Trunk 'n Treat

It was Brighton's first Halloween in the sense that he actually participated this year.  He was a bundled-up Nemo.  After greeting a few neighbors at our door, we went to the Trunk 'n Treat at Bethany CRC with Brighton's cousins.  We had a great time even though it was really cold.  We saw lots of familiar faces as well as more family. 

 Yes, that is my grandpa dressed up as a grandma. 

Visor Beanie

Both my boys HAD to have one :)

At this point, I think I will pass on the trend.

What about you?

Happy Halloween!

Cousins & Cubbies

Carving Pumpkins

Fun Family First in Frankenmuth

Forgive me for the quadruple aliteration in the title; I just can't deny the aliteration when it flows so easily :)

Following last week's VERY busy week we headed to Frankenmuth with the Raterink clan for the weekend.  I especially was in need of a fun weekend.  My parents visited there briefly before my sister and I were born, and the rest of us had never been there.  Of course we had visited the Birch Run Outlets before, but we never made the short drive down the road to Frankenmuth.  We squeezed in a lot of fun and of course had a wonderful time.  We stayed at Zehnders and took in their water park a few times.  Our little guy LOVED it.  Bright was incessant with his sign for more.

You apparently can't go to Frankenmuth without eating one of their famous family-style chicken dinners.  Bright liked the food, but didn't want to get too close to the Zehnder's Chicken mascot.

We had a great time in the arcade too.  Uncle Dan won an insane number of tickets.  What can we say, we do it up grand...even in the arcade.

And of course a visit to Frankenmuth is not complete without a visit to Bronners - the largest Christmas store in the world.  It literally keeps going and going, and Christmas is just a couple months away now.   I would've loved to spend more time there, but it wasn't exactly a toddler friendly destination.   

Have you been to Frankenmuth? 

 I am officially now a Frankenmuth Fan.  We'll go back for sure.

Visit for 31

I turned 31 years old this week.  

Yup, I'm just throwing the exact number out there.  I have not resorted to gimmicks about my age....not yet anyway. 

My birthday came and went without too much thought on my part as this was an extrememly busy week.  We did have Friday off this week, but that was due to having conferences two nights this week, and one of them was the exact day of my birthday.  My birthday ended up being a 13 hour work day, but to my surprise Jon and Brighton visited me at school Monday morning.  They brought themselves and donuts for my students.  It was an awesome birthday just for that reason alone.  
Thanks boys!

It's Fall and it's Freezing

We made the annual trip to a pumpkin patch last weekend with the Raterink clan.  This fun fall outing coincides with the fall work that needs to be done up north.  It just so happened to be absolutely freezing.  I mean literally freezing.  Nonetheless, we all toughed it out with all the layers we had.   The guys took the shorestation out of the water, and then later that afternoon we headed to Lewis' Market and Petting Zoo.