on the soccer field.

Dax's team was the Fireballs!

Dax wore this beanie half the time.

The other half he wore the red bandana like some of his other teammates.

Dax also reffed soccer games for the younger kids. He usually reffed 2-3 games every Saturday. He enjoyed making a little money and he did a great job, too. 

Dax loves being a ref and blowing the whistle!

He reffed the 8 year old kids (boys and girls).

Tuscon Day 4

The sunrise was beautiful on the way to Saguaro.

After talking to a ranger, the boys wanted to get up really early and try to see some wildlife. So we set the alarm for 5:30 and hit the road by 6 o'clock. It was thirty minutes to the east side of Saguaro National Park. We got there plenty early, but we didn't see a lot of wildlife. Mark spotted a jackrabbit, and the sunrise was nice, but no animals were about.

Saguaro was a different park for us, and we loved it.

The vistas in the desert were really pretty.

We did three short hikes along the scenic loop, and though the temperature was in the mid 50's when we started, it was close to 80 degrees by the time we ended at the Visitor Center. We did have one memorable stop along the loop at a place called Javelina Rocks. We decided to get out and explore the ghost trails in the area. It wasn't long before we completed our creepy-crawler list by spotting a rattlesnake. We only saw the last foot, including the tail, but it was clearly a large one. Mostly, we enjoyed the cactuses for the last time before we had to leave Tucson.

The trails were easy, but our feet were starting to get tired.

Mom with a saguaro that is hundreds of years old.

We saw another tarantula. That makes 3--one for each day.

Seth ponders the uniqueness of a saguaro forest.

Dax told the saguaro to put his dukes up!

The boys enjoyed the hikes, but the hikes were often a lot the same.

The rattlesnake was fleeing the scene.

We hoped to see some javelinas in the rocks, but it didn't happen.

Dax climbed all the way to the top to look around.

We added this phainopepla to our bird list.

When it got hot, we headed over to the Pima Air and Space Museum. Our legs were tired, but we enjoyed walking through all five of the hangars. There were dozens of aircraft of all sizes, but our favorite was the B-29 Bomber or the SR-71 Blackbird. Despite aching feet the boys enjoyed the simulators and reading about the aircraft. After we'd seen all the machines, we had lunch at a picnic table right there in the parking lot.

Seth liked this tiny one-man plane.

Seth enjoyed a flight simulator.

There was a separate hangar for this plane. 

Volunteers told us about this aircraft.

The boys played Snoopy and Red Baron.

The fire engine for aircraft was massive!

We weren't too sure what to do with the rest of our afternoon. It was hot and we were tired, but we'd driven past a large building called the International Wildlife Museum. It turned out to be the boys' favorite part of the day. The participated in a scavenger hunt as they walked past hundreds of stuffed animals. In one room alone, there were at least a hundred heads on the wall. Other areas had more interesting displays, and we enjoyed guessing the scat, fur, and teeth of a bunch of animals. We even sat and watched a movie for a while because we needed to sit and rest. It was another reminder that sometimes the best adventures are the ones that aren't planned.

Look at these 3 dodos!

Dad learned to catch birds from a lynx.

There were a lot of animals.

Seth walked under the belly of a giraffe.

This prehistoric beast had an impressive rack.

For some reason, there was a small Harry Potter display.

After enjoying the museum, we drove up to Phoenix to spend the night because we had a 6 AM flight the next morning so we could get Dad back to work.