Bainbridge Island Adventure

This is one of my favorite annual traditions of October- going to the pumpkin walk on Bainbridge Island. We have been going for 6 years, and it amazes me that still after all this time, that we find a new place to explore. 

Our first stop was to go and explore Poulsbo, WA. I did this in the summer with the girls, but this time Nate got to explore with us. First, we explore the marina.

Then we went to the SEA Discovery Center. It is only open on Friday and Saturdays and is free with a $2 a person suggested donation and was amazing. There were some tide pools to explore, a fun scavenger hunt for the kids, and the staff was amazing at answering questions. I would totally go here again.

Then we explored "Litte Norway" and wandered through the shops.

Then we made our way onto Bainbridge Island to the pumpkin walk. It was amazing since we went later in the month so there were SO many amazing pumpkins to see. We each painted a small pumpkin to add to the trail. We enjoyed the pumpkins and wandering through the property and took advantage of all the photo ops.

Then we found an amazing playground called KidsUp! Playground at Battle Point Park. The design was incredible. There was an old fort part, a entire playground ferry, a walk in merry-go-round, and an octopus with a car hiding under a bridge. It was so fun and the girls explored and played on every part of that playground.

Then there was a small park on the map that was near the playground, so we decided to check it out. It was called Williams Olson Park, and it had a beautiful view but was small and didn't have much of a beach. We stayed just for a short time, and I probably wouldn't go again but the view was worth the stop, and the tree covered roads were also incredible.

Then of course we had to stop and do one of our favorite things on Bainbridge Island- the Hall's Hill Labyrinth. We all love to do the labyrinth. It is calming and peaceful and fun.

The property is fun to explore and also has some beautiful views.

We got some dinner at McDonald's, and we were trying to make the 6:30 ferry but the lot was full when we got there so we got to enjoy some time at the ferry terminal. We walked around and enjoy watching the ferry leave and come back. Then because we had to wait until the 7:15 ferry we got to have one of my favorite things, a nighttime view of Seattle on the water.

The view was worth the wait! I stood out in the freezing cold the entire ride over so when we got close to the city, I had a front row view. It was breathtaking and amazing!

What a fun day and an incredible adventure!

Preschool: Food & Baking

This was a week when I wasn't so sure about the theme but then I ended up loving it. We did lots of fun things in the kitchen and I love to cook. It was another great week of preschool.

Here is what McCall did for our food and baking themed week of preschool:

• She wrote the word food along with the letter F in uppercase and lowercase.
• She drew some of her favorite foods.
• We read a Disney book all about food.
• We played with the pretend food and counted the different fruits and veggies.
• We talked about different kitchen utensils and then did a matching game with them.
• She created her very own cupcake out of paper.
• Then she made some fizzy cupcakes with baking soda, sprinkles, and vinegar.
• She did some bread painting.
• She played with some cloud dough (flour and oil) and added her own sprinkles and used a wooden spoon, measuring cups and spoons, and cookie cutters.
• She went on a scavenger hunt for kitchen utensils.
• She painted with a whisk (and her fingers!).
• We made some bread in a bag and enjoyed it for dinner.
• We read "If you give a mouse a cookie".
• We did some chocolate chip counting. She counted how many chocolate chips were drawn on a cookie and then matched it to the right number.
• She made her own cookie out of paper.
• Then of course we ended the week with making chocolate chip cookies- one of her favorite things to make.

HOCO

Paige got to go to her first high school dance and had so much fun. She went to Homecoming with a bunch of her friends. They had pizza, got ready together, took pictures at the park, played a few games, had dessert, and danced the night away.

I am not going to lie, it was so strange. It was one of those moments when I felt old and had a weird sense of time. I felt like I was just in high school going to my own school dances but then watching my own daughter, looking this gorgeous and so grown up made me want to freeze time. She is growing up so fast and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Once they got to the park, it was a race against the setting sun to get some pictures. It was tricky to get the lighting right, but the sunset was beautiful and was a stunning background for these stunning young ladies.

She has some great friends!

I love these pictures that Nate got when we were walking over to the park. I am so grateful for my girls. I'm grateful that they are spread out even if that wasn't the plan. It lets me soak in all the seasons of life but still have this little one around even when I feel like my oldest is growing up too fast.

Paige- you are gorgeous on the inside and out. I can't believe how grown up you are! I'm so grateful to be your mom!

Trunk or Treat: Alice in Wonderland

My new calling in our ward is my dream calling: ward activities coordinator. I love doing ward parties and once I got called, the ideas started coming. One trunk or treat idea that I have had for a few years that I have been saving in case I ever got this calling was doing Alice in Wonderland. I have been painting and creating for the past two months, and it was truly magical to see it all come to life! I first watched the movie (I went with the original movie) and just wrote idea after idea as I watched. I love to capture moments in time from a movie or a theme and see what I can create. It is one of my favorite things to have this vision in my head and see it come to life.

Before we get to the trunk or treat, we have to take a moment for these cute girls and the costumes they wore to the trunk or treat.

McCall: Chase from Paw Patrol

Baylor: A Purple Crayon (Thanks to Celina for creating the shirt! It turned out so good!) Once the costume was on, Baylor was so happy with it and I loved seeing the joy in her having this idea and we brought it to life.

Paige: A Pretty Princess

Baylor woke up with a sore throat Friday morning, so she got to join in for a bit helping decorate. She loved it and even brought her roller blades and was zooming around the church gym and was our errand girl. McCall brought her strider bike which kept her entertained until Dad was able to take them both home after work. I was at the church at 8:45 and left around 3. It turned out perfect! I had so many people help out, and I am so grateful for them.

The vision: The large doorknob that Alice goes through to go into Wonderland was on the outside door, so people had to "go through" it to get into our very own Wonderland.

I love this hallway when you first walked in! I saw the idea on Pinterest. I cut out lots of clocks and glued them on paper plates. Some smaller ones were hanging from balloons from the ceiling (I used Velcro sticky dots to connect the balloons) and then the rest of the clocks were taped to the wall. I wanted red and white balloons and then I had one single blue balloon hanging without a clock to represent Alice.

Then this sign turned out so good. Down the rabbit hole to enter Wonderland (the gym).

This sign was on the wall right as you walked in. I used AI to create it and I love how it turned out. I created the mushrooms using toilet paper and paper towel rolls. I painted them white and then painted the underside of some bowls red that I hot glued together. Then I used a dot paint brush to put the white dots on the bowls. I then painted some cardboard pieces green and hot glued them to that and added moss and bark from my backyard.

Then I took different scenes from the movie to put on each wall. The wall by the food was the scene where Tweedledee and Tweedledum tell the story of the walrus and the carpenter. The opposite that wall is when Alice meets the Cheshire Cat in the trees with all the signs pointing different ways.

Then the back walls, one side was the flower scene when Alice sings with all the different flowers and then the other wall is when Alice is lost in the woods and lots of these bird characters that look like objects come to comfort her.

On the stage side of the gym, was the Queen of Hearts scene when they are playing croquet. I had the main characters plus card guards, and we found large playing cards to tape on the stage. Then the other wall near this was the painting the roses red scene.

This is an idea I had from the beginning, and it was fun to incorporate. I made 6 white rabbits from different scenes in the movie and then "hid" them within the scenes around the gym. It was a picture scavenger hunt where kids could take pictures or selfies with each of the white rabbits throughout the night. Once they found all six, they showed me their pictures which was so fun and they got a prize. I got some snap bracelets and temporary tattoos that were all Alice in Wonderland themed for the prizes.

At the back of the gym was the unbirthday party. It was a fun scene to do! I provided cupcakes for the dessert for the dinner with my budget and so the tables were just covered in cupcakes for the unbirthday party. I had fun with characters and put a couple of stands. Nate found some teacups and saucers from the Goodwill Outlet that I used, and the paper lanterns were a last minute decision and I'm so glad I did them. I again only did 1 blue lantern to represent Alice.

A few more characters and table centerpieces- Joyce Shumway did the tables and they turned out so fun.

We had a full gym which was amazing for our ward! Celina came with her kids, which was so fun and I'm so glad that she accepted the invitation. There were quite a few families that I didn't know, and one family even saw the invitation online when they googled events near them and showed up, not evening knowing anyone. So many people invited friends and family, and we had a wonderful turnout! We had plenty of food, which is also why I did main dish and appetizer potluck and provided dessert so there was more food to eat for dinner.

There were so many trunks that were decorated amazingly! We had a great trunk or treat, and the girls got lots of great candy.

Anna and Scott always do the most amazing trunk and this year they did Pike's Place Market. They "threw" fish (Swedish fish and goldfish) to the kids and had a fish that would move around in their trunk. It was so fun!

So many people helped take down and the big bonus was that a couple of weeks ago, I found out that Paige's school's homecoming's theme was Alice in Wonderland. So, I contacted the school, and they took all the decorations. It was so nice to be able to have all this work and time I put into these decorations and that they got to be used again. It was nice to hand them all off and not have to throw them away.

What an amazing trunk or treat!