A little more October in November! Gosh, I took a lot of photos in October, of pumpkins and costumes and autumn strolls. Ok, photos of the kids, really, but the backdrops were awfully nice, too.
We tried out a new pumpkin patch this year and found it to be packed with activities (and photo ops…). Knutson Farms for the win! Isaac fell asleep in the car on the way there and kept snoozing for a good hour after we parked, so Juliette and I got the lay of the land while Shane sat with him.
Tether balls and corn mazes and rubber duck races and newborn piglets, OH MY.
The corn maze proved to be trickier than anticipated…
Finally, Isaac roused and joined us on our search for the perfect pumpkin.
Look hard, Buddy!
And lift with your legs!
Honestly, this place was just a series of perfect stages for the kids to perch and look adorable.
Once we’d picked our pumpkin, we joined the line for the train ride. Goodness, to see Isaac hardly walking just a few weeks ago. Time flies.
The train ride was cheesy and a total hit with both kids.
Isaac wasn’t sure what to make of his cow car until we really got rolling, and then he was all in. The faster we went, the bigger he smiled.
And Juliette! Bless your heart for still loving the little things.
Someone was very disappointed when the ride ended.
Would some goats cheer you up, Bud?
Juliette challenged Shane to a race through the pumpkin maze and I hated to let her our of our sight, but we found each other again, eventually.
Ok, this is the last photo of Isaac perched near a truck.
I promise.
For reals!
Juliette and I have a soft spot for ugly pumpkins, so we grabbed a couple of those on our way out.
Whew! What a journey.
I love a good pumpkin patch, but our (2nd) annual Harry Potter Night is perhaps my favorite October tradition. Juliette decided to be Hermione Granger for Halloween this year, so she was thrilled to get some extra mileage out of her costume.
We decided that Isaac makes a good Draco Malfoy, with his fair hair and mischievous demeanor.
I was without a witch’s costume, so I showed up as Professor McGonagall in cat form.
Sherbet polyjuice potion and chocolate golden snitches and pretzel wands…wizard treats are fun.
The Rusts showed up in full garb with the evilest of scowls, as Bellatrix and Draco and Crabb and Goyle.
I bought some remote control candles and Shane hid the remote in his pocket, turning the lights on every time Juliette waved her wand and shouted “Lumos!”. We had the whole party fooled for most the night. Magic, baby!
The raucous sorting hat ceremony…
And movie time! Get cozy, friends.
It’s a friendship made in heaven, these two.
October is also good for a simple walk in the woods, away from the Halloween fuss. We spent a quiet Sunday at Ravenna Park, another one of those places that feels infinitely more accessible now that the West Seattle Bridge is open.
Saturdays were for soccer…
And sometimes Sundays were for coffee shops. Juliette and I have a new favorite spot and snuck away here a couple of times while our guys were napping.
Soccer and coffee shops are fun, but couch snuggles trump all!
Sometimes snuggles were just because, but sometimes snuggles were because Isaac was sick again. He’d tote around his thermometer all day and just move from one lap to another. It was the worst. But also the sweetest.
But also the tiring-est. I found this photo on my phone and didn’t even know Shane snapped it – Mama was wiped!
We carved pumpkins on a gray afternoon; Juliette was grossed-out by the guts as always, which only piqued Isaac’s interest. He was dying to get in there!
And finally, Halloween. Halloween was good this year. And also somehow four days long, with festivities Friday through Monday? There is in fact too much of a good thing, and I think we toed the line! We started with some small business trick-or-treating at the Admiral Junction, where Juliette donned her witch’s get-up while Isaac tagged along as Crookshanks, Hermione’s fluffy brown cat.
Isaac was a bit confused by it all and stopped every few steps to look up at us with inquiring eyes.
If he knew about the sugar rush that existed inside the paper wrapper, I imagine he would have been much more pumped.
Still, though. Cutest kitty-cub ever.
We met up with some friends on Saturday evening for a small carnival at a neighborhood church.
Roar, Buddy, ROAR!
We walked over to Juliette’s school one evening for the annual Monster Mash.
It was wonderful to see the tradition revived after a Covid hiatus, to watch the kids run wild together. But it was also overwhelming – even Juliette, my social butterfly, tugged on my sleeve and asked to head home after an hour.
We reveled in the quiet walk home and then settled in for our annual viewing of E.T. Â
Finally, Halloween evening, which felt like a long time coming at this point! I rushed home from work to get the kids into their costumes and then we headed out to snap a few porch pics and let Isaac ring the doorbell of a few favorite neighbors.
This sweet woman scooped chocolate into the kids’ buckets until they were half-full.
I think Isaac was getting the hang of it?
Finally, his bucket was plenty full and he was ready to call it a night.
Juliette was just getting started, though – she met up with some school friends and we gallivanted around the neighborhood with them until our fingers were freezing and we wanted nothing more than some cozy time on the couch with fuzzy blankets and hot tea. And some mini Snickers. Halloween was a smashing success.
And that, friends, was October. Traditions lived large, with a decent amount of hunker-down time in between. November, though? Give me all the hunkering!