I Had It Coming.

As a eventful follow up to our fun Krueger Farm pumpkin patch romp this last month, it is inevitable to have the messy and creative first fun carving of the pumpkins. Myself not always so eager for that, as I do lack some creative knife jabbing stills. However this year, being the first time to have my toddler feel the gross guts of the lovely squash we so enjoy, a carving we will go. That was the plan straight after breakfast this morning. However, low and behold, two of the three pumpkins took a walk with the young hoodlums of South East Portland.  Disappointment abounded as I threw open the door!  As a panicked after thought, I was concerned our gnomey friends went missing too as they occasionally do this time of year. Blessedly they were still there, but didn't really do their sentry duty as they may have been shacking up in the hydrangeas.  They've been moved to the front porch now to stand guard for reals.  Look out trick-o-treaters, they bite.

My first and guilty reaction was, I had it coming. A whole truck load full of pumpkins that the fine town of McMinnville, Oregon was divested of, can attest to that. It is truly fitting that it happened the very first time that I had my own little person to show the Jack-O-Lantern arts. I can attest to the fact that I don't recall relieving any pumpkins from residential porches, just parking lots. So hopefully I've paid my due for this specific holiday. For other holidays - That's another story.

Ultimately, one small pumpkin is really all you need for a toddler anyways.  We bagged our day plans since it was raining cats and dogs, being the wet Portland we all hear about, but we ended up having a nice visit from Cookie Monster.  Hopefully Wednesday will let us enjoy a bit of trick or treating if it ever stops raining.  We're all dressing up as gnomes, so stayed tuned.

Here's a clip of our sesame street shenanigans on vimeo.
http://vimeo.com/52362591

Four reasons Autumn is my favorite

Should have worn shorts to the pumpkin patch.

Today we headed out to Krueger's Farm on Sauvie Island for some pumpkin patch fun with the little guy. 

It was an such a beautiful fall day in Portland, and we were wishing we brought sunscreen and shorts instead of  rubber boots and jackets.  

Captured By Porches Brewery was out there again this year, along with a hip twitching blue grass band and some yummy food stands.  Throw in some locally made bratwurst and some corn on the cob and it was a wonderful way to start out our pumpkin patch fun.

Apparently now that means, we'll be carving some pumpkins in our near future. 

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Life is all about perspective. You can see the world is so many different ways depending on who's lens from which you view. Such is the tale of Tiger Lily. This small YA book caught me by such a surprise. All the same players are there - Pan, Smee, Hook, and of course Tink and Tiger Lily. However, everyone is re-created into this new story woven for us by the ever misunderstood Tinker Bell, from a slice of Neverland never heard before.

I had no idea I would grow to love and ache the character of Tiger Lily as much as I did. I want to personally thank Tinker Bell (and the fabulous Jodi Lynn Anderson) for giving her the opportunity to share her tale of woe. This fierce un-aging native Neverland tomboy, unveiled a story of Neverland's Sky-Eater tribe and with a slew of interesting new characters. Not only is this about Tiger Lily, but this is a tale of Tinker Bell as well. Her vanity and shallowness are disproven as she shows be the most faithful, loyal and loving being in Tiger Lily's existence. This sly little pixie, *gasp* is not Peter's side-kick at all, but Tiger Lily's!

For any lover of the tales of Neverland, I suggest you give this one a go. It may be that Mr. Barry had it all wrong from the start, or quite possibly the wrong side of the story.



View all my reviews

Check out the entertaining interview Wendy Darling at the midnight garden had with Buruu the thunder tiger from the new book Stormdancer now available for sale!  I can't wait to get my hands on it!

Telepathic girl samurai warrior meets thunder tiger, throw in some steam-punk and then mix up some romance. Pretty much sold me at girl samurai warrior, everything else is just icing on the cake.  I'll post my review when my hot hannies have their way!

Aside from all that amphitheater drama, my wee man is pretty sweet.

My sweet baby gone bully?

Today I witnessed first hand that my wee boy is a toddler bully.  Not in the extreme, but he definitely had an edge at the zoo amphitheater whilst belly smashing a smaller guy. That's a new helpless feeling.  So we'll be working on that.  

http://flickr.com/gp/87569355@N02/bE50ED

Hopefully the Washington Park Zoo will survive the year of our membership :D