Howloween

Before I forget, please don’t forget to read the post about the pumpkin patch… It’s getting buried under scrapbook layouts! I’ve only gotten one comment in it, so I don’t think anyone else has seen it. … You can find it here.

On Saturday I measured and weighed the kids again. Here are their current stats:

• Jared :: 4′2″ (50″) and 50.6 pounds (9 years, 9 months old)
• Josh :: 4′2″ (50″) and 47.6 pounds (7 years, 11 months old)
• Alicia :: 3′10″ (46″) and 42.8 pounds (6 years old)
• Amanda :: 3′3″ (39″) and 30.2 pounds (4 years, 2 months old)

So… Did you notice? … All the kids, except for Jared, have grown 1 full inch since I measured them in June… And now Josh is as tall as Jared is! Jared might be a fraction of an inch taller… But I wouldn’t even say he’s a 1/4 of an inch taller. If you stand them back to back, Jared looks a little taller… But, I think it’s because he needs a hair cut! *lol* Josh’s hair lays flat, but Jared’s sticks straight up.

Josh was thrilled, to say the least. But Jared? Not so thrilled… Always before, Jared has never been bothered by the fact that he is really small for his age… But lately, that is changing. He says he is tired of being small. He is tired of girls who are younger than him, towering over him. Poor Jared!… He just got too many of my genes, I guess. Plus, Joe says that when he was a kid, he was small too. He says that when he went into high school he wasn’t even 5 feet tall yet, but now he’s 5′11″, which is average for a man. So, Jared may catch up later… Though, the men on my side of the family aren’t really that tall. I think my Dad was 5′8″ or so….

ETA @ 9:09 am

When I measured Jared on Saturday I told him that he was probably going to go on a growth spurt any day now. I told him that if he felt extra tired and/or his leg hurt, to tell me and I would measure him again. Well, this morning He said his legs hurt, and he wanted to be measured. I figured it was just wishful thinking on his part, but I measured him anyway… And sure enough, he is an inch taller than he was just 2 days ago!… So I had the boys stand back to back, and still, Jared barely looked taller. So I measured him again, and it still showed him an inch taller. So I measured Josh again, and he SHOWED A HALF INCH GAIN too! So in 2 days, Jared has grown an inch, and Josh has grown a half inch. So now Jared is the tallest once again, but only by a half an inch.

(I am VERY careful when I measure them, so I know I am right. I have their growth charts on the wall, have them put their feet together, next to the wall, and have them stand straight. I use a hard bound book or a DVD to measure them. I also measure them a few times, to make sure I get it right…)

We took the kids to the zoo today. Ever since 2003 we’ve taken the kids to the Howloween Scavenger Hunt that the zoo hosts every year the weekend before Halloween. The kids love it. They love being able to wear their costumes to the zoo, and they love trying to figure out the clues, to know where to get the stamps on their list thing, and they love the treat bags they get when they are done… Personally, Joe and I don’t love the crowds that are sure to be there, but we do it for the kids.

What’s fun is that they give some of the animals pumpkins, and it’s fun to watch them playing with/eating them. One of the black bears really liked his pumpkin! It was funny to see him stick half his head inside that pumpkin.

We were happy to see the Alaska Tundra open… They are taking out the Alaska Tundra, and putting in a new exhibit (that won’t be done until 2009) called “The Predators of the Serengeti”. The gray wolves are getting a new exhibit over by the elk, but the grizzly bear and the musk ox are leaving the zoo. We don’t really care about the musk ox, but we liked the bear! His name is Bug, and we’re going to miss him. We were glad we got to see him one last time… Though a keeper lady there said that he is getting pretty old, and that he may not last too much longer anyway. … Poor Bug. (Isn’t that a funny name for a big ole grizzly bear?)

We are excited about the new exhibit though. They are going to have lions, cheetahs, african wild dogs, another kind of small cat that I’ve never heard of before, and I think the mongoose. We’re going to have lots of cats at the zoo! (I love the big cats!) We already have tigers, leopards, cougars, bobcats, and ocelots.

I took 156 pictures, and they are all at Flickr (link on the sidebar —>), and I also took 12 video clips, which I will post separately, so I don’t clog up this post with them.