Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Jamie's class (with two other classes) took a field trip to Canon City to visit Diana's Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maze. I agreed to be a parent sponsor but, since there were more parents than expected, space on the school bus was limited. Mrs. Price guaranteed that "there will be puking", so I was quite happy to drive my own car. Lynn, Tiffany & Tracy rode with me to the pumpkin patch and then we switched it up and Lynn & Tiffany and our three kiddos made the trip home.

I was impressed with the Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze...it's something that I'd like to visit again next year as a family. We split into small groups of 3-4 kids with an adult and started in the corn maze. I don't know how long we were in there but, we were lost! It felt like we were just going around in circles. We never did find the "out" but finally made our way back to the spot we entered...we were so happy to be out of the maze that we didn't care! I would've loved to have gone back in and tried again but we didn't have time.

After the corn maze, we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins. Each kid was told that they could get as big a pumpkin as they could carry...then the kids found the wagons...so much for that idea! Jamie wandered around a bit before deciding on the perfect pumpkin. It was too big for him...yeah, I caved and carried it for him!

We sat around the campfire and ate our packed lunches. Then the kids got to make s'mores!

One of the highlights for the kids was the corn bin, filled with corn kernels. They had fun digging, piling and jumping into the corn bin. Jamie did a cannonball into the corn.

Finally, there was a hayride around the pumpkin patch and corn maze. There were a lot of different activities to keep everyone busy for most of the day. Mr. Felton kept the brains stimulated by providing fun pumpkin facts throughout the day.

See more photos from this fun day HERE.

Good Bye Aunt Bernice

aunt Bernice with Jamie in September 2002

aunt Bernice (far left) & Gram (in red) in November 2006

I've known for quite a while that my great aunt Bernice is not doing well. I heard from my cousin on Monday that she was not doing well and was not surprised to receive the call, today, that she had passed. Aunt Bernice is my grandmother's sister and she lived in Arkansas so I didn't see her very often. I last saw my aunt in November 2006 when she came to NM for my grandmother's 90th birthday party.

When I think of aunt Bernice, I remember a bunch of us sitting around my grandmother's kitchen table listening to family stories. And aunt Bernice could TELL a story! It didn't matter that we'd heard the same story a hundred times, she still would have us laughing so hard that we were crying!! At one of these family story telling events, my cousin had the wherewithal to set up a video camera and let it roll. I would love to watch that video right now and remember my aunts laughter and joyful perspective of life.

Aunt Bernice died today, at the age of 88, from complications of Alzheimer's Disease. I'm sad that she's gone, although I know that her last years were not very pleasant and that she is now in a much better place. Rest in Peace my dear aunt Bernice...travel well.

Harvest Train & Pumpkin Carving

The Harvest Train left Alamosa at 11:00am and took a slow, leisurely ride to the Pumpkin Patch. We met up with friends and enjoyed a wonderful autumn day!












































Once at the pumpkin patch, the kids had a great time running around and looking for the perfect pumpkin.


























































After the train returned to Alamosa, we met at our church for lunch and an afternoon of pumpkin carving fun.






The kids had a great time picking out the patterns they wanted, cutting the top hole and digging the seeds and innards out.




By the time they got to the tedious task of the actual carving, well, it was way beyond the average 6-year-old attention span limits.





The adults were left with the fine tuning of each carved pumpkin while the kids enjoyed a game of tag.





More photos HERE.

Shades of Silly

Maybe it was a side effect of the high fat food at McDonald's, but Jamie was in rare form tonight. He was dancing and hamming it up, all the while begging me to "take a picture of this".

I couldn't resist!

McTeacher Night at McD's

Tonight was McTeacher night at McDonald's. The teacher's mingle with kids and sell cookies and 15% of all sales is donated to Polston. A sweet deal, considering that McD's is the preferred "restaurant" for this age group. Try to imagine the sounds of children laughing and playing on the playground at school during recess... now, try to imagine that intensity compressed into the Indoor Playland at McD's. Crazy!

Here's Jamie with his first grade teacher, Mrs. Wilson.
He thinks she's awesome, and so do we!

A New Blanket of Snow

A fresh blanket of snow on the Sangre's.
I drove up the road a bit to avoid getting yet another photo of the neighbors' house.

It's supposed to cool down to 9 degrees (above zero) tonight.
Brrrrrrr!

What Was I Thinking?

Today, I decided that I would be burly and go to the mountains to get a load of firewood. So, I loaded up the truck with the chain saw, chain oil, gasoline, etc. and headed out. I even tried, unsuccessfully, to build side panels for the truck bed so that I could stack even more wood. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Let's just say that I grossly overestimated my abilities! I did OK for about half an hour, before my legs and arms started tremoring from the chain saw. I'm such a wuss!


I was disappointed, but not overly so, when the chain saw stopped workng. I had worked too hard, though, to find decent sized logs that I wasn't about to leave them there. I loaded them into the back of the truck too, uncut, and still only had about half of the bed filled with wood. So much for my attempt to be burly!

It was, at least, a beautiful day to be in the mountains.


I also took my camera and got some nice photos. Next year, I am going back to this spot before the trees lose their fall colors.

Moonrise over the Sangre's

Pretty much the same shot I took earlier of the snow...this time watching the moonrise over the Sangre de Cristo range. I love living here!

Snow covered mountains

While I'm opposed to winter weather at the moment, the mountains sure do look beautiful with their first blanket of white.





The view to the west...










The view to the east...

NOOOOOoooooooo....

This is what we woke up to this morning. That's right...big, fluffy, white snowflakes. I am so NOT ready for snow or winter weather, seems like we just thawed out from last winter!

Jack-O-Lantern Smile

Jamie lost a tooth at school last week and another one tonight...he has only his bottom two front permanent teeth and has the perfect Jack-O-Lantern smile...just in time for Halloween.

Last Day of Soccer

The last day of soccer...
Jamie scored five goals even though the weather was horrible. He had a fun season but we're glad it's over.




















There was no official sports photo ploy this time, for which I was grateful because I refused to pay for another bad photo. After today's game, I had Jamie pose for this photo. Not too bad for an impromptu shot in the wind & rain when he'd rather be with everyone else eating pizza...

Technology is great!

Gotta love the advancements in technology...
Gosh, if I lost a tooth at school when I was a kid, my mom would have had to wait until I got home to hear about it. Not in 2008! I got this picture message from Jamie's teacher at 10:29 this morning with the photo and info that Jamie had lost another tooth.

Soccer Star

Jamie scored 11 goals in yesterday's soccer game. He also assisted in two other goals. He is so much faster than most of the other kids, he is definitely ready to move up to the next level. He's having fun.

A Serious Problem Has Been Detected...

This is sooooo not what you want to see when you turn on the TV with plans to record the Broncos game. The "serious problem" was translated by tech support as a hard disc drive failure which necessitates a new DISH receiver. It should arrive on Wednesday. I was able to record the game on the other receiver, though, so it wasn't a total loss. We were still able to watch our Broncos WIN!!!

Fall Soccer

Jamie is playing soccer again this fall. Parks & Rec changed the format of youth soccer for the fall season, making it more compliant with Colorado State Youth Soccer. There are some major changes as far as field size, team size, etc but, it is a good move for the overall soccer program in Alamosa. It seems like a step backwards for Jamie but, he's having fun. We are having to hold our tongues and allow him to just have fun. We will definitely be glad to move up to the next age level in the spring!

Harvest Moon

So, I somehow lost an entire day this week! I vaguely remember Tuesday because Jamie had soccer practice and it was Shelby's birthday. I also had an online class on Tuesday night and was supposed to preregister for another class (10% coupon expired on Tuesday), which I totally spaced out until Wednesday. You can imagine my shock when I went to do these things on Wednesday to find that I was a day late!
I did somehow manage to watch the moon rise on Tuesday, though, and take these photos. I couldn't get my tripod to cooperate, though, so it was frustrating. I took at least 50 shots but only these two were good. Thank goodness for digital!

Sunset

This was the view of the sunset from the backyard this evening...

The Return of the Tooth Fairy

Jamie's other top tooth has been hanging by a thread for a couple of days and today he complained that it was hurting. Tonight, before bed, he asked me to pull it out. Jamie was so excited that the tooth fairy would be coming again, although she didn't have much of a warning.