Trick or Treat!

Julia the blue fairy . . .
. . . and Evelyn the purple fairy . . .

. . . were all ready for a night of trick-or-treating, complete with wings and magic wands. We added leggings and jackets to their costumes to keep them warm, and then off we went, in search of candy.

Julia totally knew what to do this year. She said, "Trick or treat!" and "Thank you!" and "Can I have some candy?" Evelyn wished the candy-givers a Happy Halloween as she left their porches. We stayed close to home, only visiting houses in our immediate neighborhood for an hour and a half. The result? Ten pounds of candy! These girls made quite a haul!

Pumpkin Carving 2010

Evelyn picked out her 16-pound beauty a couple of weeks ago, and today was the day to carve it.
Looking at the web of seeds and pumpkin strings never ceases to amaze Evelyn. But she always lets me do the dirty work and scoop it all out.

After showing Evelyn how to punch out the picture of the face (an original Evelyn design), she did most of the punching by herself. She even did a little bit of the carving on her own, with the miniature carving saw/knife.

After working on their pumpkins for about an hour, voila! Both Eric and Evelyn had created jack-o-lantern masterpieces.

We waited until dark, lit a candle in each pumpkin . . . and we had the perfect Halloween decorations.

Western Maryland Scenic Railroad

Today's sight-seeing adventure found us in Allegany County, Maryland, home of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. We had reservations for the 11:30 train ride, which was right on time. We boarded our train in Cumberland, found some seats on the right-hand side of the train, and enjoyed the fall foliage along the 16-mile train ride up to Frostburg (while eating our sack lunches).
Once in Frostburg, we had a chance to admire the 2-8-0 steam engine, Mountain Thunder, up close. Look how small Evelyn is, standing next to this 1916 locomotive!

We promptly made our way up a hill so we could get a good look at the steam engine taking a spin on the turntable. This is the biggest (working) steam engine we have ever seen.

Our excursion wouldn't be complete without ice cream. Evelyn got her sweet treat just before boarding the train for the return trip.

Once we were back at the Cumberland station, we wandered around the box car and caboose on display. Today's train trip was well worth the drive - we plan to come back again for another ride through the beautiful mountains of western Maryland.

1st Grade Halloween Party

This year's Halloween class party consisted of the usual activities: a parade around the school (the brisk weather forced our Evelyn-fairy into a jacket), yummy snacks, four different stations with crafts and games, and reading Halloween picture books. Evelyn's favorite part of the shin-dig? All four activity stations.
Here she is, about to dig into her snack.

Favorite Picture

I snapped the best picture of Julia tonight. She was helping me assemble a lasagna, and I was trying to convince her to smile. Somehow I got lucky and captured this sweet, genuine smile. At the moment, this is my favorite picture of Julia.

Harpers Ferry Railfanning

As we drove to Harpers Ferry this morning, a CSX freight train was on the tracks next to the highway. That was just the beginning of our railfanning for the day.

Right before we ate lunch, the Amtrak made a stop at the Harpers Ferry station to let passengers off. That was train number two.

We heard the third train's horns after we had finished walking across the pedestrian bridge. Not wanting to miss seeing a train, Evelyn and I hurried back up to the bridge. Turns out we didn't need to rush. This loaded coal train had stop on the bridge and wait for another train to come through the tunnel.
By the time the fourth train (an empty coal train) came through the tunnel, we had hiked up a hill to see the town church. We had a perfect view of the train activity from up there.

This empty coal train was on the tracks that are on Virginius Island - where we had hiked just a few hours earlier.

Now the loaded coal train could finally go through the tunnel.

But wait! There's more! While the loaded coal train was going through the tunnel, a CSX with autorack cars came through on the other side (train number five for us).

The sixth train rolled through town while we were visiting some shops, so we only caught glimpses of it. That was the most exciting and eventful railfanning day Evelyn has ever had - and we didn't even know we would see that many trains in Harpers Ferry.

Harpers Ferry Hiking

Today's sight-seeing excursion took us to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. We hoped to do some hiking, grab lunch in town and learn some history. As luck would have it, we accomplished all three.

After arriving at the National Historic Park visitor's center and learning a little more about the area, we hiked along the Virginius Island trail. The first thing we saw on our hike was the remains of a pulp mill. This mill was in operation until 1936, which explains why the walls for all five sluiceways are still standing. Evelyn is such the thrill-seeker, she wanted to stand in this doorway; we wouldn't let her, since there was about a 25-foot drop to the canal below.
The trail is no longer on an island - you know how rivers have a way of changing over the years - but we did get up close and personal with the Shenandoah River. Evelyn found several freshwater clam shells along the shore, and she also enjoyed floating leaves in the water.

Farther along, near the foundation of a house, we came across an old millstone. To give you an idea of how huge this millstone was, Troy, his parents and Evelyn all climbed on top of it for a photo op.

After hiking for about an hour and a half, we headed into town for lunch. With lunch and ice cream in our tummies, we were ready to walk across the Potomac River via a pedestrian bridge that runs right alongside (active) train tracks. The girls loved walking so high above the river and being so close to the tracks. (Our train adventures were so exciting, I had to write a separate post.)

"The Point" provides a fabulous backdrop for taking pictures. This is where both the Shenandoah River and the Potomac River converge. If you hike through town and up a steep hill to Jefferson's Rock, you (apparently) get an even better view of the river valleys. We'll have to do that another day - we were all too tuckered out this time around. Another hike we are saving for next time is the Murphy Farm trail, which (we hear) also yields some gorgeous views.