The Lee Family: October 2019

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays and the girls and I spend weeks brainstorming costumes and ideas. Usually Sofia has a pretty set idea of what she wants to be, while Olivia goes back and forth with her ideas. This year, Olivia said she wanted to be a duck and never really wavered from that idea. At school recess, she and her group of friends are part of the "duck squad" and pretend to be ducks sometimes as well as play other games. So, she had the idea of being a duck, which isn't exactly a costume that can be bought at the local costume shop. So, I went to Pinterest, of course, to get ideas. We bought a long-sleeved white tutu outfit, orange leggings, and an orange/white baseball cap on which I made "duck eyes" and added them to the cap. I also bought orange felt and made "duck feet" that we put over her sneakers. They made walking a little difficult, so Olivia ended up taking them off before we headed out to trick-or-treat. Meanwhile, Sofia wasn't really sure what she wanted to be and we ended up looking at Halloween costumes on Target.com. She immediately fell in love with the Cleopatra costume, which was only $20. So, we bought it, but when it arrived it was way too small. So, of course, we went to Amazon and bought another one which fit her perfectly and looked great on her. We also got a black Cleopatra wig for her to wear.

For Halloween, I made my tried-and-true chicken chili along with the bison chili Aunt Shirl made several years ago, which is one of our favorite recipes. The chicken chili is super easy to make, while the bison chili is time-consuming but delicious and well worth it. We invited several neighbors, including Marco, Stacy, Antonio and Luca, who we've trick-or-treated with for years. We invited Iryna and Michelle, as well as Young and her four kids and Todd, Dana and Brandon. Brandon is 16 now and didn't trick-or-treat last year, but loves to join in and walk with the crew acting as an "older statesman" as Dana calls it. He and Sofia hardly see each other and play together anymore, but they are good friends and enjoy hanging out with each other, so I know she was happy to have him in our group. I also invited Olivia's best friend Hannah, and her parents Casey and Mike, and they ended up joining us at the last minute. Everyone arrived around 6pm and we enjoyed chili, cornbread and fresh fruit before heading out. We took a group picture and then walked our neighborhood. Along with Sofia as Cleopatra and Olivia as a duck, Antonio was a stick figure, which was such a cool costume, Lucas was Batman, Michelle was a Candyland girl, and Hannah was a cat. It was a chilly evening and was in the low-40s as we headed out to trick-or-treat. The kids really get spoiled by Mitzi and Ms. Anne who give each of the kids a personalized ziplock filled with candy for each of the kiddos. Mitzi even gives CK a bag of his favorites: Almond Joy. The kids also hit the other homes and by the time we have visited all the houses on the black, their pumpkins are usually filled with candy!

Unfortunately, Sofia had a low-grade fever and was in a crabby mood after she got home from school. It didn't help that her Cleopatra outfit is a thin sleeveless dress that would not keep her warm at all. Olivia's duck costume was also thin, but she wore a white fleece and white gloves, so she stayed warm all night. As we left for our neighborhood circle, Sofia ran upstairs to get her black sweater and was upset when she came downstairs and we were gone. She caught up with us and things were smoothed over, especially once Brandon joined us and we were ready to cross over to the neighborhood across the street, where we always go.

We crossed the street while Marco drove their car to the neighborhood and Iryna also drove over, so they would both be ready to go as soon as their kiddos were done or too cold. The kids had a ball running from door to door getting candy! Sofia mainly walked and hung out with Brandon, but also trick-or-treated. All the younger kids stuck together and were good to keep us in sight as the parents stuck together, talking and keeping track of the kids' candy collection efforts. We were all surprised at how empty the streets were of trick-or-treaters! It was chilly out, but not terrible. In past years, there are usually many groups so kids. Most of the houses were offering candy and many were decorated.

Toward the end of the neighborhood, we came to the house that has scary decorations and it completely freaked Hannah out. Olivia also wouldn't go up to the door, but wasn't necessarily scared. After that house, we visited the last few on the block and then headed home! Sofia was absolutely freezing clod and had my gloves for about half of the night. Olivia was really thirsty, cold and tired and ready to go, so it was perfect timing. Luca and Michelle went home about halfway through the neighborhood and Brandon decided to go home too, since he was wearing flip flops and his feet were freezing cold. I'm pretty sure Antonio could go another two hours! We slowly walked home and it felt terrific going inside where our fire was still going and it felt almost hot inside! It certainly felt great to be inside. Although it was only 8:30pm, it did feel like it was 10pm! The girls got ready for bed after a great Halloween full of trick-or-treating and lots of candy!

The cutest duck ever!

Love her duck feet, although she took them off for trick-or-treating, since they were hard to walk with.

Our beautiful Cleopatra!

She loves her Cleopatra outfit and it looks great on her.

Sweet sisters are ready for some candy!

And Buddy, in his blue dragon costume (he's not a fan!)

The girls, Buddy and me.

CK and his girls!

Hanging out with Buddy waiting for friends to arrive.

This year's trick-or-treat crew!

Hannah, Olivia and Antonio!

Mitzi's house means lots of yummy candy!

Trick-or-treating across the street....

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Olivia's Storybook Pumpkin

Every year CES' library offers the kids to decorate their own Storybook Pumpkin and display it until November 1st in the library. The child is asked to fill out a sheet that includes the character's name, what book the character is from, who the author is and a short description of the character. Olivia was so excited to do it this year and wanted to do Rose, a border collie from The Great Escape by Meagan Rix, which we got in London. Olivia has been reading the book to me every night before bed and we are nearly finished with it. The book details the story of a family and their two dogs and a cat as WWII breaks out in London. The dad is a reconnaissance pilot and is sent off to war, while the mom is a nurse and is sent to help out on a floating hospital. That leaves the two kids, 10 and 8, to go live with their Grandma in the country. However, the Grandma is incapable because she is still grieving the loss of her son during WWI and her husband's death. So, they go live with a neighbor and his wife on a farm. Meanwhile, the animals are all given to a random family in London to "look after" and the man decides to euthanize them. They escape and try to make their way back to the kids. Of course, as they travel they encounter a number of adventures. It's a very-written book and heart wrenching to think of what families had to go through during the war.

Rose is Olivia's favorite character in the book and she loves dogs, but especially border collies. She went to Hall's pumpkin patch with Hannah over a week ago and came home with a white pumpkin, so she decided that was the one to decorate as Rose. We are so busy with tennis, piano, golf, etc that we couldn't find time to decorate it, but this evening as I was making dinner, she decided she just wanted to decorate it herself. She had already filled out the description herself and I told her where all the art supplies were located and she laid out the plastic tablecloth we always use when we craft or paint. She got to work, and of course Sofia jumped in and helped her. They did a terrific job and Rose is one cute pumpkin! Sofia did the paws and mouth and helped with the eyes, but Olivia did the rest and it looks great. They had a great time together and the best part: I did NO work! Actually I cleaned out three paint brushes when they were finished, but otherwise they got all the supplies out, decorated Rose, and put everything back! It was perfect! The next day, Olivia lugged Rose into the library!

The Great Escape

Olivia's description of Rose

She's ready to begin!

Getting started....

A random cute picture of Buddy.

Painting Rose's spots

Sofia gets involved...

Rose is coming along...

Sofia painting Rose's paws.

Working together...

Sweet sisters!

The finished Rose! I love it!!

Monday, October 14, 2019

Fun Day at The State Fair!

Today we decided to go to the Texas State Fair in Dallas, which we haven't been to since 2016! I really love going to the State Fair, even though it seems like we can hardly find a day to go in the month it runs. Since we decided to stay at home for the long weekend, I wanted to take the girls to the fair, although CK originally thought that he would have to work and couldn't go with us. This morning, as we were getting ready and buying tickets online, CK decided to go with us! We packed up our tickets, water bottles, camera and lots of cash and headed for Fair Park around 9:30am. Originally I thought that we could take the train, but I never took the time to research it, so we drove instead. If I remember anything for our next visit, it is that we really must take the train next time. The drive to Dallas went fine but as we got within a mile of Fair Park, we just sat and barely moved an inch! There is free parking surrounding the fair, but many of the local businesses and churches charge to park a short distance from the fair. We finally decided to park off-site and found a lutheran church near one of the gates that only charged $10. We parked and headed into the State Fair! The security check point went very quickly and we were soon in the fair, along with a good amount of people already!

Neither of the girls had breakfast, so they were begging for a funnel cake, at 11:20am! CK stood in line (our first of many for the day) to buy $100 of tickets to use for food and rides. As soon as we got the tickets, we walked to the first funnel cake stand we found and ordered one to share. It was delicious! We gobbled it down, with Olivia trying to eat all of the powdered sugar! After we were done enjoying our funnel cake, we continued walking toward the midway. The girls were desperate to go down the huge slide, since they remember it so well from our last visit to the fair. The slide is on the far side of the midway and thankfully there weren't too many people so we got to the slides pretty easily. One thing I love about the fair is that it's laid out exactly the same each year, so it's easy to find all of our favorites. The girls rode the slide and had so much fun! They love the slide and if it didn't cost $7 each, they could do it all day long! After the slide, we continued walking and came across a grill that sells grilled turkey legs and brisket sandwiches. Sofia and I both felt like turkey legs (which we should have shared) and CK and Olivia both decided on the brisket sandwiches. Unfortunately, where the food stand was located, there were no benches or tables to sit at, so we stood off to the side and ate. The turkey leg proved to be way too much food for either Sofia or myself and we could have easily split it. It was very good though and I'm glad I tried it. Normally I get the corny dog, but decided the turkey leg looked really delicious and it was.

After we were done eating, we continued walking and soon came across a cotton candy stand. The girls each wanted their own, on a stick, but once Olivia got her's we decided they could very easily split one since it was huge! They both enjoyed the cotton candy and they actually ate all of it. Of course, Olivia was covered in cotton candy and had to clean herself up after. Next time, I will more certainly bring wet wipes in my backpack! That girl is always covered in the food she eats.

We headed to the On the Farm exhibit which has moved into one of the buildings and is a lot larger than the last time we visited. we stood in another line, which went pretty quickly and when we got to the entrance, we bought a plastic cup full of animal feed. The first animals to see where two kangaroos with joeys in their pouches! They were SO adorable! Sofia was able to pet one, but Olivia wasn't and she was beside herself to touch one. So, we squeezed back into the massive crowd to get close to the kangaroos and after a few minutes one of them hopped by and she was able to rub the kangaroo's back. She said she was so soft and she was so happy she was able to touch one. We continued walking and saw pot bellied pigs and their cute babies, a small white camel and a bunch of cute baby goats. The goats were so happy to be pet and fed. Most of the animals were stuffed already so they didn't eat the food we bought. The girls spent a long time hanging out with the goats and then we continued walking and saw the miniature ponies, a huge Longhorn, a Momma hog and her cute babies, an ostrich, and many other animals. It was so fun! We headed out, after checking to make sure that we didn't accidentally pick up one of those adorable little goats.

We wanted to be sure we caught the pig races - one of my very favorite events, so we headed to the arena. Along the way, we toured a small "house" made out of a hollowed-out redwood. It was pretty amazing! We made it to the arena and found seats, which were near the very top of the arena, but still good. The pig races started with their usual explanation of how the pig races happen and picking out of four cheerleaders, one for each of the racers. We were in the "blue" section. The races started and it was crazy! Those little pigs really can run quickly and our blue pig won! The crowd in our section went crazy and it was so loud that Olivia had to cover her ears. It really was a little overwhelming. There were three heats of races and our little cute pig running for the blue section won twice. After the races, we left the arena and entered into an absolute crush of people. We could almost not walk there were so many people going both ways between the food stalls and also huge lines for the Fletcher's corny dogs which then created a three-way traffic jam. We finally walked through it and passed my very favorite fried fair food - the deep fried S'more. Unfortunately the line was easily 25-30 people long and that didn't include the great masses just trying to get to the other side of the lines. So, we continued on to the embarcadero and the girls each got a root beer while CK got a pineapple ice cream. We walked to Big Tex and there were so many people, it felt like we were at a football game. We took some pictures and then continued on our way. I really wanted to try one of the winners or runners-up for the fried food this year at the fair, but they all were big and more food than I felt like eating. However, the fried texas cream corn casserole fritters sounded interesting and the stand to buy them was near Big Tex. So, we bought one basket of fritters, which cost $8. They were good, but the S'more is far better. We sat down for a bit to rest up and then continued back toward the Midway, since the girls wanted to go on the slide again and we had just enough tickets.

Walking through the Midway was nearly impossible since there were so many people! It was overwhelming and I could tell CK, who doesn't love the fair and crowds to begin with, was done with our visit. The most frustrating thing would be people who walk slowly and then just stop where they are, right in the middle of the walkway, totally oblivious to anyone else around them. That was always one of my Mom's biggest frustrations with people - those who were unaware of others and just thought of themselves when walking in a crowded area. Also, all the parents pulling their kids in wagons! Usually the kid is old enough to walk and as you walk you generally don't see the wagon until you nearly trip and fall onto it.

We made it to the slides and after figuring out where the line ended, the girls took their tickets and headed up for their last slide of the day. They love it so much! After they were finished with the slide, they wanted to go on the swings that spin around really high, which I honestly wasn't sure if Olivia would get up there and hate it or love it. However, we didn't have enough tickets for even one of them to go and standing in one of the very long lines for more tickets was just not something we planned on doing, so we told them they could try it out next year. They were both fine with that and we walked back through the Midway and the crush of people to get back to our car. I really wanted to watch Soar, which is the bird show, and we walked right past it to get to our car, but no one else was up for more fair. So, we headed out. The line to get though security and the ticket gate was so long, we couldn't even see the end of it! I can't imagine the fair getting more crowded than it already was! We got to our car and headed home. The traffic trying to get into the fair was also still very bad, but thankfully we drove away from it all, so once we were on the freeway, it was smooth driving. It was such a fun visit, although next year (or next time we go), we will not be going on Columbus Day!

The girls by one of the art sculptures.