Put them back!

On Sunday we took part in that well known, tried and true Halloween ritual of carving pumpkins.  After dozens of years of partaking in this activity ourselves you'd think we'd have been prepared for the slimy mess it can produce, but our memories go back only so far, and clearly they didn't include visions of toddlers up to their shoulders in pumpkin guts.  Well, now they do.  Unlike our friends' children, who'd we had heard were, at best, "uncertain" of the cold wet stuff inside the big orange balls, Calvin had no such qualms about charting this unknown territory.  It was all we could do to keep him from grabbing the (safety) knife and helping us cut out the lid, and there was only a brief moment of questioning wonder before he reached right in.  He loved the fact that spoons were involved, but did not quite grasp the concepts of emptying and sorting and spent a lot of his time trying to put the goop back in (here, Mr. Pumpkin, you need this!).  When all was said and done (read: all three pumpkinds empty) the newspapers were scattered, the floor slippery, and the laundry promising to be interesting.  Calvin was bored by the actual carving part of the evening, but was clearly pleased with the results.  After his bath we lined them up on the coffee table, dimmed the room lights, and brought them to life with tiny candles, and he was absolutely thrilled.  We have to admit that we are pretty pleased with our handiwork, too. 

The 2007 Ophoff Jack-o-lanterns:

 Want to see more?  Visit the Oct 27-Nov 2 album... there are also pictures from our Sunday visit to two different farms and pumpkin patches.  

And Halloween Happening makes three...

Who said Halloween was a minor holiday?  Perhaps it pales in comparison with the month-long secular celebration known as "pre-Christmas Shopping," but walk into any store now and be enveloped by displays of candy, harvest decorations, and costumes and you might agree with us when we say that it has most certainly come into it's own.  Already this year we have attended celebrations at two different zoos, and tonight found us joining in a costume parade, pot-luck dinner, and round of crafts and activities at Halloween Happening at our church.  The church you say?  Sure, Halloween technically grew from pagan roots celebrating the harvest and promoting preparations for the coming of winter, but we can thank Pope Gregory numbers III and IV for moving All Saints Day to November 1st (from some time in May) thereby taking advantage of (or downplaying) this pagan celebration during which the Celts believed that the barrier between the dead and the living was blurred.  In fact, the pagans weren't the ones who named it, since Halloween was Hallowe'en was All-Hallow-even, or "the eve of All Hallows' Day," that being the eve of All Saint's Day, get it?  And that's an over-simplification if we've ever heard one, but you catch the gist of it, and so tonight found us celebrating Hallowe'en with our fellow church members by making creepy crawlies out of pipe-cleaners, masks out of paper plates, and ghosts out of lollipops, in-between which we did haunted calisthenics, and tested our bravery by reaching into dark holes to feel such things as goblin eyeballs and warlock hearts - both of which Calvin immediately tried to eat (hey, a tomato by any other name...), and Calvin got a third opportunity to wear his costume, so we will get our money's worth after all.

Second time's a charm

No, you're not seeing things, we really did go to another zoo Halloween party this afternoon.  We couldn't resist.  It's not like we've had a pint sized candy excuse before.  Besides, we spent all that money on his costume (resale's a miracle, but shhhh!  Don't tell!) and have to get as many uses out of it as possible, so today we made the trek to our second favorite zoo down in Toledo to enjoy their Little Boo at the Zoo party.  Sure it was cold and windy, and sure most of the animals were somewhere off exhibit, but the trip had it's merits:  we got a great look at the baby polar bear twins and one of the baby cheetahs, Calvin got a chance to "ride" one of the metal turtle sculptures that are usually too hot to touch, and we came home with four pieces of candy - 2 pieces for each of us, since Calvin is too young, of course.   The only down side to the day was our visit to Africa where Calvin was devastated to learn that the giraffes at this particular zoo are not feed-able or touchable the way that they are at both Binder Park and now Detroit, as well.  Instead of his customary "giraffe" smile, we were treated to a heart meltingly cute "giraffe" pout. 

Pictures.  In the Oct 20-26 album. 

The key to a healthy Halloween

Halloween is not an innate holiday.  Who would have guessed?  In fact, the way that Calvin took immediately to the decorations this year we thought it might be.  It was late in September that the first elaborate trimmings of the upcoming holiday began to appear and Calvin recognized them right away, lurching forward in his stroller, squealing, and pointing.   In fact, our daily excursions have become less about exercise and more about hunting for pumpkins and other yard enhancements.  But trick-or-treating is most certainly not part of his inherent understanding of this October celebration.  Tonight we indulged our own desire to embrace the festivities of the season by attending the annual Zoo Boo at the Detroit Zoo.  Calvin thought wearing a costume was funny, he thought his parents wearing costumes was an all out riot, he loved the pumpkins artistically arranged in zoo-like scenes, and he loved the animals we got to glimpse, but he had no conceptual grasp for the actual treat collecting part of the evening.  At the first station he was openly concerned that some strange woman dressed in a pumpkin costume (not unlike his own, mind you) was putting something (pretzels) in his bag.  At the second station he took said pretzels out of his bag and tried desperately to give them to the bumblebee who was trying, without luck, to bestow upon him the gift of Skittles.  It was a very fun evening for all of us, and even turned out to be a healthy one.  Thanks to Calvin's diligence we came home with less than a solid handful of candy. 

A profusion of pictures, as always, in the Oct 20-26 album. 

Happy Labor Day

September?  Seriously?  Is it really seriously September?  But August came and went so fast!  It was in like a lion, with storms and floods, and then the rest of it just scurried away, as fast as the rabbits in our backyard when we open the door to try and take their picture.  At the beginning of the month we had a great weekend to-do list, filled with hikes, water parks, zoos, and nature preserves, but instead our weekends were spent cleaning and drying our basement, drying and boxing our belongings, holding a garage sale, and making trips to donation centers.  But, while we may have greeted the first weekend of September with our basement back in order, our list of fun things to do in August was no shorter, so with today's free holiday afternoon we decided to do something about it, and the long shadows of a late summer sun found us frolicking in the water at an Ann Arbor splash park.  Calvin was a little nervous about all the strange activity at first, but he warmed up quickly and was soon to be seen wading through the showers, underneath the falls, and over the many geysers.  He greatly enjoyed the selection of pool toys floating around, and also loved watching the other kids playing nearby.  The afternoon was delightful - late enough in the day that the pool was not crowded, warm enough to enjoy the water, and cool enough to enjoy the sun.  The only twinge of sadness to be felt was the realization that we should have done this earlier and more often in the summer, although it's not like our weekends haven't been full enough.  We'll just have to be sure to add this one to the summer to-do list for next year.

As always, there are lots more pictures in this week's photo gallery.