Halloween Popsicle Stick Hanging

These were so fun to make with my kids and their friends. We started out with gluing all of the popsicle sticks on to 2 sticks (on the back side to brace it). Then we painted how we wanted them to look, and fro what you can see one person wanted to just paint a pumpkin in a frame instead of having the whole hanging be a pumpkin, which I thought was an interesting idea.

I put out a variety of colors of felt and other crafts supplies for them to choose from and cut out what they wanted and hot glue in to place. We use jute twine that we hot glue in place to hang it with.

Halloween Party Condiments

A little while ago I blogged about making severed fingers from hot dogs and used ketchup as vampire blood and told you about how I labeled everything. Here are all the condiments I head out to go with the severed fingers including zombie drool, vampire blood and shop toads. People got a kick out of the different names which gave it a more spooky feel.

Where Did We Go Wednesday? Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area

I have posted about the cuyuna country State Recreation Area a few times on this blog for wordless Wednesday posts but I haven't told you anything about it. Now is that chance. These were pictures taken at the end of the summer during the last weekend in August Kama which accounts for why we are dressed in more summer like clothes.

Other times I have posted pictures of us hiking in this area, which is near our cabin. This State Rec area is in the communities of Crosby, Cuyuna, and Ironton in Minnesota. One feature that we took advantage of this time around that we had not done before is the mountain biking trails. There is an extensive selection of mountain bike trails in this area. The range in difficulty can go from family-friendly and beginner courses 2 someone that needs to be quite adventurous and an expert data mountain biking. Obviously, we took the kids on a family-friendly Trail. We had never done mountain biking on these trails or any Trails like this before as a family so it was new to all of us and we were slightly nervous. It took awhile to get used to it and figure out just how our bikes and our bodies work on them. After getting rid of our initial anxieties about it we started to have a little fun but I have realized I definitely need a different bike rather than my hybrid to do anything more than this family-friendly beginner Trail.

There are also lots of paved trails that go around the mine Lakes as well and we have hike on those Trails as well as road bike on them during this time to. I am looking forward to trying out more of these trails with my family but hopefully next time I will have better bike for this type of terrain.

#RFCFallFit Fitness Instagram Challenge for Nov 1-5, WHO'S IN?

I decided to try this one out to change things up, in addition to doing a yoga challenge. Anyone want to join in?

TAGS FOR CHALLENGE: #RFCFallFit #sweatpink @runtastic @fitapproach @lifelikelunden

Video Links for each day:  

• Day 1: Upper Body & Booty
• Day 2: ABSolutely Amazing 4-Minute Abs
• Day 3: 7-Minute HIIT for Legs
• Day 4: Fall Workout with a Pumpkin*
• Day 5: 6-Minute No-Gym Total Body Workout

Join me in this #SpookyAsana Yoga Challenge - Starts Monday

Here is one filled with some pretty typical yoga poses. It's only a week! Who wants to try this one with me. Was thinking I might have some fun and dress up for some ( maybe all of them).

Halloween STEM Sculpture Activity for Kids

Aldi's sell these fun bags of Halloween Shapes (pumpkins and ghosts). Encourage kids to build a sculpture using regular mini marshmallows and these other holiday shapes. Have them problem solve how they can use these shapes that are different sizes on different ways and how they make have to change their design (especially if they have done this project with only mini marshmallows)/

I had bagged up the marshmallows in individual bags for each of the kids in my daughters classroom. We did this project 2 years ago and I just now got around to sharing it. :( Sorry I don't have sculptures to show you, but it was really fun when they had to try to figure out how to work with what they had and with the odd shapes. Makes them think!

Where Did We Go Wednesday: The Great Pumpkinfest at ValleyScare

This was our first year going to the Great Pumpkin Fest at Valleyscare which is a holiday theme for Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee Minnesota. Before I bought are season passes for Valley Fair, I had tried to find out information about Valleyscare and it's more family-friendly features. There wasn't a whole lot of ailable until they switch their website to the holiday season. What I can tell you is that most of the rides are actually open and running. Someone at certain times and some run the entire time. They are only open on the weekends during this time. There are a variety of character shows and concerts in the park to attend as well as a viewing in the theater of a peanuts Halloween movie. There was also a petting zoo, which they sold food at to feed the animals if you wanted. There is a corn maze and a straw bale maze for the very little ones. They have a place where you can sit and color a coloring sheet and participate in a coloring contest as well as the storytelling witch which you get to sit around in a semicircle and listen to a witch tell stories. Another feature for the younger kids that are 11 and under is trick or treating. They gave each kid a small bag that was filled with Halloween stickers and they got to go to 4 different areas to trick or treat at and we're given a piece of candy a couple of other theme toys and a bag of chips.

The day we went it was sunny and in the low 60s, so it was pretty nice weather to be outside. We hardly had to wait in line for any of the rides. The kids had a chance to go on some rides they normally would only have gone on once or not go on because the lines were too long. We are actually hoping to get back there one more time yet before they closed at the end of the month. You have two more weekends to go check it out.

They also have a few haunted areas. One of the haunted areas has the lights on and is family friendly with no one jumping out at all. The other two haunted areas are open only on Sunday and have people dressed up jumping out at everyone, but they are not allowed to touch you. They recommend that 13 and older go in it but they don't turn away anyone younger. We were told that the scariness was the same during the day as it is at night in those two features the only thing is you aren't coming out into total darkness afterwards where there are other zombies and haunted things roaming around and scaring you. So you can get a sample of what it is like to do those things without going in the evening. We did do both of those but one of them I only did with my daughter.

Caprese Salad with Havarti

Just another idea for a Low Carb salad.......I know traditionally Caprese Salad uses fresh mozzarella, but I REALLY love Havarti so I thought I would try this salad with that instead and it works!

And it taste even better because I used fresh basil and tomatoes from my garden!

Be sure to use a high quality balsamic vinegar. It makes a HUGE difference!

Halloween Food: Severed Fingers (Hot Dogs)

I think these are absolutely hilarious. To make them I just put the hot dogs in a Crock-Pot and cook them for a while in there. Before cooking them though I used a Healer and peeled off a little bit on each end to make it look like a fingernail. Then I use a knife to cut in knuckle creases. I think they actually turned out pretty realistic-looking. And of course the ketchup is blood on the fingers. I labeled all of the food I made at our Halloween party last year and call Dee severed fingers. The ketchup bottle I wrote vampire blood.

Sunset Run

The sunset run is a race on the runways of the Owatonna Airport. I did this race last year as well but this year it happened to be on the same day as the sun's run, which I told you about last week. The suds run was in the morning and then this one didn't start until 7 p.m. at night. I had not really been training hard so I wasn't going to make a PR in this race like I did last year. Because it is a Runway it is a nice flat course which makes it a fast course. The attendance for this race looked about the same as it was last year. The proceeds for this race go to help veterans in Steele County. We had a great night for a run on the airport and it was pretty cool to watch the sunset while we ran around. When you are running on The Runaways you have a pretty unobstructed view of the sunset.

Why You Should Try Instagram Yoga Challenges

Do you have Instagram? 

Are you wanting to get in shape or stay in shape? 

Do you find other people motivating? 

Do you need something extrinsic to motivate you, like reporting results to others?

Do you want to work out from home?

Do you want to workout for FREE?

If you answered yes, to any of those questions you might want to try out an Instagram challenge. I have participated in a couple of them now and the results of the #JumpForCore challenge I just completed are pictured below. I also participated in the #NamasteStrong Yoga Challenge for the entire month of September.

So, here is what you need to do. First Follow Me on Instagram! because I plan to do some and maybe we can motivate each other! Next, do a search on Instagram for #yogachallenge. There are a lot of pictures to look through but look for posts that have a picture that shows many poses. I am also going to do this #HippyHalloween Yoga Challenge because I think it would be very beneficial for me to work on right now with how tight my hips are. You could still join in that one because it is all month.

Where Did We Go Wednesday? Mall of America

Mall of America

I surprised my kids with a trip to the Mall of America just for fun stuff for kids on the day before school started. There is certainly a lot more things to do than we did here but this is what we limited it to based on funds and time. The first thing we noticed when we got there is the new slime bench that is at Nickelodeon Universe. We actually had to go to that bench several times because it make some kind of noise sound or says something when a person sits on it. Some of those sounds include burps and a baby crying or a cow mooing plus many other sounds.

A trip to the Mall of America is not complete without a stop at the Lego store where the kids can play with a whole bunch of different kinds of Legos. My son was busy building but my daughter thought it would be fun to create our family out of the available Lego people Parts they had there. 

As an American Girl doll fan, we had to check out that store as well and we ended up buying three books for her that she had not read it yet. They always have a photo opportunity there with the doll of the year as well. 

The main purpose of the surprise trip was to take them to Build-a-Bear where they could pick out their own stuffed animal and accessories. My kids really do like to play with stuffed animals a lot too. And we ended our trip with some Dippin Dots. That was a treat for them because I had never let them get them at the fair and at the Dippin Dots store at The Mall of America they have so many different kinds of flavors to choose from.

No Carve Jack-O-Lantern Ideas

These are simple ideas to "save" your pumpkin from carving. Maybe you want to bake it as well as have a jack-o-lantern (you can bake and eat a carving pumpkin but they are not as sweet and are stringier than a pie pumpkin, but if you are going to puree it, does it really matter?)

For the eye ball one I just used a dab of Elmer's glue on the back of each one and stuck it in to place and used up a packet of google eyes from the dollar store to make this.

The second one is also from the dollar store. They sell little jack-o-lantern kits (like the ones I used on our Halloween Pop Bottles) and usually there are 2-3 in each packet.

And finally, I save 2 large googly eyes from the packet to use for this one. I wrapped my pumpkin in toilet paper and used clear packing tape to keep it in place and applied tape periodically as I wrapped it and finally just glued the googly eyes to the toilet paper.

#CrowBabyCrow Yoga Challenge

In case you wan to follow along and participate!

Join @bowlingandyoga @alli_roush and @jadebellyyoga for a 7 day crow balance challenge. We will work on 7 of our favorite crow variations.
All levels are welcome to play. Challenge starts October 11th on Jade's birthday!!!! We have two amazing sponsors who will be generously offering up a prize for the lucky winner. So show them some love by giving them a follow. ❤️️ Hosts: @jadebellyyoga @bowlingandyoga @alli_roush
Sponsors: @gladsoles - GladSoles Street Sandals
@paradigmyoga -BeautyCounter - safer beauty product
For a chance to win:
1. Repost this flyer and tag some friends to join in on the fun.
2. Follow and tag the hosts and sponsors in all the post.
3. Post your daily asana using the hashtag
#CrowBabyCrow
Day 1 (October 11th) - crow pose
Day 2 (October 12th) - baby crow
Day 3 (October 13th) - side crow
Day 4 (October 14th) - fire crow
Day 5 (October 15th) - half lotus crow
Day 6 (October 16th) - hopper crow
Day 7 (October 17th) - one legged crow

Corned Beef Face Dip

Halloween Cheese Dip
2 pkg Budding Corned Beef
2 8 oz. pkgs cream cheese, room temperature
2-3 green onions, sliced
2-3 tsp. worchestershire sauce
2 tsp. salt
Green olives and tortilla strips salad topping

Directions:

• Chop one package of corned beef 
• Mix together chopped corn beef , cream cheese, onions, salt and worchestershire sauce
• Shape in to a ball and chill in the fridge for 3 hours
• Remove chilled cheese ball from the fridge and place on a plate
• Place strips of plastic wrap under the side of the ball before shaping, you will be able to easily pull the strips off before serving so you have a clean plate
• Shape cheese ball in to a head
• Slice 2nd package of corned beef in to strips
• Press 2 green olives in to place as eyes
• Cover head with corned beef strips, leaving a thin strip open to insert tortilla strips
• Insert tortilla strips as teeth
• Serve with assorted crackers or pumpkin tortilla chips.
• Enjoy!

Suds Run 2016

This is the second year in a row that I have done this run with a couple of friends. The Run is in Minneapolis and goes over the Stone Arch Bridge, in fact you go over four bridges on this run. Since I did this one last year I knew I wanted to do it again and registered in January for the early bird discount, which is only $25. Your race fee gets you an entry into the race, a t-shirt, a pulled pork or veggie burger lunch with chips, and to drink tickets that you can use on beer or root beer. They even have gluten free beer to choose from. The friends I ran with this year are the same friends I did it with last year. It was a lot of fun and both years we ended up with perfect weather for the race and it is certainly a beautiful place to run. I didn't notice that there was not very many people dressed up for the costume contest this year compared to last year. I am starting to wonder if dressing up for races is not as big of a thing anymore.

Hot Apple Crisp

Chances are you are either going apple picking or happen to have access to apples in your own yard or from a friend, in which case this becoming a very frugal dessert that serves 8 people.

Hot Apple Crisp
6 C baking apples, peeled and sliced (I used MacIntosch)
1/3 C flour
1 C old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 C butter, melted

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Place apples in a buttered 9x9 baking dish
• Combine dry ingredients and stir together
• Add melted butter to dry ingredients and stir until crumbly
• Sprinkle crumbles on top of apples
• Bake for 30-40 minutes or until apples are tender
• If desired, serve with whipped cream or ice cream (serves 6-8)
• Enjoy!

Where Did We Go Wednesday? MN Renaissance Festival

MN Renaissance Festival

This was the third year we have taken our kids to see the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. It just ended this past weekend so you have missed it but if these activities look fun to you you should add it to your bucket list for next year. It is typically open the last two weekends in August and all of September.

Admission can be pricey but you can find discount coupons out there pretty easily. We were able to find $5 off coupons in various places that offered them.

The Renaissance Festival offer some different experiences that you might not be able to have another places. The Renaissance Festival is the only place where we have seen elephants available to ride. They do have camels at our Fair so the kids are typically more drawn to try riding an elephant. Also both kids agreed that the bungee jumping apparatus here is a lot better than the ones at the fairs.

I find food prices to be a little better here than they are at the state fair or the county fair but then again admission price is quite a bit here compared to those things. There are lots of shows to watch but be prepared with extra money because they are collecting tips at the end of every show. They collect tips to meet any character as well to. As we were walking around my son stated that the Renaissance Festival seemed like it was mainly a place to just shop and eat. In years past it seems like there were more activities for the kids to get Hands-On with and they seem to be decreasing. There was a scavenger hunt in the ferry Forest and we attempted to do that but it required a lot of reading that was written in a script type handwriting which was difficult to read through. It looked like a lot of people had given up on doing the scavenger hunt and threw away their sheets.

Parking is free here but plan to walk quite a distance and less you are there very early or come later in the afternoon when the early people are leaving. We had a nice time but I don't think this will be something we do every year it seems like every other year.

Lowe's Build and Grow -- Pumpkin Carving Demonstration with FREE Pumpkin

SIGN UP NOW!!!

This is for THIS SATURDAY! Registration just opened yesterday, but I guarantee you that spots will be filled fast. This is a picture of the sign I took at my local Lowe's and it says that each child will gt a FREE mini pumpkin and sticker sheet. Plus you get to watch a pumpkin carving demonstration using a Dremel Pumpkin Carving Kit (perhaps they will give a coupon for those kits). We are already signed up and I am very interested in seeing how we can making carving pumpkins easier!

Jack'o'Lantern Puke (Spinach Dip)

I seriously love Halloween and I think there is so many fun things you can do to serve food in a creepy way at your Halloween party. For this one I used a small Pumpkin and gave it a face that made it look like it was puking. I served corn chips and pumpkin tortilla chips on the side and had semi homemade spinach dip in the center. I like to use Knorr seasoning packet and the recipe on there to make a spinach dip.

Knorr Spinach Dip


1 box (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1 container (16 oz.) sour cream

1 cup Mayonnaise

1 package Knorr® Vegetable recipe mix

3 green onions, chopped

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine well. Place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours prior to serving. Stir before serving.

Enjoy!

Participate in the #HippyHalloween Yoga Challenge with Me!

Any readers want to join me in this #HippyHalloween Yoga Challenge. I am following along with this one because my hip are SOOOOOOOOO tight and most of these poses look good while I ease back in to my fitness plan after injuring my hamstring. I want it to heal nicely and properly so I don't have more set backs.

Even if you are not on Instagram or don't want to post your picture, you can certainly still follow along and do each of the daily poses.

I just like to share the challenges I am doing on my blog because then I can have quick and easy access to see what the next pose it (wish this one had the days numbered on here) and can see it bigger on my computer screen if I need to.

So, participate if this sounds interesting to you.....

Follow Me (to see how I am doing)

And follow the #HippyHalloween Challenege Hosts:

sarahshaktiyoga

om_yoga_love

om_yogi

#JumpForCore Yoga Challenge, October 1st - 10th

Well I just finished the last yoga challenge yesterday and thought I would try a new one. I saw this one posted on Instagram Buy someone who I follow and usually follows. I thought this looks like a good one to work on building's up some strength while letting my hamstring heal more. So follow me on Instagram to checkout how I am doing in these poses, 4 billion participate in the challenge as well