He loved it.

The weather got cold, then colder but today it was warm again. I think a high of 70. I had the morning off so we spent a few hours in the backyard sweeping leaves into bags for the winter and counting the worms, broom at the ready. Its probably the last of the days we can hang outside without a jacket. So sad!

We told Asher that Thomas was coming from Sodor and he was going to be in this place called Pennsylvania so Friday after art class we were going to go there. We kept it pretty casual and besides finding a hotel with a pool we didn’t make too many plans.

Friday afternoon Asher and Matthew took a dip then we met my old work friend Jamie and her family for dinner. We probably haven’t seen each other in 8 years but we’ve kept in touch via the internets so when we decided to go I emailed and we made plans for our (semi) blind date. They live in the area and have a 2 year old who digs trains so we got to hang with them on Saturday too.

I like Jamie because it was barely 10am when I busted her eating cheese fries and she just laughed. That’s my kind of peeps.

As you can see its a very glamorous place.

They tell you to get there an hour before your train ride and we were like whatever but then we had to park a mile away and walk over through mud so yeah, get there a little early. The good part is that we didn’t have to wait on line. The bad part is that Asher was Very Rushed and Asher does not like to be Very Rushed so he was a grump for the first hour. Also, Matthew had to run while holding his coffee. (sad trombone)

He warmed up a bit on the ride. Since we were “not early” he didn’t really know we were riding on Thomas until we got off and walked to the front.

As you can tell by our 17 different views of Thomas we basically spent the entire time watching the trains pull in and out of the station (vu den?) The Thomas train ran every 30 minutes but they also had what Asher refers to as “Big Black Steam Engine” for obvious reasons.

Luckily Big Black Steam Engine was fairly exciting in its own right, what with a coal tender and all. There was a bunch of other stuff to do, both Thomas related and not. We poked into the music tent, the storytime tent, the train table tent and our favorite part – this ride on a small train I referred to as the Hayride Train. because that’s basically what it looked like.

They also had teeny tiny donuts. Too bad the kids didn’t like them.

The Strasburg Railroad is actually a really cool place we didn’t get to see all that much of. They also have a railway museum and there’s tons of stuff around there for kids. We saw cows, horses and goats from the car and Asher was almost as excited about that as he was the trains. I think we’ll head back when the weather is nicer and do some more exploring. We didn’t even get to pick up any jam!

I am starting it today with a goal to finish it by the end of the month. Kind of a joke to think I won’t but since I’ve only finished 2 other books in the past 6 months its really not that hard to imagine anymore.

Anyone want to join me? Maybe I’ll even read a book in December too! (Night Circus?)

Read any good books lately?

Matthew was working in the studio and was able to come home a little early. He and Asher were set on making a jack-o-lantern before we ventured out but after 5 minutes of watching Matthew, Asher decided to make his own face on his already-decorated-at-preschool pumpkin and completely lost interest in the real thing.

“I do my-sayelf”

Around here many people trick-or treat on the main strip of stores. They kind of go all out, some even had tents and tables out front! Some were giving out ACTUAL FOOD. It was totally insane though and not so great for a 2 year old. Think Times Square.

If you want to stick to a quieter place and do some regular old TOTing there are Halloween blocks, and not halloween blocks. We don’t live on a Halloween block so ventured down to one nearby, which happens to be where Caroline from preschool lives. On the way we passed by a bakery, the one we call the Cookie Store and Matthew showed Asher the trick-or-treating ropes. He was pretty shy most of the time because guess what, our usually outgoing lad doesn’t like to talk to strangers on the street. Small favors.

He did eventually warm up because ya know, candy. The funniest thing about it is that he has never ever had candy, and had probably never seen it before this weekend. He DOES know what a lolly is so every time someone came over with a big bowl he rooted around for one. I’m standing there shouting “Pick the orange one!” but no dice. We ended up with 2 measly reeses, 3 random fun size bars, a nasty NASTY hershey’s cookies and creme thing (WHY) and 19 lollipops that were promptly thrown away.

We gave him some chocolate at Caroline’s and the 2 of them sat on her steps quiet as can be lest their good luck turn at a moments notice.

After we finished up on Caroline’s street we were 3 short blocks and 1hr 15 minutes from the parade so we stopped for pizza and wine and warmth. Stubborn lion wouldn’t wear his jacket but don’t let that fool you, it was cold out there!

After dinner we made our way back up to our street to have a quick exit after the parade and it was totally nuts. Think Times Square on NYE.

It was our first time going and it was awesome! They have some big puppets and scary people on roller skates and I would have taken more pics but I was mostly hiding behind Matthew. There are some schools and organizations that march and cops and ambulances and someone built a ghost ship but other than that its just neighborhood people and kids that join the end of the parade. That King Kong is Julian from moms group/preschool who spotted Asher 2 seconds after this pic was taken and called out to us.

So fun! Everything was pretty much wrapped up by 7ish so we walked home candied, fed and entertained.

Asher got some quality time with the jack-o-lantern* and we called it a night. Success!

*No, seriously, he was hugging it and talking to it and made us put it in his room for the night. I think it looks like a Mr-Potato-o-lantern but that’s just me.

For now I have Halloween

Asher was a lion. It took a while for us to come to some sort of costume agreement. I tried to get him to tell me what he wanted but he had no idea what I was talking about. One day he was pretending to be different animals and I said “Hey, maybe for Halloween you can be a lion” and he said “Yeah!” so I got someone to make him a hat and there you go. He had the shirt and pants already so if he decided he didn’t want to dress up it wasn’t a big deal. Jackie was all “ooh! we should make him a tail” but I was all “ooh! maybe next year.”

This past Sunday was our annual Halloween party with the babyfriends. The same family hosted and it was so much fun to see everyone. The second we walked in I noticed that 75% of the kids were in animal costumes.

A bee, a cat, 2 ladybugs, A LION, a butterfly, 2 tigers, another (crappier) lion, a chicken, a owl and a bat. That’s just off the top of my head.

Then of course a few tv friends, a robot, 2 lady pirates and a zombie construction worker. WAITWHAT? Yeah. It was awesome.

oh and snow. Who brought the snow?