Happy Thanksgiving

I think it's safe to say that everyone in the Barnes household put on a pound or two the past couple of days! Per usual, Thanksgiving preparation is taken very seriously around here and the amount of food prepared for the day is a little ridiculous. This year we were treated with 8 turkeys in our yard the day before Thanksgiving. This flock of turkeys usually hangs around in the neighborhood closer to Caleb's school, but we are hoping they'll visit our yard more often since they've discovered our feeders. 

 The kids all had Thanksgiving hats on while getting ready to feast! Of course no one is looking at the camera.

 We've had lots of good family time this weekend. I really loved seeing the kids cuddle up together this morning before breakfast!

Freedom Trail

Last Saturday we embarked on an all-day family adventure--completing the Freedom Trail in Boston. Caleb has been intrigued by the "red line" through out the city for a while, so we decided to finally do the whole trail from start to finish. We took the T into the city, which is always a big hit with the kids. 

 It was a beautiful, crisp fall day and everyone was bundled up and warm. Caleb was able to walk the whole trail and Lina lasted for about half of it. Levi was on either Randy's or my back for most of the day. We started around 10 am and it took us just about 6 hours to complete. We stopped at most of the sites and toured around the sites that didn't cost us too much money. We had plenty of stops for snacks and lunch and running around in the city.

 Caleb was definitely starting to get tired as we made our way up Bunker Hill and he was thrilled when we reached the end of the trail. He must of been re-energized, because he climbed the 294 steps of the Bunker Hill monument not once, but twice! The walk back to the T at Community College was a long one, but we were so proud of Caleb for doing the whole day on his own two feet!

Some more laughs with Levi

Levi shaking his head and laughing after dinner tonight. 

Levi loves messing around with Caleb's keyboard and he particularly likes dancing to the pre-set rhythms that he somehow figured out to play. Here he is in action with his favorite song....Lina and Caleb are his back-up dancers. 

Settling Into the Dark Days

It seems just like yesterday that the days were long and warm and we spent the majority of our day outside. But the shift from fall to winter is now underway-our days are noticeably shorter (especially since the time change) and colder and we are spending much more time inside. Sunday morning the kids were up early and ready to go. Lina was hard at work building Legos and we all worked together on Caleb's class project which involved disguising a turkey as part of our family. We chose an "outdoor explorer" turkey, complete with binoculars, a bag of field guides, and a gourmet lunch!

 That afternoon, we went to our brand new track to burn off some energy. The kids had a great time and I know we'll be spending lots of time there.

This is a common scene in our house after school. All the neighbor kids get together in someone's back yard or find their way into our house for snacks and a few minutes on the iPad or playing with toys. Inevitably, our house gets trashed, but it's so fun to see the kids having so much fun. 

 Our favorite black squirrel!

Levi has recently discovered the joy of wooden puzzles. I wasn't expecting him to be interested in them for a few more months, but he's actually pretty good at them and will sit for a while doing puzzle after puzzle. I love that when he's finished, he says "Did it"!!

Another trademark of cold, dark days are dance parties....got to get those wiggles out!

And finally, it's been a tough couple of weeks for me because it appears that Levi is giving up his nap....although he totally still needs it! Tonight at dinner he was gnawing on his fork and falling asleep. Poor baby!

All Women & One Lucky Guy Half Marathon

After 16 weeks of official training and logging over 580 miles this year, the day of the half marathon had finally arrived. It was a beautiful fall day, with clear blue skies and chilly air. Andrea and I were both excited and ready to get the run under way. We hadn't really planned on running together for the entire race, but we ended up staying together and I was so grateful for her presence....especially during the last mile. With so much adrenaline and so many other runners, I definitely started off too fast, but felt strong through most of the race. The last mile pretty much hurt every step and I was so thrilled to see the Finish line. My official time was 1:53:29 (8:41 pace) and I finished in 127th place out of field of around 1000. I couldn't have been happier with my performance and am looking forward to some rest and planning my next big challenge!

Happy Halloween!

The day the kids had been waiting for finally arrived...Halloween! Everyone was up bright and early and full of excitement for the day. Caleb was having a Halloween party/parade at school and then all the kids were going trick-or-treating that night! Of course everyone was thrilled to wear their "Grammy shirts" for the occasion. 

Lina singing some Halloween songs that she's learned at school.

We got to go up to Caleb's school a little early to watch all the kids parade around the playground in their costumes. It was so cute!

 Caleb brought home a set of vampire teeth from school and the kids had fun trying them out.

 Levi trying to eat candy with the wrapper still on.

 Finally it was time to get costumes on and get Lina's face painted! Everyone had a great time trick-or-treating and brought home lots of candy!

 The town of Melrose postponed their trick-or-treating until Friday, so the kids had another afternoon of fun to look forward to. Levi had the best time....walking around the street and saying "Treat" and "Ween (halloween)" and blowing kisses to everyone who gave him candy.