Pumpkin Carving 2013

Pumpkin Carving 2013 was a bit of a rushed event in our household.  With Halloween falling on Thursday this year, we felt that carving pumpkins on the previous weekend would have led to very sad looking jack-o-lanterns by Halloween so we planned to carve pumpkins on the night before Halloween.  That meant adding a pretty substantial task to our already hectic nights with two exhausted parents after a full day at work coming home to feed the kids dinner, clean out and carve pumpkins, give the kids baths, and get them in the bed at a decent hour.  In retrospect, I don't think it really mattered what the pumpkins looked like on Halloween night as we were out trick-or-treating all night and really didn't enjoy them being lit up so I think next time we'll just go ahead and do them on the weekend before to save ourselves a little sanity and just make for a more enjoyable experience.  Lessons learned!  Needless to say, it was a very late night for mom and dad!

So pumpkin carving, of course, started with an almost naked toddler on the table cleaning out messy pumpkin guts.

Evan attempted to help with his little scooper.  He is not a fan of getting his hands dirty. 

But this guy is a pro!

"Woo hoo!"

Brody had his cleaned out in no time! 

And then Evan couldn't be outdone by little brother. 

Daddy opted for a more simple creation from the old carving book.  Evan wanted a skeleton so they did this skeleton face.  It wasn't my favorite design, but this year needed to be simpler. 

Mommy's task was to carve Mattie's name into her pumpkin. 

Daddy finished up his pumpkin and lit it up before taking the kids to get baths while Mommy finished.  

Mommy added Mattie's little feet to the pumpkin. 

All lit up.

I got a little carried away on the "e" and in trying to "fix" it, it got a little too big.  *Sigh* 

Brody showing off his pumpkin before going to bed. 

A Day with Smokey Bear at the Nuclear Power Plant

Catchy title, I know, but it was the best I could come up with.  One of our nuclear power plants (yes, apparently it takes two to power the 17th largest city in the U.S. and 23rd largest metropolitan area with over 2 million people) hosted a special family event last Saturday.  This one is located north of Charlotte in the neighboring city of Huntersville.  Our power company, Duke Energy, held a special exploring the outdoors day on their property on Lake Norman, and Daddy had to attend to set up a booth for work.  He brought his huge (almost 20 foot tall) new Smokey Bear whose presence definitely dominated the area.  I was actually surprised this air filled Smokey was still as soft as a teddy bear as he was covered with fur and cloth instead of just made of vinyl material.  Brody loved cuddling Smokey's feet (the only part he could reach).  That may have been a little weird if Smokey had been a person in a costume.  Ha!  Evan loved getting to participate in some special activities like shooting a bow and arrow (he wants one for Christmas...yikes!), shooting a be-be gun, climbing a rock wall, racing Mommy in a sack race (yikes again!), and fishing all while Daddy was "working" nearby.  We also learned a little something about nuclear energy and how it is turned into electricity at the Energy Explorium.

Smokey taking his job very serious as usual overseeing the event. 

Off Brody goes to explore. 

Brody enjoyed rubbing Smokey's soft feet.  

Daddy only packed the zoom lens on the camera so it was impossible to capture a full shot of Smokey and Brody together without standing in the middle of the lake. 

Brody giving Smokey's feet love.  Ha!

Brody and Evan try out driving a boat. 

This face was saying "Could someone please help me get down?"

Checking out the lake on this beautiful fall day. 

My sweet boys

After I asked them to turn around. 

Evan tried climbing the rock wall, but he is a little scared of heights.  He gets an "A for effort."  

Brody attempted the sack race. 

Evan was a pro and definitely beat his Mommy. 

Mommy had to help Brody.

And big brother gave Brody his prize sucker for his performance. 

Love Evan's happy face!

Evan learned to cast a fly fishing rod.  I just think he looks like a pro here. 

I guess we need to take him to the mountains to go trout fishing. 

Getting tips from a pro. 

He almost caught a Brody fish. 

Trying out a bow and arrow.  

Getting some instruction. 

Brody enjoyed watching big brother shoot. 

Evan did shoot well and hit the target, but he couldn't get his arrows to stick.  He just needs a little more practice. 

My little fishermen. 

It was a beautiful but windy day on the water. 

Sweet fisherman.  I think he would be a great fisherman because he has a lot of patience. 

Little brother caught his first fish...with a little help, of course. 

And he was not afraid to touch his fish. 

He grabbed the fish with two hands while giggling.  The fish still had the hook in its mouth so we were a little worried. 

Holding his catch. 

Just his size.  He told the fish bye bye before we threw him back in the water. 

Evan enjoyed an ice cream break after all of his outdoor adventures. 

And then he enjoyed resting in the butterfly garden.

Wrong season for butterfly watching I guess. 

My little caterpillar turned into a butterfly. 

Evan puts on his hard hat to go to work at the nuclear power plant.  I had to capture these indoor shots with my phone because the zoom lens just is not ideal for smaller indoor spaces.   

Brody and his hard hat. 

Evan and Brody posing with an atom. 

Evan makes electricity with his touch. 

We had a fun and educational day with Smokey and Daddy!