October Whirlwind Recap

October began with our first of two annual trips to Edaville, this time to see Thomas. We went with the five Flemings plus Mindy and Jack, and the kids had a great time (as evidenced by Finn hysterically crying as we tore him from the Tilt-a-Whirl after his second ride). I did too, until the eightysomething-degree weather combined with MY two rides on the Tilt-a-Whirl caught up with me. (Paul, just before the ride lurched into motion: "A baby would just fly right off this seat. It's been here since at least the early '70s." [Jiggles the handlebar] "Oh, and this thing's useless.")

We went apple-picking, too, with Ceci and Connor as well as the three Orr ladies. Have I mentioned here yet that Will and Abby have announced their betrothal? Abby's dad, Ade, asked when the happy event would take place, and Will confidently replied "When we're five." Of course, Will has also informed us that he and Finn are "going to our wedding now, and I'm wearing a suit!" and mentioned a handful of other arranged marriages, but this one seems pretty serious:

Two things I love about that series of photos: one, that Connor is usually grinning his face off, and two, that the Orrs and the Noons have produced similar pairs of same-sex offspring. Note in the last picture how the blond Bobbsey twins are off to one side smiling while Finn and Natalie look suspicious and, in Finn's case, kind of surly. I love it.

Mid-month, we attended birthday parties for close friends Kenley (3), Jack (2) and Catherine (3). I don't have pictures, although Kenley's party featured an enormous blow-up dinosaur (huuuuuge hit), Jack's was great because I got to watch him go through the gamut of facial expressions (he has my favorite face to watch--the most adult reactions on an adorable peanut face), and Catherine's was of course the birthplace of the soon-to-be-famous ABC Karaoke Crooning Duo, where Connor and Will discovered a love of the stage, the microphone, and the sound of their own voices.

We then celebrated Halloween early with the Spooky Walk. Both Will and Connor dressed up at Lightning McQueen, and Finny borrowed Ryan's costume from last year (thanks, Ry!) that was conveniently a sweatshirt and sweatpants, so we didn't have to pry him from the full suit to change a diaper or relieve him when he complained "Too tight! Tooooo tiiiiiiiight!" Jack also walked with us most of the way, but I didn't get a picture of his perfect fireman's costume because he was too busy dodging his dad as he ran through the crowd to find the candy:

Then we partied at the obstacle course in honor of Connor's third (and the twins' belated first) birthday:

Inger with just-turned-one Lia,

who wanted to get down and run with the big kids.

We finally hit the end of the party trail this weekend, although my Halloween birthday boy husband turns thirty-three tomorrow, so we did go out with Kerry and Christian for THAT occasion while Nan and Mamp babysat. It turned out to be a mildly treacherous drive because of our freak pre-Halloween snowstorm, and the month that started out feeling like July is ending up more like January. It's a very weird finish to a jam-packed and fun-filled October.