Matt and Amy

This year Halloween was the best! Look at these 2 boys, are they just not the most adorable things you have ever seen?! Preston picked out his costume on his own and we made the mistake of buying it at the beginning of October. For Preston Halloween lasted the entire month of October, because he would wake up every morning and run into my room with his clothes to put on for the day and his costume. And everyday we would play "superheros" or "power rangers". We definitely got our money's worth out of this costume. He is a super hero loving boy and I really love this stage. We have a lot of fun making up crazy ninja moves and do a lot of improv around this house. As for Porter's costume, I had to make him a super hero. I just couldn't resist putting this cute little chubber in spandex. :) Porter was Batman but refused to wear the mask. He wore the spandex so well the costume was perfect without the mask.

Halloween started with Preston's preschool Halloween Parade. He loves this parade. Especially when I clap for him. He gets this huge grin on his face. After the parade he had a class party and then they ate hot dog mummies and Frankenstein dessert. Porter couldn't resist and wanted to be included in all the fun.

Later we went to Matt's work and enjoyed trick or treating there and getting way too much candy.

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I tried to get some pictures of the boys in their costumes and I was laughing my head off at Preston's poses. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff. I probably took 50 pictures and I think I only got one of them both looking at the camera.

This was Preston's first official door to door Halloween. We have never gone trick or treating door to door throughout the neighborhood. He only lasted our street, until he realized that he was missing out on passing candy out at our house so he wanted to rush back home as quickly as possible. I loved it! We pulled Porter in the wagon as Preston ran up to each door and would excitedly come running back stating "that was easy!". Once we got home Preston sat out on the porch on his chair passing out candy and enjoying some daddy time. Not only would he hand out candy but he would also place a sticker on every kids hand and then tell them in his cute little voice "Happy Halloween"!". I think this is his most favorite part of trick or treating.

We made it!! 15 days, 10 states (11 if you want to count Washington D.C.), 3,000 miles, and 51+ hours in the car. It was a beast of a trip but it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be.

The states that we enjoyed
Arkansas
Tennessee
Virginia
(Washington D.C.)
Maryland
Pennsylvania
New York
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Missouri

Porter was the most difficult on our trip. He decided on this trip that he does not want to be in a car seat anymore and had a couple of fits. Nothing a bottle or a snack could not handle though. We also stopped at a lot of parks, and Porter interprets that as a buffet of wood chips and whatever else he finds on the ground. Preston did awesome and pretty much colored his way through every state. We have lots and lots of colored power ranger, batman, and Avenger pages colored very nicely.

We first stopped in Nashville to visit Bekah. She showed us around the city of Nashville. We went to the Grand ole Opery, Downtown Nashville, some parks, the Nashville Parthenon, the Walk of Fame, Loveless Cafe -skipped on the 3 hour wait and just got their take-out, and a cute little town called Leipers Fork. I loved Tennessee and officially announced to Matt that I want to live there. One day, maybe when we are old.

We continued our drive to Washington D.C. where we unexpectedly found a little Hotel in Strasburg Virginia. We booked the hotel on Hotwire so we didn't really know what we were getting into. We pulled up to the hotel and it was a 200 year old house that was first opened as a training hospital and then shortly after converted to a hotel. When we walked in it was like stepping back in time. I think all of us were wondering if the place was haunted. The next day Matt told me he looked it up on the internet and he found reports of our exact room number being a place of ghostly encounters. Creepy! But very festive for the season.

Washington D.C. was great. I love D.C. and I was so excited to take the boys here. It was busy and little cold but I think they had fun. Preston saw dinosaur bones, and airplanes, and the Capital, and he was convinced that the White House is where Captain America lived. There was so much to do here and so little time. And I don't think my 4 year old and my 9 month old were as excited as I was. But, we also went to the zoo so the boys could enjoy the animals and it was a place where mom can't force more history on them.

Onto Gettysburg. I have never been to Gettysburg and I LOVED it. It was so cool to be in such a historic place. Seeing the graves and the battlegrounds for yourself is absolutely amazing! I am so lucky that Matt doesn't mind my history obsession and plays along with all my oohing and awing.

Next on our tour of Pennsylvania was Hershey, of course. Hershey Pennsylvania was a little disappointing to Matt and I, but the boys loved it. The "factory tour" was really like an amusement park ride. Probably a cross between "It's a small world" and a Willy Wonka wannabe factory. Kind of silly but Preston insisted that we go on it twice. My favorite thing was the light posts shaped as Hershey Kisses.

Now Philadelphia. We had to stop for a famous Philly Cheese steak because that is just what you do in Philly. We researched it and found that Dalessandro's Steaks and Hoagies was the number one of all the places so we stopped. It was good, but I think I could possibly give Philly a little challenge with my Philly cheese steak. To end our Pennsylvania tour we stopped at Independence Square and walked around the buildings and saw the Liberty Bell. I don't think the boys appreciated all of the history but I loved every minute of it.

And the stop that the whole trip was planned around. Millbrook, N.Y. We stopped at Matt's grandparents house in Millbrook and rested for a while. Grandma had Matt's favorite spaghetti and meatballs ready for dinner for 4 days we enjoyed an ice cream cone after every meal. The boys were their crazy selves, but they loved their great grandparents. This is where Porter officially started walking and wanted to explore every cabinet that Grandma had in her kitchen. Preston would not let grandma rest. He was always by her side wanting her to play cars with her or Uno (they made a little game up with uno cards) and coloring. We went to a pumpkin patch, played at the village park -and went down the worlds most dangerous slide, and we watched Matt scrub their house with a sponge. I think we all enjoyed it here.

And then for or Ohio stop. Matt's friend from Jr.High, High School, and College lives in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. We stopped for a visit and enjoyed seeing their cute family. Besides watching the presidential debate, we also took a bike ride along the river where we encountered a down pour of rain that left us all dripping wet and muddy. Preston was happy because he was covered in a bike trailer with his current "best friend". Porter was screaming but he was screaming the entire bike ride and to make things worse he kept pulling the trailer cover off so he was soaking wet as well. Besides the rain it was a beautiful ride. Later, the kids enjoyed feeding the ducks while Matt and John took turns trying to throw the bread across the river. I probably need to report that Matt was the winner. Work on it a little more John and maybe we will have a rematch sometime.

Our final stop was in St. Louis. We got lucky and got an awesome deal on a hotel right across the street from the arch. He went walking around the park and went the zoo the next day bit all 4 of us were so exhausted that we called it quits early and started the drive back to our house.