Happy Father's Day

This week was pretty light on the photos until the weekend.  I kept thinking that I should pick my camera up but I just never got to it.

On Friday we went to a Father's Day cookout at Bennett's school.  It was an interesting dynamic of who talked to who, who left first, who stayed longest, etc.  Pretty much the infant families hung out together and left first.  Then the younger toddlers left, and then the older kids left.  We were there until the end (and pretty late!) just hanging out chatting and playing games/puzzles with one of the other families and with the teachers.  One of the teachers brought her teenage daughter who Bennett absolutely adores!  This was great for us because Emily got to try to corrall him to eat and then help him with the potty.  Good thing she was willing to help out!

The cookout is potluck with the school providing the burgers/hot dogs but then each family signing up to bring a side or a dessert.  Last year I baked these  cupcakes.  Apparently in the days leading up to the cookout various people were asking the director if I would be making them again.  Luckily she realized that they were a TON of work and that I likely wouldn't be making them again.  Instead I made cupcakes in ice cream cones.  I thought that they would be cute, but they didn't quite live up to last year.

Bennett helped make them the night before, and Friday morning he woke up asking to eat a cupcake.  We told him that they were for the party.  All day long he kept asking.  When we arrived at school that evening we had to put the cupcakes in the director's office so that Bennett (and the other kids) wouldn't eat them first.  He still tried running in there to get one though.

It was cute watching the kids eat them.  Many of them tried to lick them like an ice cream cone.  I guess it makes sense though since kids often only eat the frosting from a cupcake anyway.



A dad helping G eat her cone.  And then playfully shoving it in her face.  :)



I have no idea what this really is, but Bennett thought it was sunglasses.  Reminds me of Geordi LaForge from Star Trek: The Next Generation.



At least he was safe and put a helmet on, but now he just needs to look where he's going.

 On Saturday we went to Day out with Thomas at Edaville.  Last year we didn't go on many rides but this year we had a bit more time.  Bennett wasn't so sure about the carousel at first, but once it got going he loved it.  Of course it doesn't hurt that he likes horsies.

This video isn't sideways like the thumbnail would have you believe.

As we were walking past the hill with the gazebo Bennett surprised us by rememberding that it was where Sit Topham Hatt was when we visited 9 months ago.  Who knew it made such an impression!

I like his hands on the side holding on.  :)

As we came out of the gift shop we saw Sir Topham Hatt so we got into the line for a photo.  We weren't sure how he was going to do, but he did great.  Much better than last year where he ran away from Sir. Topham.



Maybe it's jus tme, but I think this Sir Topham Hatt looks a little creepier than the one last fall.




After taking the photo we got in line for food.  It was so slow!  Rather than make Bennett wait I stayed in line while he and Chris went on a couple of rides.  They rode the airplane and also went in a rocket.  Bennett couldn't figure out the control lever to raise the plane up, so he stayed down low.  Much easier to take photos though.  :)

After lunch we checked out a train engine that the kids could climb into and went on more rides.

The girl in the plane with Bennett must have younger siblings because she did really well with Bennett adn tolerated him wiggling the flying lever  back and forth.  And then after the ride she even undid his seat belt for him.

Soon it was time for us to go on our train ride.  The ride was fairly uneventful.  Last fall the coach had been empty except for us, but this time it was full.  After the ride we quickly got in the line for photos with Thomas.

Then we went on a couple more rides before heading home.  Bennett got a VERY late nap in the car and when we got home Daddy mowed lawn while Bennett played outside and helped water garden.  He also discovered that jumping in puddles is fun.

On Sunday we had a fairly un-exciting Father's Day.  We had a bunch of errands to run.  First stop was Brandeis for a little while.  Bennett decided that "Daddy make mess" so he grabbed a broom and did some sweeping.  What's funny though is that the shop was probably the cleanest that Bennett has ever seen it.  He also took some scraps of wood and threw them away.  When those were all gone he requested "Daddy cut wood".

We then had a couple more stops, another extremely short car nap and got home shortly before dinner.


We need to teach a corn eating method.  Lots of corn left on the cob when he was "all done".



After dinner we went for a walk.  I think the horrid nap was catching up to him because he was not in the mood to walk and kept asking to be picked up.  It was like pulling teeth to get him to walk.  If only Fiona had been there to take his hand and pull him along.

Halloween Wrap-up

You wouldn't expect Sir Topham Hatt to walk, would you?  Nope, he drives around in style.

We had big hopes of making his car out of wood, but Chris got busy with work and making scarf display racks (a crazy side project he never should have agreed to do).  So last Tuesday night I drew up a pattern and started cutting and taping cardboard.  It went together pretty well.  I would have preferred to be able to tape on the outside, but I knew that wouldn't look good when I painted.

I had a bit of a time crunch.  Friday night our town had an event where kids can go trick or treating downtown, and then there's a parade.  Of course we want his car ready for that.  So with major construction done on Tuesday, that left time for blue paint on Wednesday and then accent paint on Thursday.

In hindsight, it was kind of a pain.  (Although it did help some people identify what his costume was.)  There were lots of people downtown, so it was difficult to maneuver between people, and also it was having some steering problems.  Note to self- next year don't bring a wagon!

Here are a couple of other pictures from Friday.



Watching the parade.

 But that's not all!  Two more opportunities on Saturday to don his costume!  First was a birthday party at an ice rink.  So much fun!

We weren't sure if the rink would have skates in his size, but they did!  He was really wobbly when we first put them on, and kept falling down in the lounge area.

One nice thing about this rink is that they had "walkers" for people to use to help with balance.  It wasn't quite enough for Bennett, but between us holding him up and the walker, he did marginally better.  He really liked it when I took him for a spin around the ice, but then he didn't want to go back to Daddy and the walker.



What was interesting though is when he got off the ice he had no problems walking in his skates anymore and was able to walk the entire length of the rink.  After skating there was some trick or treating around the rink, getting a few treats from some of the other parents who were there.  Then cake and ice cream.  He's never really been a big fan of ice cream before, but he loved it!

After the party we went to Sturbridge for an event they were holding called, Things That Go Bump In the Night. 

They had TONS of carved pumpkins along the roads and in a field at the entrance.  At the end of the night they were encouraging people to choose a pumpkin to bring home, but we opted not to do so.

There also was trick or treating around the village, and for the older kids, there was a spooky walk they could go on.  What was neat was that at each spot where they were giving out candy the people were dressed in a theme.  Unfortunately I think it took us until about the 3rd or 4th one (if not more) to realize that they were all storybook themes.  Mother Goose was the 2nd person we saw, but we never made the connection until we saw Mary (and her Little Lamb).  Then we figured out that the scary looking pigs we had seen were the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf.  Another fun spot was Alice in Wonderland where Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the March Hare were all sitting around drinking tea.

No one knew who Bennett was, but they all commented about how dapper he looked.

In addition to the trick or treating, they also had a juggler who we watched.  Unfortunately the barn he was in was packed to overflowing, so visibility was a bit difficult.

As we were leaving we stopped at a sleigh that they had set up as an advertisement for a future event to be held in December-Christmas by Candlelight.  They also had some cloaks and other costume pieces that you could put on for a picture, but Bennett's costume was perfect just the way it was.

Sunday was yet another chance to wear his costume!  We took him to J.C. Penney to have pictures taken. That's where we go for all our other portraits (I think this may have been our 8th time going there now.)  They had a great deal running for the month of October plus we had a coupon for $25 off.  I ordered 3 8x10s, 6 5x7s, and 16 wallets and after all of my coupons it only cost $3.19.  Score!  It almost was going to be free, but at the end I added an extra sheet of wallets, so that's pretty much all we had to pay for.  I have another $25 coupon to use in November, so that will be used for our family pictures.

Phew.  That's a lot of costume wearing!  But wait, there's more!

On Halloween there was a party at school.  Bennett's daycare (or school, as we call it) is located in a nursing home and the kids got to go trick or treating to get candy from the "grandmas and grandpas".  They all LOVED his costume!  There's one resident who is especially fond of Bennett, so they made sure that he got to see Bennett all dressed up.  The director is also good about making sure that there are non-candy items for the kids, so he also got playdough, a peg game, bracelets, stickers, etc.

And last but not least, Bennett got to go Trick or Treating at West Street, Nana and Grandpa's neighborhood.  We stopped by after school for pizza (he wasn't interested) and then got changed and went out.  To us, even though he's had all these other experiences, this was his first "real" time trick or treating.  I don't know, I suppose the other times could have counted, but this was the first time we've taken him out on Halloween night, the first time he's gone up to houses, etc.

With Cowboy Grandpa

 He had a blast.  He knew exactly what to do.  He might have been a little timid at first, but I think after the first house he was a pro.  We brought the wagon with us again this time, but after the first block or so he was ready to walk.  Sure riding around was cute, but that required getting in and out of the wagon at every house.  And again, we reaffirmed that we don't want to mess with the wagon again in future years.

Trick or Treat!

So there you have it!  That's a summary of all of Bennett's Halloween adventures.  And unlike our experience at Day Out with Thomas, he now loves his costume!  In fact, last week I brought out the hat for him to wear and then he wanted to put on his spats and jacket.   And then he started vacuuming.  :)

Day Out with Thomas

So for those who aren't aware, I have a degree in Theatre with an emphasis on Costume Construction.  Other than summerstock the year after I graduated and working on one production at a local theatre, those skills have been pretty under-utilized in the past 13 years.  People often ask me if I miss it or if I would want to get back into theatre.  I say, "not really, but my kids will have kick-ass Halloween costumes."  For years (long before Bennett was even a twinkle in our eyes) I've been saying this.  Well, it's now that time...

Back in August Chris and I brainstormed and we came up with idea of Bennett's Halloween Costume being Sir Topham Hatt from Thomas the Tank Engine.  Right after we decided this I started working again and then had to finish everything for his birthday party, so costume plans were set aside.

Then about 2 weeks ago I sat down and planned it all out.  I had a month to get the costume done.  Not too bad- I could take my time and I wouldn't have to rush or stress.  But then I wondered if "Day Out with Thomas" was coming up.  I figured we'd probably missed it, but that it didn't hurt to check.  It was less than two weeks away.  Eeek!!!

So for the past week and a half I've been up late every night stitching away.
4th went fabric shopping and started cutting out the jacket
5th - 9th made the jacket
10th made the waistcoat (vest)
11th started the hat
12th more or less finished the hat, started the spats (and stayed up until 1am)
13th (while at my hair appointment and in the car on the way there) finished sewing the lining into the tophat and sewed snaps onto the spats.

Phew, that was a long 10 days!

All week long he was very resistant every time I had to have him try his costume on.  The jacket was the worst!  He did NOT want to wear it!  I was a little nervous of how things would go on Saturday.

Bennett napped in the car on the way there, but didn’t sleep long enough and woke up cranky. We tried changing his clothes in the parking lot, but He. Was. Not. Having. It. We managed to change his pants but he didn't really want that to happen.  Put on his dress shoes and tried to put the spats on.  As soon as I got them snapped on, he was ripping them off.  So we put him back in his sneakers and I put the clothes in a bag and brought them in with us. Shortly before Sir Topham Hatt showed up for pictures we changed him. He still resisted, but once we got him dressed he was fine. Only we didn’t bother to change his shoes, since that had been the initial cause of the meltdown at the car. So he was all spiffy- and then in sneakers. Phooey

It was fun to hear the comments from other parents about how he looked like Sir Topham, and from some of the staff as well.

At first he wasn’t happy, but this may have been because we tried putting him down on his own. When that didn’t work, Chris quickly jumped in. Got a few pics that way, and then tried a single shot.

But the best is this one from the official photographer. I may need to pay the crazy amount of money to get it.

Not thrilled with any of the official photos with Thomas, and I didn’t get to take any with my camera. This one may be the best (there were three) and I think Bennett’s eyes are closed.

We then got to ride the train. We had a car all to ourselves which was nice because Bennett was able to run around.

Then at the end of the day (they were about to close) a staff member asked if she could take his picture for the website, but then she later said FB. Either way it’s pretty cool. Guess they don’t usually get people dressing up.

So all in all, I’m glad I pushed to get the costume done in time. I’d like to say I won’t be this ambitious next year, but I doubt that’s true.

Oh, and his hat really does fit. There’s a little resistance when you put it on, and Chris didn’t realize that. So it’s just sitting really high in all of the hat pictures except the last one.

Then yesterday I brought him to Brandeis.  The costume designer there had been most helpful to me with some pattern drafting- especially getting things to me during tech week!  She wanted to see him in his costume, and due to schedules, yesterday was really the only day I would be able to bring him in when she was there.  So after nap we headed in.  I changed him in Chris' office.  He was a little resistant, but not too bad.  Still didn't want to wear his hat though, although he is wearing it here.

We changed him again before we left and he wanted to carry the bag with his costume out to the car.  When we got home, he insisted on carrying the bag in.  Then what does he do?  Reaches in, pulls out the hat and puts it on.  And then starts pulling other things out and wants to put his spats on.  Really?  I'm glad you like it, but couldn't you have been more receptive on Saturday?

 

Still a few more occasions to wear it, so I hope he remains happy with it. (Trick or treating in town on the 26th, costume birthday party on the 27th, Halloween party at school, trick or treating on the 31st, and we're also taking him to have pictures taken.)