Halloween and Pirates

Last night we went to CHOM's (Children's Hands On Museum) 1st Halloween Carnival. It was alot of fun, though there were alot of people there and it was very crowded! My battery in my camera died and my dear friend Ashley was sweet to take these pictures and send them to me this morning (she "gets" my obsession with blogging=). It was not very stroller friendly, with all the people crowded around (not that Henderson was very excited about being in his stroller anyways), so between holding him, chasing Wilson through crowds of people, and somewhat trying to keep up with Emma Claire, I was exhausted at the end. One funny thing, on one of the tables was a little "tree" with mini tootsie pop suckers decorating it - you pull a sucker out and see if it has a certain mark on it and that decides the prize you get - well, Wilson discovered this and while I was feeding Henderson (close to the front door, so at least if I couldn't keep my eyes on Wilson the WHOLE time, I knew he wasn't leaving the building) well, Wilson must have gone back 8 times to get suckers, finally the sweet young girl, literally carried him back to me - I know she thinks I'm a horrible parent, but what are you to do - he's 2??? As we were walking back to our car, I was thinking, "that was not fun at all, I couldn't socialize with my friends OR watch my children for all the people" and Emma Claire starts saying, "That was the most fun I've ever had mommy!!!" Well, sure, you were pretty much unsupervised doing what you wanted, getting candy and prizes, what 4 year old wouldn't love that?! Well, I'm glad she had a great time. I really was lots of fun and well-done, but maybe next year CHOM will learn from their mistakes and spread the games out over the whole museum and not just one floor.

The next picture is from the beach on the Pirate Cruise. I was not there (I came back on Thursday, but I left sweet Emma Claire there until Sunday). They say it was a blast, that it was the highlight of the beach trip (you mean playing in the sand while mommy is acting like a beached whale isn't the highlight???? =) Emma Claire came home talking all about the REAL TREASURE they found in the sea and the REAL TATOOS she got from the REAL PIRATES!!!! Oh to be 4 again!!!! But I've been on it before and it IS lots of fun!

The next picture is the 4 older children at the beach (after I had left) - you see, we think nothing of our boys and girls getting baths together, b/c they're cousins, but Mary Alice is our friend, not our cousin, so maybe Patton and Mary Alice in the bath tub together is not such a great idea - or maybe it is, just to have black mail pictures to put on a big screen their senior year of high school when they are dating maybe??????!!!!!!