Tuesday, October 28, 2008

We let Miss McKenna have a Halloween party this past weekend, and boy did we have fun. The kids were just crazy. You couldn't have asked for a more enthusiastic bunch. We stuffed them full of pizza and treats, and played some really fun games. The favorite game of the evening was the Donut Game. My Dad used to take us to his friend's house every Halloween time for a Halloween party. Those parites are some of the best memories from my childhood. We used to play the Donut game. It is alot harder than it looks. You have to race to finish your donut tied to a string, with your hands behind your back. It was so funny when Jaycee's donut fell off the string and onto her nose. lol


I got a strobe light, and they had a blast dancing in front of the thing. Boy did they cut loose. They were not shy in the least bit. We also let the kids bob for apples. I always load the apples up with quarters. It makes the kids try real hard to score one. It really was a fun party. Adults and kids had equal fun. Put us in the perfect mood for Tricks and Treats this week.





We Decked The Halls,




And Set The Table With Fiendish Delights,




Put On Our Best Costumes and Waited For The Guests To Arrive!




Halloween Bat




And A Steely Batman




Can You Believe They Put Me In This Ridiculous Getup?




Yeah, Pup, I can believe it :0(




Our Lovely Witch Hostess With Her Pup




Party People In The House




Yummm...Pizzza!




Who Gave This Guy A Deadly Weapon?




Pinata Time




Candy Scramble




The Donut Game Was Hilarious




The Donut Fell On Jaycee's Nose LOL




Dance, Dance




Bust A Move




Doin' The Robot



Dance Till You Drop




Can't Have A Halloween Party Without AppleBobbing





Saturday, October 25, 2008

Gardens, Pumpkins, and Scarecrows


We recently went to Powell Gardens to their Jack-o-Lantern Walk at Dusk. The garden is such a different place in the fall. The annuals and perenials in bloom were just an autumn treasure. Gorgeous chrysanthemums, snapdragons, sunflowers, and mums were on display in an array of fall colors. That coupled with the gorgeous color of the changing leaves made for a picturesque scene. The garden at night seems to take on an almost dreamy like quality, a place where fairytales and haunting tales could come to life.


Everything was aglow at the gardens.




The statues in the pond took on an eerie glow.




When we arrived at the garden's visitor center a fairy princess directed us to take in all the pumpkins that were on display. She also informed us that there were scarecrows on display throughout the garden. We would have the opprotunity to vote on our favorite scarecrow at the end of the evening. We then left the visitor center and continued on to search the section of the gardens with the scarecrows for our favorite ones. The scarecrows were very creative. My favorite was one of a cat fishing for catfish.



Burt's was called Corn Field of Dreams, which had a scarecrow dining on corn.



McKenna's was called Stop and Smell the Roses.



Brendan loved them all. lol











After picking our favorites, we continued on to the Jack-o-Lantern trail. The pumpkins gave a delightful glow to the garden path. The bridges were also illuminated by string lights. The kids had so much fun roaming around and picking their favorite pumpkins. Here is a slide show of some of the pumpkins they saw at the garden, and some from a pumpkin carving display we went to this year.




When we finished the tour we boarded the trolley and headed back to the visitors center were the kids were given a candy treat. It really was a visual delight to be at the gardens at night in the fall.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Dining With Dinos



The kids and I went to the coolest restaurant. It is located in the Legends Shopping Center. The name of the restaurant is T-Rex.










It is a dinosaur themed restaurant with animatronic dinos throughout the place.



















It was so cool, and the food was just amazing. The dining experience includes a dino bone dig area, learning center, a mine filled with geodes, and a Build-A-Dino Workshop(the same as Build-A-Bear). Brendan and McKenna each made their own dinos. McKenna made one for Andrew, and Brendan made a t-rex. I had to giggle because he named the thing Pooney. He first went with Ballo, but decided Pooney was a much better fit. lol Makes me a little nervous over what my future grandkids will be called. I guess it will be ok, because Ashton used to want to name everything Jonkey. lol I have no idea (and I don't think she does either) were the hell Jonkey came from.















T-Rex was huge. The animated dinosaurs were really impressive. Andrew's eyes were like saucers when he saw them. There is an enormous Giant Squid hanging from the ceiling when you walk in, and a wall with the image of hot lava pouring down on one wall.







Upstairs is the Ice Crystal Cave. It was really pretty. There is also a dino dig area. Brendan was so funny when he laid in the sand flapping his arms and legs to make "sand angels". He also loved the beautiful geodes.




























The Legends itself is a beautiful shopping center. It boasts some of the most interesting restaurants in the KC area. It also has a huge fountain area that the kids love.



















We will definitely be making a trip back to T-Rex.