Trick or Treat!

This year we didn't do the Calvin Halloween event because it took place on Saturday, so we opted to do some regular trick-or-treating with the McCaul and Haverdink families tonight.

The kids put their costumes on for Grandpa and Grandma W. after they brought them home from school:

Princess, Artist (minus beret and palette),
and Power Ranger (w/ Tiger hat)

We made a quick stop at Peter's teacher's

house on the way to Daddy's office:

The kids got fun bags full of goodies from Ms. Janis at the office.  They also wanted to make scary faces with Daddy (although Miriam just plain looks scared)...



We quickly ate some pizza at the McCauls' house and then the Haverdinks joined us and off we went.  After a trip around the block, we headed home, with a quick stop at a couple neighbors' houses.

Since it was a school night, we kept the festivities short and sweet, but it was still a lot of fun!

Koetsier's

This afternoon we had been planning to go to Post Family Farm for some fall family fun.  Then this week Esther was invited to a Halloween party with the girls in her class, so she decided to ditch us for her friends.  Just a little taste of what the teenage years will be like, right?

We ended up deciding to try out Koetsier's Greenhouse instead because I had heard they had a lot of fun activities for kids too.  I also knew they had quite a bit to do inside, and since it was a cool day, we thought that might be nice.  Peter and Miriam had a great time there, and we'd definitely recommend it!

We started out with a hayride.  They give you an apple when you get on the wagon, and one of the stops along the way is a place to throw the apple core at a target.  We also saw their beehives, some chickens and goats, and we were able to pick out little pumpkins in the pumpkin patch.

Then we headed inside and the kids had fun doing the hay maze, playing in the inflatables, driving the little pedal tractors, and playing in the corn box.  We also enjoyed some popcorn and cider.

We had a fun fall family (minus Esther) afternoon, and Esther had a great time at her party too!

Making scary faces in the hay maze!

It's always fun to run into a friend from school!  Here is Peter with his friend Elise.

Last Soccer Game!

Today was the last soccer game of the season.  Casey did a great job coaching this fall and I think he had fun.  It was a nice day, but the field was very muddy!  Here are a few pictures from the final game of the season:

Foot Frolic Frenzy!

Today was Foot Frolic Frenzy Friday at the kids' school.  This is their yearly fundraiser, and they do this one event instead of making the kids sell a bunch of different things throughout the year.  It's a fun day and a neat thing to get the kids participating.  They collect pledges for running laps around the track, and then they see how many laps they can run in 30 minutes. 

Miriam and I went to cheer them on, along with Grandpa and Grandma W.  Peter's class ran in the morning, and he ran 7 laps (1.75 miles).  Esther ran 9 laps (2.25 miles) in the afternoon.  We were very proud of both of them!  Apparently we should have had Miriam get pledges as well, because between running some of Peter's laps with him and some of Esther's laps with her, plus doing quite a bit of running around with her friend Mary Kate, I think she did at least 7 laps herself!

Little Family Getaway

Last spring we bought a gift certificate at our school auction for a night at the Ramada Plaza hotel here in town.  We figured this weekend when the kids had off school for a couple days would be a good time to use it, so we went last night. 

We checked in and then ate an early dinner at Old Chicago, which is connected to the hotel.  The kids were very excited to get to the pool and try out the giant waterslide!  We spent several hours there last night and had a great time swimming and going down the slide.  It was hard to get a good picture of the waterslide, but here are a few in the pool:

Before we headed up to bed, we tried out a couple games in the arcade.

Miriam looks a little too comfortable holding this gun...

We all slept pretty well, and since the hotel didn't have breakfast included, we drove up the street to good old Russ' for breakfast.  Then we went back and enjoyed another hour and a half in the pool before we had to head home to get ready for Peter's soccer game. 

It was fun to watch the kids get braver as time went on.  We started last night with everyone only wanting to go down with mom or dad.  By the end of this morning, Peter and Esther were going down by themselves and not even wanting to be caught at the bottom.  Miriam also went down by herself with her life jacket on. 

It was a fun little getaway and a good chance to have some family time together!

Pumpkins!

On Tuesday, Peter and Miriam and I went to Orchard Hill Farm with Renee, Ty and Cassie.  I forgot my camera, but we had a great time and it was a gorgeous day.  We did the corn maze, checked out the animals, had donuts and cider, and went on a wagon ride to pick little pumpkins.  It was a very fun morning!

This afternoon the kids had fun decorating their pumpkins.  Each kid wanted to have a "working" picture, a "silly" picture, and a "smiling" picture, so here they are:

White Pine Trail

The kids have a couple days off school this week, so today we headed up to the White Pine Trail with my parents for some bike riding.  Esther had a sleepover at their house last night, so she and Grandpa drove up to Belmont and rode the tag-along from there to Rockford.  Grandma, Peter, Miriam and I drove to Rockford and met them there.  Miriam hopped on the tag-along with Grandpa, and Peter, Esther and I joined them on our bikes to ride a few miles out and back on the trail while Grandma relaxed. 

When we got back we had Corner Bar hog dogs for lunch.  Then Esther rode back to Belmont with Grandpa.  The rest of us walked out on the dam for a few minutes, and then drove to meet them in Belmont.

Checking out a cool spider web!

Finally, Peter rode the last stretch with Grandpa on the tag-along from Belmont down to Riverside Park, where we met them with both vehicles.  At the end of the day, Esther rode 13 miles, Peter rode 10, and Miriam rode 4.  They were very tired tonight!
On the way home, Peter rode with Grandpa and they took a little detour to Van's Pastry Shoppe:

Thanks for a fun day, Grandpa and Grandma!