Halloween

Jack requested a shark costume this year, and for some reason a hammerhead shark really spoke to him, so that was his choice.  

Derrick and Jack won the costume contest at the school party.

Trick or treating on a warm and windy Halloween night.

 Organizing and counting the loot.

 The weather allowed us to sit outside, watch the crowd, and hand out candy.

- S.

Fair

The Topsfield Fair came and went last month.  The weather was not so great this year, but we managed to squeeze in a couple of visits.

During the parade, Jack gathered enough candy to fill a shopping bag.

He forgot about it within a few days and I made some co-workers happy 

by bringing it to the office.

Derrick joined in on the fried dough making this year.

Delicious!

There were lots of rides.

Mostly rides that go in a circle.

Maple cotton candy.

 Sand sculpture in progress.

 Some hot buttered corn.

A giant pumpkin.

Four and a half feet tall.

 See you next year, Fair!

-S.

September

The rest of September was spent getting back into the school routine with some weekend activities mixed in.  

Of course we did some apple picking which included tree climbing this year.

Jack had his 7-year checkup.  Healthy as a horse.

He is closing in on 70 pounds and is hovering between 4.25' and 4.5'.  

We learned about compasses and how to use them with Mass Audubon.

And how to use a compass with a map.

We helped out at the annual Fall spruce up at school.  

Here is Jack in front of the tree we planted at school three years ago.

- S.

Birthday and Grade Two

In an effort to continue catching up on past events, here is some news from September.

Jack had a birthday last month and he turned seven years old.  

We had a small family gathering to celebrate and gave Jack a few gifts ahead of time.

Oh, the birthday theme this year was cats, hence the ears.

 Cake time.

Cat box cupcakes.

 Cat piñata.

Then a quick two days later, Jack started second grade!

More to come!

- S.

Summer Wrap Up

Now that it is October, it is probably time to do a summer wrap up in order to move on to recent events.  Here are some things that happened in August.

Urban s'mores in pajamas.

Hanging with an ice cream eating lobster in NH.

Working on those skee ball skills

One of the prizes won with all his skee ball tickets.

First vegetarian turkey sub from Capriottis.  

"Delicious."

Ice cream during a quick trip to the Cape.

 Climbing while waiting to have breakfast.

- S.

Wildwood

In early August, we went down to Wildwood, NJ with Derrick's family.  Jack was last there when he was 10 months old.  It was a very different experience this time around.  Here is an overview of some things Jack did.

Climbing the beachballs in front of the big sign.

We rented bikes for the week.  This was Jack's choice.

Some of the mornings we took rides up and down the boardwalk,

Jack and Derrick got to ride in the back of a monster truck.

Riding the tram car.

We spent plenty of time on the boardwalk.

 Jack showing off what he won with arcade tickets.  

Note another panda win, this one with boba tea.

Jack discovered rides in Wildwood.

I have already purchased advance ride tickets for the Fair in anticipation.

"Jazz cars" were one of his favorites.

Pretending to pour and drink tea in the teacups.

Riding above the pier in a pirate ship.

We also went to the Wildwood Aviation Museum, which was interesting.

There was a little bit of space stuff too.

Jack had a good time.

We also took Jack kayaking for the first time, which he did pretty well at.  

(Photo taken through a plastic bag.)

 - S.

Space

In between vacations, we visited the JFK Library for Space Fest which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

Jack got to make a paper rocket and then shoot it with a 

contraption the MIT kids had brought with them.

 Jack also learned how to write his name in code.  Very serious business.

- S.