Ward Halloween Party

Marcus took the boys to the Ward Halloween Party for the Trunk or Treat.  (I teach in Manhattan on Saturdays, so I got there late.)

Chase did not want to get dressed.  No surprise there.

... I can't like it!  :)  haha

But he did it.  And I think he looked great!

Candy Time

The group shot attempt

Too bad there was a sugar distraction :)

Marcus and Curious George - though you can only see one monkey ear here :)

Page family concentration face while desperately trying to open candy

After the trunk or treat, there was a chili cook off and a few other games inside the gym.

And then we walked home along Skillman so Chase could trick or treat some of his favorite places, like the laundromat.

And Ty rode along.

Happy Halloween :)

Countdown to the Airplane

Chase has been really excited to be going on an airplane soon.  To help him understand the concept of when we are going, I made him a countdown.  

Checking out all the links

Counting how many days

I think this is when he was mad it was a long chain :)

He likes the tiny airplane on the sign

Another day, "Hey Mom, take a picture of me with the countdown."

Spooky Concert in Connecticut

One of the schools I teach at, The Suzuki Music School of Westport, has an annual Spooky Concert around Halloween.  We decided to go as a family since it's a shorter concert with a carnival.  It seemed like a great time to bring the boys up to Connecticut to meet some of the other teachers and a few of my students.

We rented a car and drove up to Connecticut.  No one got sick this time, so that was great :)  We did get a little turned around on all the residential streets, but that is a great area to get a little lost.  The homes are beautiful!  And all the leaves were just starting to change colors.  

The school the concert held at was a private elementary school for boys.  It was an incredible building.  Those families must pay college tuitions for those kindergarteners...  Actually they basically do.  We looked it up.

Man, Connecticut is amazing.  I really enjoy teaching there.  And concerts are a lot of fun.  This was was a spooky success.  My group classes combined and played Old MacDonald.  They had learned to play some animals noises on their cellos.  Not many came, but it was a cute piece.  Other classes played spooky variations of traditional Suzuki songs or songs with Halloween words in the titles.  Everyone seemed to have a nice time.  

Oh, and did I mention everyone was dressed up in costume?  They had all the faculty dress up as Suzuki songs, and there was a contest to guess who was which song.  I was Chanson Triste from Book 4.  I wore a shirt covered in music notes and Marcus drew tears on my face.  Chase was the Man in the Yellow Hat, but by the time cameras were out at the carnival, he just looked like a walking banana.  Ty was a monkey :)

After, there was a carnival.  There were probably eight to ten games, but Chase only did a couple.  And two of them he repeated over and over and over...

Pumpkin Toss

He didn't quite understand eating the doughnuts off the string.

I helped :)

Yum Yum Yum

Then Chase saw a game he really wanted to play!

That is my boss, the music school's director, Andrew.
The game was "Throw a wet sponge at Andrew."

Chase LOVED it.

He also loved the Witches' Hats Ring Toss

This was one he played a lot!

While our sweet monkey slept

And Marcus enjoyed some Hot Chocolate

And Chase then was back and forth between the hats and the sponge.  He helped pick up the sponges after kids threw them.  Chase was a super helper!

buddies

After the concert, we went to one of my students' homes in Westport for dinner.  His dad is a chef who owns a restaurant in Connecticut.  Of course Chase wouldn't eat the dinner, but I'm pretty sure Marcus and I will dream about the pumpkin ravioli and pork with apples...  Drooling again.  It was a really fun day!  I'm glad we all went.

Brothers Bonding

I was getting ready to feed Ty his bottle, and Chase asked to help.  I jumped on that since Chase never really wants anything to do with Ty beyond looking at him, grabbing diapers, and telling me Ty pooped.  This time, he helped mix up the formula and then asked to feed Ty!  So I helped him sit on the couch and put Ty in his lap.  From there, Chase completely took over.  

This one is my favorite.  A focused older brother.

I love this video clip.  Watch Ty's little hand :)

And then he wanted to help some more, but his interest quickly faded.  Probably for the best because Ty was still hungry and was only given the very top portion of his bottle.  Plus Chase wanted to help clear out his sinuses...

And Ty loved every second.

Florida with ANA

Every year Marcus gets to go an help produce the Association of National Advertisers' annual conference. He's the scriptwriter. For the past two years, it's been at fancy resorts in Florida. This year, it was at the Marriott World Center - you can see the resort and pool here. Marcus worked the show Tuesday to midday Saturday - but he did get to go for a swim after.

The show hall is massive - one of the largest rooms in the country with no support beams of any kind.

And because he was in Florida, and just outside of Disney World - he visited the Boardwalk Resort, where his family are Disney Vacation Club members. A nice, nostalgic night for him on a day rehearsal was done early.

And he brought us back a mickey pumpkin - isn't he cute?