Fun Fall Activities!

Today was our town "Spooky Walk," and the kids couldn't have been more excited.  Or more eager.  They were prancing around the house in their Halloween costumes well before it was time for us to leave, and begging for us to head out the door at least a half hour before we actually needed to go.  Julia carried herself around the living room with a regal glow, feeling absolutely at home in her Hermione costume.

ME: Julia, you look so much like Hermione!
JULIA: (with total complacence) I know.

Despite our attempts to hold off our eager beavers, we wound up at the Spooky Walk about 15 minutes early, which meant I had plenty of time to take pictures!:

BOTH KIDS: (in annoyance) Mommy?  Why do you always have to take SO MANY pictures??

Before too long, thankfully, it was time to head out with our group on the Spooky Walk!  Despite its title, the Spooky Walk is really anything but spooky.  It's a bunch of kids, toddler-sized and up, shuffling slowly along the sidewalks through the center of town, stopping at various benign local businesses (banks, real estate offices, bakeries, hardware stores, etc) to jam themselves in a big block through the doors, clog up the store as they grab candy out of the big candy bowls, and then squeeze their way en masse back out of the doors.  Then on to the next stop!  Doesn't matter how un-spooky the ordeal is, however; the girls absolutely loved it.

 Pausing for a picture outside Dedham Savings Bank


I think the highlight of the WHOLE experience was the moment after which I heard a couple, uninvolved with the Spooky Walk, remark upon Julia as she passed by.

WOMAN: Oh my gosh, look at that girl!  She looks just like Hermione!
MAN: (chuckling) Yeah, I know!

I ickmediackly relayed this information to Julia, and I don't think there has ever been a smile more radiant with delight than the one that spread across her face.

The fall fun wasn't over for the day after the Spooky Walk ended, by the way.  Ethan and I took the kids to our Town Forest for our traditional family fall walk, during which the kids collect colored leaves to keep as fall treasures (until I get sick of the leaf bags cluttering things up and I chuck them sometime in the spring.)  The girls got to work writing their names on their leaf-collecting bags, so as not to mix them up.

ME: Madeleine?  I think you forgot something.  It says "M-A-D-E-L-E-I-N."  What's missing?
MADELEINE: It's right there! (pointing to the lower right corner, which is apparently, in her mind, the perfect place to complete her name.)

Julia's bag had WAY more than just her name:

I guess she really took that couple's comment to heart.  Given that she looks just like Hermione, we might have accidentally REALLY thought the bag was Hermione Granger's.  I'm so glad Julia included that disclaimer letting us know her real name, because I might have gotten confused.

When we first set off on our walk, Madeleine was ready to lead us blindly into the forest.  

MADELEINE: Okay!  Everybody follow ME!  

Luckily, she got way too interested in every possible leaf on the ground of the trail, even the crumbly, diseased, hole-ridden ones, so the rest of us quickly took the lead away from her.  In fact, Julia and I got way ahead at one point, and after stopping to wait for Madeleine and Ethan to catch up, quickly got ahead once again.

JULIA: (lovingly) Mommy?  You and I are CHAMPS.

ME: We are champs.  You're right.

JULIA: It's like...we're the CAMP CHAMPS or something!

At one point during the walk, Julia decided to sing me a song she had made up, entitled "Mommy and Friends":

This spontaneous song then prompted what is perhaps the BEST IDEA EVER in the history of movie making.

JULIA: Mommy?  I feel like there should be a movie called "Mommy and Friends."  Mom?  Can we make a movie called "Mommy and Friends?"  

ME: Uh...what would it be about?  A mom sitting around with her friends talking about grown-up things?

JULIA: Well, like, the mommy's kid could come in and be like, "Mommy!  Your friend Alice Ann is having a BABY!"  Oh, oh, Mommy, I know!  Madeleine could be the little kid who says that.  And I'll be the big sister.  And we can have Auntie Shannon and Auntie Caitlyn be your friends.  But...I don't really know who can be Alice Ann.  Hey Mom!  Maybe you could ask some of my TEACHERS to be in it, and one of THEM can be Alice Ann.  And we can use SPECIAL EFFECTS to make it look like she's pregnant!

ME: Or we could just stuff a pillow under her shirt.

JULIA: So Mommy.  Can we please make a movie called "Mommy and Friends?"

ME: Uh...

JULIA: Mommy?  Mommy?  Can we make a movie called "Mommy and Friends?"

ME: Uh...maybe SOMEDAY...

JULIA: But Mommy!  When we get home, can we play "Mommy and Friends?"  Because, don't you think Madeleine is just the PERFECT one to be the kid who says: "Mommy!  Your friend Alice Ann is having a BABY!"  Wouldn't that be so hilarious??  Can we PLEASE make a movie called "Mommy and Friends?"  Please Mom?  Can you ask my aunties to be in it??

So, what do you think aunties?  Because let me tell you.  I am ALL.  IN.  This is going to be a MASTERPIECE of a film, I can feel it in my bones.  With a joke as hilarious as "Mommy!  Your friend Alice Ann is having a BABY!", how can it possibly go wrong?

The Rowe family - future MOVIE STARS after our blockbuster film, "Mommy and Friends" hits the theatres - enjoying an afternoon in the Town Forest.