Kids Kastle Park

This extra-large playground is part of a bigger park with a creek, soccer field, exercise stations and walking path. The photo shows about half of the playground. The kids had an absolute ball here. I think we stayed for almost four hours!

Super Lucas!

Soprano Sarah!

The kids just received their ICEE shirts in the mail the day before and they all wanted to wear them. We earned enough ICEE points to get these shirts free. Although I'm scared to think about how much we spent on ICEEs over the years in San Antonio!

Ethan

Jacob

Beautiful day and the kids were good and dusty from the rocks when we left.

On the way home, we stopped at the new grocery store in town and they happened to have a Carl Edwards NASCAR on display. 

Then we found out it was a simulator! The kids had fun racing each other while dad shopped for dinner.

Lucas' favorite sponsor!

Science Night and Pumpkin Parade

The kids' school hosted the Ross Perot Museum of Nature and Science as part of their school's Science Night. They got to participate in different kinds of experiments and activities, like Lego robotics,  optical illusions, cells under the microscope, simple machines, and more. Sarah was the most interested and completed almost every station. The boys wanted to stay in the robotics room all night! 

Photo ops! Is this my future? 

On Friday, the kindergartners got to decorate pumpkins and parade through the cafeteria for the parents.  They sang a sweet song, and Lucas reprised his role as "the post" (non-singing Christmas program participant) although he did sing a tiny bit.

Our friend, Andrew, and his pumpkin.

Lucas' class and their pumpkins. See if you can pick out the pumpkins made by kids and the pumpkins made by parents ... aka Mike Wazowski.

The Bartering Begins

After trick-or-treating, the bartering begins! 

I'm not sure what this is ... or if I like it!

What do you have?

Halloween 2012

Halloween! Found Frankenstein pretty easily but the other outdoor decorations are clearly too organized to be found this year. 

Ethan as Steve from Minecraft.

Jacob as a Creeper from Minecraft.

Sarah as Draculaura from Monster High.

Lucas as a Power Ranger.

Mark just being Mark.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Trunk Or Treat

I'd never heard of this type of Trick or Treating before, but TRUNK or Treats are popular here. Folks decorate the trunks of their cars and hand out candy, dress up ... in random parking lots around the city. This one happened to be at the kids' new pediatrician's office.

A Halloween preview: Sarah as Draculaura from Monster High, Jacob as a Creeper from Minecraft, Lucas as a Power Ranger and Ethan as a baseball player. Ethan's Minecraft costume didn't arrive at the same time as Jacob's so Ethan will be Steve from Minecraft on Halloween - with a similar giant box head.

 

Scooby Doo Trunk.

Sesame Street Trunk.

Seussville Trunk.

Crazy barrel train ride with pediatric nurse/volunteer fireman/teddy bear of an old guy as the driver. He went FAST and the kids loved it!

Fire Truck was there.

Then they had to leave after an alarm went off. Tore outta there pretty fast!

Train bounce house.

 The kids' doctor (as Daphne from Scooby Doo) riding the train. Jacob is the only one that's had an appointment so far and we both thought she was fantastic. He said she was like a teenager (because she made jokes and gave him high-fives). This picture probably doesn't dispell the teenager image, but I thought she was great with him.

Pumpkin bowling and cauldron of candy.

Pumpkin Village

I recently bought a Groupon for a pumpkin patch a couple miles from our house. A friend of mine happened to go to the pumpkin patch the weekend before and reported that there were actually two pumpkin patches right next to each other! I thought that was very strange so before we loaded up and went, I wanted to confirm which patch would take my Groupon. I found this funny blog that tells the story of how the two patches came to be!

Our Groupon ended up being for the Pumpkin Village (Park) - or the imitation patch - according to the story. We enjoyed terrific weather and lots of rides, games and activities. 

A relatively small hay maze.

Mini pumpkin launch.

Eaten alive by the bounce house!

Behind Ethan and Lucas, you can see the parking lot of the other pumpkin patch.

Hay ride.

Pony rides.

Hair painting.

We were there almost four hours and I ended up giving our leftover tickets to a family with two tiny girls. Maybe next year we'll visit the Original Pumpkin Patch instead and see if we prefer one or the other. Until then - off to find costumes for Halloween!

Copy Cat Recipe: Creamy Jalapeno

A friend sent me a "wish you were here" picture/text from a Mexican restaurant called Chuy's with a yummy chip dip - their famous Creamy Jalapeno Ranch dressing. So I went online looking for a copycat recipe and found a couple on Pinterest. I modified it a little using regular milk vs. buttermilk and adding garlic. I thought it tasted fabulous, but since I was comparing it to memory, I may be a little off.

3 C mayo
3/4 C milk
3/4 C tomatillo sauce
3/4 C sliced jalapenos
1 bunch of cilantro
2 pkg Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch dressing mix
1 T minced garlic
Throw it all in a food processor and blend. Voila!

Now who's going to bring me some of the real thing so we can compare side-by-side?