Halloween 2010

Halloween this year was very exciting in the Simmons house.  It was the first year I was ready to let Reagan go Trick-or-Treating in the neighborhood.  Her first year of life she was only 25 days old so we passed out candy that year.  Then the last two years we have gone trunk-or-treating at our church.  This was perfect for any one year old or a two year old with a month old sister.  However, this year I decided she was old enough for the real Halloween experience.  Audubon Park, our neighborhood, was the perfect place.  We know a lot of our neighbors and of course we teamed up with the Jansen's and went together.  I really wanted Madison to go with us.  However, as we got all dressed up Andy told me he thought she felt warm.  At first I thought, it was because I was bundling her up but her temperature proved different.  She was running at 101.  I was so disappointed, but Iat this point she was dressed and so at least I could get some pictures of my baby.

Madison is so CUTE!



Halloween-cold or hot?  Always a good question for North Carolinians.



One great picture, two great kids, never happens, :(









Kathryn, Matthew, Steven, and Reagan

 

Just one piece please.

Reagan loved passing out candy!



After running out of candy to pass out Reagan says, "Mom, we can give them my candy because I can't eat it all anyways."


We made it around one big loop in our neighborhood in about an hour's time.  We started at 6:15 and ended up around 7:30.  Then Reagan continued to pass out candy until about 8:15.  At this point she was exhausted.  I was so proud of her because she only ate three peices.  She ate them on our last stretch of the way as I pushed her in the stroller.  She was too tired to go to any more houses.  Then once home a new wave of energy came over her as she found joy in passing out candy.  It was so fun to experience Halloween with her.  Next year I hope to have Madison join us for all the fun.

More cute pictures from the night.





Ringing the doorbell.





The Jansen Clan and Reagan.



Halloween Dance Show

On Friday, Reagan's dance class participated in a little show for all the parents and family.  Reagan is always very excited and has tons of energy.  She mostly likes to dance around the room doing what is best known as "freestyle dancing."  She has gotten better as the weeks progress to taking direction.  Before the parents went in to see the dance they practiced and I got to watch on the television outside in the lobby.  She did great.  During the performance she froze up.  She just starred at everyone until her sister, Madison started to dance.  Thanks to Madison, Reagan performed the last half of the second song.  Hopefully, she will do better at her recital.  It was all so cute and all the girls looked adorable.

Reagan looking at all the Parents

Ms. Savannah her teacher

Wow, she got some air here.

The Class

The Six Girls

Phillips Pumpkin Farm

I have been meaning to take the girls to a pumpkin farm for two years now.  I now know that it will be a yearly experience.  Last year, Madison was a newborn less than a month old so it was definitely out of the question.  Now that they are 1 and 3 and Madison is walking, I was so excited about going.  I wanted to go to Ganyard Farms in North Durham but Andy commented, "Why would we drive all the way to North Durham when we can go a mile down the street to Phillips which has everything that Ganyard has.  I had never heard of Phillips so I googled them and realized he was right!   Phillips didn't have a petting zoo but they did have bounce houses.  Just this year Reagan has been able to tackle bounce houses.  She was always to scared to go into them except at the indoor facilities.

Phillips Farm was great.  When we arrived to park it was very crowded, but then when we entered we never felt the crowds.  Phillips has a hayride, milk a cow station, a swing set, two bounce houses, hay barrels to climb in with tunnels, a little hay maze, a huge hay maze, sand pit with toys, fair food and other snacks, nice picnic shelters, face painting, pony rides, and two hit the bell with a hammer things.  All that and of course pumpkins!

At first the girls were not that into it.  They just sat and watched everyone for half an hour and then were fuzzy.  So we left and went to Chick-fil-a and to get cash for the pony ride/face painting.  I mean really who carries cash anymore.  Once we got back, we stayed over two hours.  Both the girls enjoyed everything they did.  I will admit the hayride was pretty bad.  The tractor just went around a cow pasture full of crap.  I am sure there are better ones out there.  However, to a 1 and 3 year old it was fun.  Reagan loved the milk station, pony ride, and face painting!  Madison loved the hay and sand!  What a great day!  We will definitely be back next year!

Morning Time before heading to School

Zoo Day

Today we decided would be a great day to visit the zoo.  The weather was perfect and the leaves have just started to change colors.  The drive there was great looking at all the foliage.  Reagan has been asking about going to the circus and zoo for awhile now and luckily my mom won two free tickets.  Of course, Madison being so young stayed home with Daddy.  On the way there we discussed what animals we were hoping to see.  Reagan was a bit confused between farm animals and zoo animals.  She wanted to see flamingos, giraffs, lions, ponies, cows, and tigers.  Luckily, we saw all but the ponies since there were cow pastures on the way.  We practiced discussing the animals on the farm with the "Old McDonald" song.  I also have a baby farm book in the car for Madison and that she was able to visually see all the animals that would not be at the zoo.

We met Mom at the McDonald's in Asheboro to leave her car.  Reagan was just excited to see her Nana, but at this point the anticipation to see the animals had her going stir crazy in her seat as he bounce back and forth.  The older she gets the more energy gets.  Hmm, that doesn't happen for me?

Anyways, we get there, park, buy Dora tickets, and off we go.  The Asheboro zoo is great except that you have to walk!  I don't mean walking is bad but you have to walk miles (literally) to see all the exhibits.  When we first got there we decided it best to go see the 4D Diego and Dora show.  Oh, were we smart.  One, I wanted to see if it was good enough to do again.  Well it wasn't that good, but still entertaining.  We were the first in line and waited about three minutes to see it.  Perfect timing for a 3 year old.  Later in the day we came back through the area to ride the carousel and the line was incredibly long.

Pictures: well I just got a new camera this summer for my birthday and I absolutely love it.  However, this is the second time that I have charged it and gotten it all ready to go and left it at home in the midst of running around loading the bazillion things that you need with toddlers.  Plus as soon as I was heading out the door Andy needed my diaper bag and stroller for Madison.  That though me.  SO, these all come from my iphone.  It did pretty well considering it is 3 megapixals and no zoom.

The first sight was the flamingos or "mingos" as Reagan calls them.  She really liked watching them.  During the day we went very slow or fast and just let Reagan enjoy the zoo at a 3 year olds delight.  She could stay at any exhibit as long as she wanted (1 hr 15 minutes being the longest) and could pass by or not go to any ones she didn't want to.

Most three year olds I know like the freedom of walking.  Not my Reagan.  She loves a stroller and today we have the big one where she could lay down.  We definitely took full advantage of this feature as we went without a nap today.

We headed through the violets and the tropical birds to the rhinoceros.  I love how this zoo is so kid friendly.  Better yet, toddler friendly!  At almost every exhibit were these beautiful metal structures of the animals that they allowed and encouraged the kids to climb on and feel.  Reagan learned so much from touching each animal and sitting on them.  We talked about the distinguishing body parts and what was special about each animal.

We spent about 45 minutes at the Gorilla exhibit but I have no pictures.  Reagan was so amazed at how much the animal looked like her.  The gorilla was right at the plexiglass.  Not scared at all she sat right there with him asking him questions, "Where's your mommy?"  "Are you sleepy?"  "Hi, Gorilla my name is Reagan."  It was so cute.  We saw elephants, giraffs, zebras, ostriches, bison, and elk.  Then we had a picnic lunch.  After lunch, we headed to the lions.  Reagan wanted to see a lion since we got in the car.  She just watched the Lion King at school last week and was very interested in seeing a real lion.  We are now in our usual "after lunch trying to go without a nap" mode for the rest of our visit.  She did pretty well considering the amount of walking she did and her age.  Only one little break down but like I said earlier we went and did what she wanted to do which meant Mom and I were rushed through exhibits we would have taken longer at and then we sat at ones we could have strolled by.

After the lions we went to see the chimpanzees.  Before we even got down to the exhibits we spent 15 minutes playing on the brass models.  At least I was able to get some good pictures.

FINALLY, on to the real chimps!

Nana and Reagan looking at the chimps.

Reagan is so close to the chimps that she practically looks like she is sitting with them.

We came during feeding time and it was so great because they were acting up and running everywhere chasing after these plastic feeding cups.















Next stop the carousel.  Every time we ride a carousel Reagan likes it more and more.  She especially enjoyed it today.  She choose the zebra while waiting in line.

At this point, if Reagan wasn't having the time of her life then she wasn't going to make it.  So, we left the carousel to ride the tram over to the Kidzone.  Here she painted on a wall with a paintbrush and water, went through a maze, and played tea party with stuffed animals.  The tea party lasted over an hour so my Mom and I just sat and had great conversation.  The bark was sticking to Reagan's sweater dress so bad that we had to take it off.  She didn't noticed as continued to play in her make believe world of animals.

 





































Off to the playground and finally the bears.  It was 5:00pm by the time we got done and the zoo was closing.  Just in time for a trip back to McDonald's to pick up Mom's car and dinner.  A great McDonald's with a huge indoor play space.  Thank you to Nana who paid for our way today and was so great to spend time with us.  We love you!