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All Dressed Up....

10/31/2014

My kids are all dressed up and ready to go Trick-or-Treating today! I actually managed to get everyone a costume, and get them all to pose together for a group portrait....

My goal is to eventually sew enough Hallowe'en costumes so everyone can have one.
But there's a lot of little kids, and I had five who either weren't here, or didn't participate
last year. There's quite a few fairies and witches this year. My kids like to dress up, but
they aren't into creepy or scary things - little witches is about as 'scary' as they'll go.

Lisa, Efreet and Ringo, all of whom have never experience a Hallowe'en
before, all scored a brand new costume......

Nami wanted to be a Candy Corn Witch, while Bonnie chose the Ladybug costume.
Peach also participated for the first time....

These four girls chose the older princess, witch, and fairy costumes...

..and Tillie and Cinnamon had to make do with things already in their closet....

I really like Lisa's witch costume, and think the black hair really suits her.

Efreet was thrilled with his pirate costume, and loved waving around the sword I gave him
(could have been a big mistake on my part)

And Ringo - what can I say - he wasn't too pleased to be a clown, but I doubt he'd be
happy with anything I made. I personally thought he looked very cute.

*to see all the photos of everyone in their costumes, check out 'Hallowe'en'
(currently photos still being added)

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Carving Pumpkins

10/30/2014

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With it being Hallowe'en tomorrow, I figured it was time to carve the pumpkins. I bought six tiny pumpkins two months ago, but one rotted almost immediately. So there were five pumpkins left.

I can't possibly handle 12 kids in the kitchen at once, so decided to give the job to my newest four dolls, who weren't here last Hallowe'en. I figured there's no point in photographing the same old thing with all the same dolls, so decided to change things up, and just let Lisa, Bonnie, Efreet, and Ringo give it a try this time. They covered the table with a plastic tablecloth, got out some large bowls for the pumpkin innards, and set to work. Lisa did all the initial heavy-duty cutting....cutting off the tops, so the little ones could scrape out the insides......

Efreet and Ringo got right into it, pulling out all the guts, and sorting the seeds....

Bonnie was watching Lisa carve a face onto her pumpkin....

..then decided to do her own thing....and carve a huge spider....

I thought they did a great job!

So now everyone is all excited to try on their costumes....

*To see all the pumpkin and carving photos, check out 'Hallowe'en Pumpkins'

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'Fun' in the Leaves

10/30/2014

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What could be more fun in the autumn, than playing in the fallen leaves? My little ones like
to rake up big piles of leaves and jump in them, and then try to bury each other in them....

Ringo didn't seem too thrilled about it all, and didn't understand it was all in good fun,
so Efreet wanted to try cheer him up by giving him a ride in the wheelbarrow

It didn't help much - he was just determined to be in one of his 'moods' ....

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Horse and Colt

10/29/2014

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Some of the girls were taking a walk through the woods to see the autumn foliage....

..when they came across Peach and Efreet with their two new friends....

..a Morgan horse and her foal, which they had brought home from their recent trip.

They are Battat horses from the 'Our Generation' dolls. I'd seen Battat horses online many times before, and even though they were quite reasonably priced, the shipping costs were astronomical - double the price of the horse itself! So one of the things on my wish list during our recent trip, was to check out a Target store in the US and hopefully find a horse for my dolls, and get one without having to pay those shipping costs. Well, the day we spent in Albuquerque we found a Target, and sure enough they had some horses. And all kinds of great doll accessory packages. So I chose the Morgan horse, a foal, and two accessory packages - the picnic and camping accessories sets.

The woman at cash smiled and asked if we were doing some early Christmas shopping. Yup!

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the Pumpkin Patch

10/28/2014

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It's that time of year again, to go get some pumpkins to carve into Jack-o-lanterns.
Several of the kids went to the farm to look for the very nicest pumpkins they could find....

...and they chose five....

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Leaving the Colorado

10/28/2014

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The next morning it was time to leave. We had spent the last two nights camped in a National Forest Campground along the Colorado River in Castle Valley, using it as our 'base of operations'. There are some amazing National Forest campgrounds along the Colorado River - the ones at the Big Bend being especially spectacular - but with it being a Friday when we first arrived, we were lucky to find a spot at all. I love the Colorado River Scenic Byway, with the road meandering along the river as the narrow canyon gets ever deeper as it approaches Moab.....

Upriver at the other end of the scenic drive, at Dewey Bridge, the canyon walls are much shorter. We stop to take one final photo of the kids....before heading out into the sprawling ranch lands...

We head back into Colorado and head south, taking the scenic San Juan Skyway south through the mountains. It's a spectacular drive along a winding mountain road, with snow-covered peaks on all sides, and vast stands of golden aspen. I had wanted to take photos of the dolls hiking in the mountains, but wasn't feeling well that day, so only managed a few scenery shots....

As we leave the state of Colorado it seems like a good place to take a short break, before continuing on into New Mexico and all our adventures there. We've been home for ten days now, and even though I've been focusing on looking back at our trip, life at home has still continued on. It's late autumn here, the trees have turned brilliant colours, and the leaves are falling. Plus it's almost Hallowe'en. So, time to take a short break and see what my other kids are up to.....

Fall colours don't last very long. Lisa and Nami are loving the bright reds....

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Arches in the Evening

10/27/2014

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In the afternoon, we left Arches to go explore along Potash Road. It's another wonderful drive along the Colorado River - more or less a continuation of the Colorado Scenic River Drive....

Past the potash facility, we headed up the rough gravel road to the top of the plateau at the base of Canyonlands. It was very hot and sunny, so Leona took her umbrella along....

It would have been amazing to continue on that rough gravel road, which continues into Canyonlands National Park and ascends out of Schaffer Canyon there. But one should have a high clearance four-wheel drive vehicle for that, and not an RV. So we carefully headed back down to the paved road, and went back to Arches to catch the late day sun - first at Garden of Eden.....

...then at the Fiery Furnace....

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Hiking and Biking

10/26/2014

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One of the main goals this past road trip, was to chronicle it by trying to take doll photos
like a 'real family going on vacation'. I think this set really turned out especially well. Arches
is quite a small National Park, but it's so beautiful with it's various red rock landscapes.

Park Avenue, Arches National Park

It's an ideal place to bike...

...and to hike....

Owen & the kids hike to Skyline Arch

*Note - Sunshine is not good for resin dolls, and from my pictures it's easy to assume that my dolls were in constant exposure to bright sunshine. They were not. Each time we set up a scene, the dolls were shaded either by large umbrella or by one of us, until it was time to take the picture. So, just a very short exposure to the sun, and then back in the shade again as they were put back in their boxes. We even kept the shades down in the back of the RV where all the dolls in their closed boxes spent the day between photo sessions. I love my dolls and am very wary of exposing them to bright sunshine, but sometimes there's no choice, so I minimize it as much as possible.

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Going to Arches

10/25/2014

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The next morning found us on one of our very favourite roads - the Colorado River Scenic Byway - winding along the Colorado River to Moab. We stopped in Castle Valley for a few photos.....

Then we climbed to the top of the plateau to one of our favourite National Parks - Arches.
The kids couldn't believe the massive rock formations, and went out to explore.

But kids being kids, they spotted a nice tree to climb....

Even Bonnie managed to climb up.....

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Where Are We Going Next?

10/24/2014

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Back in the RV, everyone wanted to know where we were going next. So we gave them the map book so they could see for themselves - a 'little side-trip' into Utah. Arches, here we come!

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