Adventures in Pumpkin Carving

We enjoyed our Sunday afternoon carving pumpkins with Mark and Aimee outside in wonderful fall weather. Davis ran around outside playing with his footballs and watched us work on several pumpkins, intermittently squealing with delight. Chris, although not initially excited about pumpkin carving, actually worked diligently on two pumpkins. He even "mucked" the pumpkin which came as a surprise to his parents as he NEVER did this as a kid. We purchased a small pumpkin carving kit and Aimee and Mark outdid us by bringing a SAW. Yep that is right a "sawzall". Needless to say Mark was the first one done with his pumpkin because he used the saw for the entire pumpkin. It sure did come in handy for the pumpkin faces.



Davis busy playing.

Here's the saw!!!

Mark's finished product.



Helping Aimee....



Chris working diligently on his pumpkin...



Aimee's finished product.



Chris still working...



Davis wanting to hold Aimee's pumpkin.



Group shot



The line-up of pumpkins




Chris and I decided on a pattern called "Good Bite Moon" (Halloween spin off of "Good night Moon" one of our bedtime favorites.) which as you can see has a bat in the silhouette of the moon.




We also decided to carve a small pumpkin for Davis with a little puppy on it. We may take it to daycare for him because they invited all the kids to bring in a pumpkin that they decorated. Of course he didn't help much with the pumpkin but I thought about getting him to put his handprints on the side or back.



Of course after emptying all those seeds we decided to make toasted pumpkin seeds. I tried a couple different flavors- sea salt, creole seasoning, and cinnamon seeds. Unfortunately I overcooked some of the seeds but the regular sea salt seeds were my favorite.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Our First Adventure to the NC State Fair

After living in Durham, NC for 4 years we had never made it to the State Fair until this year. Of course each year we hear many stories of all the fair fun so we were eager to taste fair food and experience this NC treat firsthand. It was a beautiful Fall Saturday when Chris, Davis, Aimee, and I headed to Raleigh. (We were pleased that the drive to the Fair Grounds was much shorter than the 2.5 hours it took for us to get to the U2 concert weeks prior).


This was the Bluegrass Stage.



After walking past hundreds of food booths with a wide variety of foods: fried everything (Snickers, HoHos, Coke, etc.), chocolate covered bacon, corn dogs, BBQ, italian sausages, elephant ears, funnel cakes, HUGE turkey legs, candy apples, apple fritters, roasted corn, and the list continues we finally decided to try a steak sandwich with the works.... We also shared some roasted corn with Aimee and went through the "free hush puppies" line twice. The prices are a bit steep so we didn't go crazy testing lots of food. (Picture of Steak sandwich stand)



We enjoyed the kid friendly activities and headed into the Children's Barnyard. Davis liked watching the little chicks, pointing at the horse, watching several cows, roosters, chickens, and sheep.



One of the competitions was designing landscaping. We liked this one b/c it was colorful and it was named "Mrs B's" which is the nickname for the Newlin's schnauzer, Sadie.



The mums at the Fairgrounds were bright.



Carved pumpkins with unique faces.



Davis getting brave and reaching for the animals at the petting zoo.


Davis and Chris feeding the animals. We enjoyed the close encounters with the animals including sheep, rams, camels, south american rats, a kangaroo, and many other animals I can't remember.


The animals came right up and tried to eat the food as it came out of the dispensers.


We remembered riding the Cobra as kids and I have to admit I am not sure I am brave enough to ride it again. It was also fun seeing the scrambler which was one of our favorite rides growing up.


As you can see we enjoyed our first trip to the fair.

Colonial Williamsburg

We headed to Williamsburg, Virginia to meet up with family for a short weekend trip. We enjoyed our time reuniting at our old college stomping grounds. Of course we ate at the Cheese Shop on Saturday right after we arrived (yumm: bread ends and house). We walked DoG Street numerous times and took in the sites.



Davis was laughing at his Grammy...

Chris and I taking the classic Williamsburg picture in stocks...


Mark and Aimee in the Stocks.

The family learning about the Sundial. We decided to walk across campus to see how things had changed at William & Mary.

Chris and I at Crim Dell. I can't remember the last time we were on the bridge together but I imagine it was about 9 years ago.

The Wren Building
Davis sleeping on the steps of the Wren Building.


Family shot in the Wren Courtyard. Davis's first trip to Williamsburg.

He wasn't thrilled by the all the pictures... but

He loved the rope and hung on it and shook it for several minutes until we encouraged him to come with us.... We were ready for lunch at Paul's Deli.


Davis walking hand in hand with Grammy and Grandpa Stickley down Richmond Road.


Davis laughing and playing with Uncle Mark.

Peek-a-Boo.

Davis standing on the stage of the Matoaka Ampitheater. This was a new addition since our time at William and Mary. When we were there this was a grass field near Lake Matoaka. Aimee and I both were familiar with this area as we took Adventure Games and other Kinesiology classes like Canoeing and Kayaking.

We enjoyed walking across campus seeing some of the new additions: Matoaka Amphitheater, new Business School, Parking Office, Small (Physics building) additions, and University Center renovations. It was Fall Break so it was quiet on campus.

Of course a trip to Williamsburg would not be complete without a quick stop at the Prime Outlets and dinner at Pierce's Pitt BBQ (yes it was crowded on a Sunday night) before making our way back to Durham, NC.

My Anywhere Chair

One of Davis's birthday gifts from my family was an "anywhere chair". (Basically a small lightweight armchair which can be moved from room to room easily. ) We assembled his chair yesterday and Davis thoroughly enjoyed his first seat in his chair.

He climbed right up into his chair and turned around and crossed his legs. He sat in the chair and smiled at us looking like the chair was made for him. Then he proceeded to check out the chair and lean from one side to the other, bang on the armrests with his hands, and try to push himself backwards.

His fun ended when he decided to stand up and lean backwards making it a bit top heavy.... yep you guessed it he ended up falling out of the chair and tipping over landing on his back. He made a quick recovery and has enjoyed climbing back into his chair today multiple times.