Niles Festival of Lights Parade

Every year after Thanksgiving, Niles have a Festival of Lights Parade. The parade starts at 6:30pm and is only about half hour long event, but the street is packed with people. This year we bring Katie to the parade again. Night time photography is kind of tricky also with a wiggly kid and a moving parade background.

And this is the pictures from last year:

Tiny Tots -- Thanksgiving Potluck

The last class before Thanksgiving we had a potluck. The class even did a little cooking project of making corn bread. Each child helped to put a bit of the ingredient in the mixing bowl and also pouring it into the baking pan.

And remember that turkey hate we made a couple of weeks ago, the children are wearing them today. I was surprised that Katie was willing to wear the hat for a long time, it must have felt comfortable.

And we are all ready to eat:

Tiny Tots -- Leaf Wreath

Continuing on with our Fall/Thanksgiving theme, today's project is to make a leaf wreath. I actually think this is a pretty neat idea. The project is very easy actually, just use a paper plate and cut out the center, so you end up with a ring. Then you start gluing on all the different color leaf pieces. At the end you can hole punch the top and tie a string in to hang. Katie was totally using the glue like it was one of those bingo markers, so the wreath did end up very sticky and messy, but once it was dry, it was actually pretty good. I think if I do this project with her in the future, maybe we can first go on a nature walk to collect real leaves instead.

After receiving sticker rewards for so many classes, Katie is learning to give stickers too. Pikachu must have done a really good job for teacher Katie:

Happy Hollow Park & Zoo

I wouldn't call this place a real zoo, the animals are quite lacking compared to Oakland zoo, but it sure does feel like a kiddie amusement park. Katie loved the carousel ride, she could stay on it whole day if we let her, which is good since the admission tickets cover the rides, so in reality she could ride as much as she wants to. Just the carousel alone made us decide to get the membership for this place, and since it is not that expensive and we could get discount at other zoos and parks makes it a pretty good deal.

I remember when Katie was just before one year old, she was scared of touching animals, but now, she is very adventurous and always want to pet every animal she sees.

Tiny Tots -- Turkey Hat

Since Halloween is over, Tiny Tots moved on quickly to the next holiday, Thanksgiving. Making a turkey hat this time with colorful feathers. Katie loves this kind of arts and crafts, sticking little knickknacks on stuff, so she had a blast gluing those feathers on. Katie also surprised me by pronouncing many of the colors in class today, for sure now I know she knows, yellow, blue, green, red, and pink. I have a feeling she probably knows the other colors too, but I just haven't heard it yet.

Katie and classmate, Jacob:

G&M Farm

Last weekend before Halloween, we went to one more pumpkin patch with Katie's friend, Tiffany. We were enticed by their 6 acre corn maze, and decided to make a visit. The corn maze itself was okay, I like how they set up questions at the turns to help you choose left or right, but I also feel pretty dumb that I almost can't answer any of those questions about corn knowledge. But the maze is simple and straight forward enough that it is impossible to get lost in there. The maze itself costs $9 a person to enter with coupon, and many of the other attractions also require fee, which is the downside. However, there are many free activities for the kids that is fun enough for them. Here is Katie in a big sand, I guess I should say corn box:

Here is Katie in the haystack maze, the walls are not as tall as the one in Perry Farm, but Katie enjoyed it never the less:

Riding on the cow train and refusing to get down, this train drives pretty fast and is a pretty exciting ride I guess: