Tara's Halloween

I'm pretty sure Tara had a great Halloween. We picked and painted pumpkins, she wore a sweet costume and went trick-or-treating for the first time, and she got a sucker. I think she liked the sucker the most.

First, we started with the pumpkins that we'd brought home from the pumpkin patch. Since Tara is too young for carving, we went with a toddler friendly paint approach. We taped a face onto her pumpkin and then let her finger paint all over it.

She took this part very seriously.

 

Then, when she was done and the pumpkin was ready to dry, she took a bath. Of course.

Once dry, all we had to do was peel off the tape. The finished pumpkin was perfect.

For Halloween we decided that Tara should be a dinosaur, our own little Tarasaurus. I'd seen an idea for an easy costume online, so I went with that and made it for her. Some yarn for a hat to match pajamas that she already had, a little ribbon, some sponges, hot glue, and a little double sided take was all it took. Instant Tarasaurus.

Since our neighborhood doesn't have sidewalks, and since trick-or-treating tends to happen a little too close to her bedtime, we instead took her to our downtown trick-or-treat. All of the businesses welcome kids in for a store to store trick-or-treat. This was perfect for us, since the was room for Tara to walk, people to see, and just enough activity for her to have fun. She didn't actually pick up much candy, since she's too young for it yet, but that wasn't the point. Fun was still had by all.

As you can see, we did let her have one sucker, since she'd pretty much chewed through the wrapper on it any way. She was pretty darn happy with that sucker, let me tell you. I, for one, was pretty happy that we always have wet wipes on hand. That stuff is sticky!

We hope you had a happy Halloween!

It's pumpkin time!

Fall is probably my favorite time of year. I prefer the summer weather, but I love the fall activities! Every month has something fun to look forward to. Labor day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas! Ok, I know Christmas is technically winter, but it's like fall is a red carpet leading right up to it! Plus warm sweaters, cozy hats, falling leaves, hot apple cider...love, love, love.

While we do not live on a street that get's any trick-or-treat action (sad!), I still carve pumpkins every year. We did carve one with Tara last year, but being only 4 months old she didn't really have an opinion on the activity.

This year we took Tara to a local pumpkin patch so that she could pick out her own pumpkin. Since I personally don't remember visiting a pumpkin patch when I was a kid, it's safe to say that I was more excited that she was. Getting the right pumpkin is important! 

The patch we visited was perfect. Fields of pumpkins, with multiple varieties to pick from, crafts and kids activities, a play area for the little ones, hay rides, and farm animals to feed. Tara toddled all over the fields and had a blast in the play area. It was crawling with big kids, who are currently her favorite people in the world. Pretty much the only thing she didn't like was the big goat. He scared her with his ear piercing bleat.

At the end of the day we went home with two perfect pumpkins. Tara will be painting hers, while I'll be carving away. Stay tuned!

Blueberries, nom nom nom

I've been a bit remiss with blog upkeep, so I'm backlogged on the photos that I want to share. Time to catch up.

In early August, back when we were in the middle of the best summer the Pacific NW has had in a veeerrrry long time (seriously, too long), we decided to take Tara blueberry picking. I'd heard that there was a farm up on Bainbridge Island that offered blueberries and dahlias, so I was sold. Tara had only been walking for a few weeks, so places that were low on foot traffic and high on space were ideal. Bainbridge Island Blueberry Co. completely fit the bill. If you're in the area, check them out next summer.

The day was bright, sunny, and so warm. Tara had a blast toddling up and down the aisles and munching on blueberries. Have I mentioned that blueberries are her favorite fruit? They are, in a big way. We showed her how to pick the blueberries and put them in the bucket, but what we mostly got was a few green berries pulled off the bushes and a lot of ripe berries pulled back out of the bucket for insertion into her mouth!

In the end we had a great family day, and came home with about 1.5lbs of blueberries (and a few blueberries sweet treats baked by the owner of the farm!). We froze them and they lasted Tara for maybe a month?! What can I say, the girl likes her blueberries!

It's Sunday!

It's Sunday. Tomorrow is Labor Day. Yay for three day weekends! So here are two new videos of Tara, just because! The second video was taken just this morning.

International traveler

I realize that I haven't posted a Tara update lately, so one will be coming soon. In the mean time, please enjoy some photos from a short family vacation to Vancouver, B.C., that we took with my parents when they were out visiting in June. We took Amtrak up and back, which was a really fun way to travel.

Just before taking this trip, I got a new camera lens as a belated birthday present. I played around with it a bit on the first leg of our trip. As you can see, Tara enjoyed the train. I highly recommend this method of travel when traveling with children. There's so much to see and do, room to walk and explore, even food available in the dinning car.

Once settled into our hotel, Tara took some time to explore her new digs.

We spent the next day exploring the Granville Island Public Market. If you're ever up there, this is a great activity for the day. There are artisan shops, kids activities, a huge market and restaurant area, and a great view of the water. We walked, we shopped, and we ate. My kind of day. Tara agrees.

 

The train ride down was a bit more quiet, since it fell in the evening, but did not fail to disappoint when it came to the view from the train. The tracks run past some of the most beautiful coastline that Washington has to offer. It's been years since I last traveled by train in the United States, but I would be happy to do it again after this experience.

Just a quick side note about that last shot. See the "I miss you" along the bottom? Yeah, I didn't. I didn't notice it when I took the shot. I was concentrating on the amazing water and sky and didn't find the note until editing my pictures later on. How's that for a happy accident? Is the beach trying to tell us something?

One step at a time...

One step at a time is good walking 

- Chinese Proverb 

In very short time, Tara has gone from this:

To this:

To this:

I think she's got it figured out.