Theme? No.

Trunk-or-Treat: that splendid party in which our kids get an early chance to wear their costumes and contract diabetes.  In true Jones fashion, there was no theme this year.

Bryn went as a gothic vampire minus fangs because she just didn't feel like wearing them.

Calvin had the force this year. Every kid needs a Jedi year (or decade).

Ivy wanted to be a princess, and I "guided" toward Belle. Because Belle is kind, thoughtful, likes books and has brown hair, just like Ivy. But then Ivy spent the evening complaining that her eyes weren't also brown like Belle's.

Happy Halloween!

Columbus Discovers Autumn

The Balls came up for a day of autumn fun. I took a few family pictures for them in the morning, and then we met my crew in Concord center and had lunch in the middle of Monument Square.

Army crawling is a standard photography technique, right?

See, I'm great with kids!

From there, we ventured to the boathouse to procure a couple of high-occupancy canoes. It's a lovely way to experience the fall foliage, especially on a day like today with temps around 67 degrees.

PUSH!!!

Lord of the Flies as Mel put it (all the kids were over there eventually, while the grownups stayed behind on the shore)

A most handsome toad

Hiawatha and her friend Marcus cruising down the river

They just got dirtier as the day wore on.

We stopped for pastries in Concord at Sally Ann's, and capped our trip off with a visit to Wilson Farms and the haunted hay ride.

Haunted hay ride sight

Tooth-fer (you know, like two-for, but toothy)

Bryn pulled her wiggly snaggle tooth early Sunday morning. Calvin, not to be outdone, had Peter yank his slightly less snaggly but none-the-less wiggly tooth out. And thus it came to pass that the tooth fairy had a very efficient evening that night at our household.

Stairway to Lafayette

Tonja and I went hiking in the white mountains of New Hampshire. The weather was perfect, and the fall colors were in full bloom up there.

We did the greenleaf hut trail to Lafayette peak, then hiked the ridge trail to Lincoln Peak and then used the Falling Waters trail to descend back down.  It was an 8.9 mile hike with a near 4000' elevation gain.

After Lincoln Peak, we head along more of the ridge. There was a fun cliff gap (around 4 or 5 feet that we jumped over.  We took the Falling Waters trail back down, and enjoyed spectacular views of many waterfalls along the way.

We ended our trip with a dip at the basin to ice our swollen feet.

Biking the Charles

While Ivy and Finley were at preschool, Rachael and I seized the beautiful sunny day and went biking next to the Charles River.

We parked at the Watertown Target and rode down a few blocks to catch the bike path. The sights were beautiful- river vistas, crew boats,  and the boston skyline. The cars were annoying- too many and too close.

Preschool or Bust

Ivy ventured off to preschool on Thursday. She's doing it at the Habitat- a place run by the Audubon Society. They go outside and explore the world with nature experts every time, rain or shine.  Today, their special guest was a tarantula.

Ivy walked right in, put her backpack in her cubby, went and sat down, and never even looked up to see if I was still there. I said goodbye, and she still never looked up from her playdough- just waved a little hand behind her and said,"bye mom."

Stick Harvesting

Ivy and I went for a walk in the woods. Well, I've decided "walk," is the wrong term for it when you have a 4 year-old along, as it connotes forward progress at a steady pace, a thing which decidedly does not happen. I've now decided to call it a "Stick Harvest."

The sticks must be thoroughly inspected to ensure that they have a proper gripping diameter and that the length-to-body is in good proportion. Furthermore, sticks resembling guns, letters (the girl's name is IVY, and you can find sticks in all these shapes), and wands require special attention.

It's important to walk with at least three walking sticks. Anything less is uncivilized. Also, please don't let go when you want to climb a large boulder. You never know when a rascally squirrel is just going to jump out and take your stick that you've set aside.

Finally, as a tangent to the stick harvest, we played with the jewelweed seeds. It's a marvelous little dispersion technique sure to delight both young and old. Next time you see a jewelweed, find the biggest seedpod and gently squeeze the base. Excitement will follow.

Clambaking

Notable events this year:

• Peter did the clamBIKE, and the young men came along. The young man in front of him crashed (sustaining minor but bloody and painful abrasions), Peter slammed on his brakes, and flew over his handlebars, catching himself with his bad wrist. But he seems okay.
• Calvin requested a lobster leg. Luckily, Uncle Lance was happy to donate one of his (lobster's) legs to the cause.
• Lance and I went snorkeling. He had his wetsuit, and wouldn't even spare a hood. Gosh! I numbed up after 5 minutes, and was fine.
• Peter and Lance and a few of the other guys made a swim.
• I and a few of the other ladies made a swim. We fought a rip tide on the way back in and won.
• Calvin and Megan created a sand unicorn (pictured above). As they were building, Calvin happily said, "I feel like one of those professional sand sculptors!"

Lovely weather, a fine strong wind and a following sea. A real nice clambake.

School or bust

Mr. 2nd grader

Ms. 4th grader

Keep sailing Bob

We spent the labor day (or Communist day as Peter likes to call it) in Rhode Island with the Balls. They took us sailing and kayaking in Newport.

Peter and Randy almost smashed into a multi-million dollar yacht (the wind was horrible), the kayak Calvin and I were riding in had a hole in the bottom and started sinking, and we almost lost Marcus and Bryn out to sea in a kayak (they had overshot our picnic destination). Shortly after we took our boats out, they shut down the marina and stopped letting boats out because of the weather conditions. But despite the weather and the sinking boat, it was good fun and an excellent adventure.

The bridge in the above photos gives you a good idea of how temperamental the weather was- they were all taken in the same hour.