From Every Angle

This morning I had an impromptu Nikon D90 tutorial photo shoot with Mia. I concentrated on natural lighting, exposure and manual focus. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Enough, she says.

A New Halloween Twist

Recently I read that the most expensive holiday, next to Christmas, is Halloween. In the past, this may have been the case in our household. However, this year, we bucked the trend. In November 2008, I began hearing about my children's costume plans for 2009. Sophia insisted on being Dorothy and the rest of the kids' costume ideas transformed from one idea to the next throughout the year. Early in October I secured a Dorothy costume that my friend had floating around her house. I then waited for the rest of the family to settle on a costume idea. With the requests coming in, I was fully prepared to open my wallet for festive garb including everything from a fortune teller costume to an Egyptian princess costume. However, early in the month we were suddenly invited to a Halloween party, with our costumes yet to be ordered. I took the kids to the basement, pulled out the dress up boxes and let them create. After an hour of mixing, matching and modeling, we were set for our Halloween debut in what we thought would be temporary Halloween attire. When the children marched up the stairs, Steve saw potential for a money saving moment. "I will give anyone five dollars if they wear the costume they have on now for Halloween." The kids jumped at an opportunity to increase their wealth. At $20 for six Halloween costumes, 2009 was certainly our most economical Halloween.

October was filled with festivities. Included was an annual Halloween bash that Annelise's friend threw for the entire second grade in her home gym. Steve, who accompanied Annie, reported back that he had received many compliments on his costume, seeing as how he was not only the sole father guest at the party, but also the only parent dressed up other than the father of the hostess. (I think I am on for this party duty next year!)

Jonathan and Annelise attended the much anticipated Monster Mash at their school. The highlight is always the hospital room where nurses attend to any grotesque wound for which a child can imagine and request care. While Annelise and Jonathan were at the Monster Mash and Steve was chaperoning ballroom dancing with Emilie, I took the little ones to our church's trunk-or-treat. Everyone was disappointed to miss the event, especially Jonathan who always manages to win an award for his costume each year.

Our tradition on Halloween night is to enjoy a dinner of soup served in carved out pumpkins and bread bowls with apples and dip on the side before we head out in different directions for our trick-or-treating. This year Annelise also added a game of Halloween BINGO that she created for our Halloween fun.

On Halloween Steve took Annelise and Sophia out with Annelise's friends while Ezra, Mia and I manned the door, handing out candy to over 300 trick-or-treaters. I snuck out with Ezra just long enough for him to practice his trick-or-treating etiquette up and down our street. After just the ten houses in our cul-de-sac, he was ready to return home and eat his hard earned candy.

Emilie and Jonathan went out with their friends and came home with entire pillow cases full of miniature chocolate bars, skittles and even a few dreaded toothbrushes from local dentists. (We hoped, and expected, that the Halloween etiquette that they too learned as two-year-olds was practiced even with such "treats"!) When each child returned, they immediately dove into their bags, setting aside their favorite candies and then trading the rest until they were satisfied with their candy supply.

Steve and I settled our "candy tax" with each child, tucked each one into their bed, and fell asleep to the sounds of wrappers opening and candy crunching secretly throughout the house.

Fabulous Fall

As soon as August comes to an end and the vacationers return from summering on the Cape or Martha's Vineyard, the air suddenly turns crisp, the first leaves begin to change color, and the festivities of a New England fall begin. Neighbors decorate their homes with bright gourds and an abundance of red purple and yellow mums. Pumpkin carving festivals draw crowds in the tens of thousands, and Bostonians flock to the countryside to view the fall foliage that this region is famous for.

One of our favorite autumn activities is apple picking. This year we apple picked with our friends the Rotars, my dad and my brother Mike, as well as enjoying several visits to the orchards on our own.

In the midst of the apple picking season, we take a short break and head back to the orchards to pick our pumpkins. This year we found a new pumpkin patch at Shelburne Farms in Stow, not far from our home. As soon as we arrived we spotted the patch dotted with huge orange globes twisted together with thick pumpkin vines. The kids immediately sought out to find the largest pumpkin in the field. The deal was that they could choose any squash as long as they could carry it, by themselves, back to the farm store to be weighed. Emilie, Jonathan and Jonathan's friend Owen lugged half their weight back to the cashier. Annelise, Sophia and Ezra opted for miniature pumpkins, which I was grateful for when I was handed this season's pumpkin bill! We brought the pumpkins home and brightened our porch with our pickings.

Each fall we set aside at least one afternoon to join the leaf peepers in an effort to truly experienced the season. This year we stayed close to home, exploring the grounds of the Wayside Inn in our own town.

Our favorite part of living in New England in the fall is the visitors who come to stay for a few days. This season both my brother Mike stayed with us over Columbus Day my my dad added a few days onto a friend's wedding in October so that he could be with us. While my dad was here we took Ezra and Sophia to the Children's museum, went on a picnic at the Grist Mill, rode our bikes along one of the hundreds of miles of rail trails that criss cross Massachusetts, made our traditional crepe breakfast on Sunday morning to enjoy together during General Conference and, after much begging from the children coupled with a willing to please grandfather, enjoyed "Grandpa's Famous Hamburgers" for Sunday dinner. As always we felt that the visit was too short and looked forward to the next time we could be together.

Each fall I join our church's play group for a morning at Wellesley Hill's Pumpkin Patch. Sophia and Ezra pick out a few small pumpkins to add to the pile on our front porch while one of the mothers, who happens to be a great photographer, chases them down with her fancy Canon for a few fall photos. Each year I am envious of not only Lindsey's camera but also of her beautiful photographer's vision.

Last year we ventured to Plymouth for an authentic Pilgrim Thanksgiving dinner at the Plymouth Plantation. As we entered the town, huge signs advertised this famous location's annual Thanksgiving festival. Sadly the signs indicated that the festival had taken place earlier in the morning. I waited an entire year, determined not to forget about Thanksgiving at Plymouth. According to one travel web site, the festival's parade was ranked second in the nation on the top ten Thanksgiving parade lists, with the New York Macy's Day parade ranked first. Having been to the Macey's Day parade the year before, we set our expectations high and headed south for the day. We found the festival to be a random collection of happenings. The highly touted parade included the usual fare of turkey floats and marching bands, ending with a Christmas float carrying Santa waving to the crowds, but it also included a few unusual invitees such as a Hawaiian float commemorating the fifty year anniversary of Hawaii's statehood which seemed quite out of place in a New England Thanksgiving Day parade. Tours of the replica of the Mayflower were offered, we watched a demonstration of the Coast Guard plucking a drowning victim from the icy waters of the Atlantic, we were greeted by a band of pirates, the girls and Steve browsed through the craft tent and we then ended up at the Quahog Republic Food Festival which was the highlight of the day. For a $10 cover charge, we spent the rest of the afternoon sampling and voting on the best of the best that local restaurants had to offer. We tried various clam chowders, Indian pudding, hand dipped candies, hot chocolate and bits of marinated steak. We all agreed that our vote would go to Lindsey's for their lobster bisque which had huge chunks of lobster, scallops and crab simmering in a cream broth. We returned home with our minds curious as to what the theme of the event really was, our bellies full of local delicacies and just enough Thanksgiving spirit to look forward to the upcoming holiday which would bring the end of our fabulous fall.