Sorry, Just Couldn't Resist

captured by my cell phone... just couldn't resist posting it ;) 

Well, I Knew That Was Too Easy

So apparently I completely skipped over one very important event in October: our annual Pumpkin Painting!!!  The boys painted the pumpkins while Dave and I carved ours.  Jack and I had been talking about what's inside pumpkins, and so I definitely made sure that he got to see that part!

The photos and video are pretty self-explanatory, so I'll just post them and be done.  Video first: 

 

 

 

 

Three Halloweens

This year the Halloween/Reformation carnival at my parent's church was actually on the 28th rather than Halloween night, so we had two nights of Halloween!  It was a little confusing for the boys, and it felt weird to me to have Halloween night free, since every year for as long as I can remember we've had the carnival on Halloween.  However, I did enjoy getting to take my boys Trick-Or-Treating on Halloween since we weren't at the carnival!

Jack and I made cupcakes for the cakewalk: he told me exactly where to put the frosting and he put the eyes and the candy corn on.  Then Jack got to pick one to eat ;) 

 

As soon as naptime was over we threw the boys' costumes on and headed over to the carnival!  This year Jack decided that he wanted to be an Angry Bird, and, since Sam didn't really know what he wanted to be and we thought it would be cute to have them be a part of a set, he was the King Piggy!  I had so much fun making those costumes!!!

 

Uncle Travis, Auntie Mimi and Luke were there too, of course! Luke had a pretty cute costume, too!  My sister made him a Mr. Potato Head costume, and the parts of the face were even removable!

Once we got there and Dave set up his Trunk-Or-Treat, the kids got to play carnival games!  Jack had a great time, of course, and Sam surprisingly was really into the games, too!  He was so cute- he caught on quick that once he played the game he'd get candy.  As soon as he was done he'd stick his hand out to the person that was running the game and say "Treat please!" and as soon as they handed it to him he'd say "Thank you much!" and turn to me and say "Open bag, mom!" so that he could put the candy in his treat bag! Everyone got quite a kick out of him!

Jack's favorite part was the cake walk... he played and won twice!  He was so excited, and I was thrilled for him, even if that meant we had to take two prizes from it home... we did not need any more treats in our house!  

And of course, our evening wouldn't have been complete without the trunk or treat!  In keeping with our family's halloween theme for the year, Dave made an Angry Bird scene for the trunk-or-treat!  It was great!!!

The boys loved it, too, of course!  Especially when Dave lit the lamp in the pumpkin!

Our next Halloween event was on Halloween day!  Jack's preschool was having a party and Sam and I came to help!  Of course, the boys came in costume and had a lot of fun visiting grandma at work (for those that forgot, she works in the office at his school) and making fun halloween projects with all the other kids.  Sam had more interest in playing with the toys than doing the projects, but we all still had a great time!

 

 

 

 

Later that night the boys and I headed over to my parents' house so that they could go trick-or-treating in her neighborhood.  They had so much fun!  Jack designated himself the candy police and asked every single person "Is there peanuts in there? Because I am allergic to peanuts!" even though I told him that it was okay and that I would check them later.  And, just as he did at the carnival, Sammy caught on very quickly!  He was very good at saying "Trick-or-treat!" when someone came to the door, and was very nice and polite to say "Thank you!" when someone gave him a treat!  When we were all done my parents ran ahead of us so that the boys could end the night by knocking on grandma and grandpa's door.  When they opened the door Sam didn't even pause and immediately held out his bag and said "Hi papa!  Trick-or-treat!"  and he had a great time yelling "Happy Hallow-yeen!" all night long!

 

 
 

 

8 years

This past October, Dave and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary- and we had way too much fun doing it, too!  We've decided that our anniversary gifts to each other would be experiences, and I was so excited when Dave told me what he had planned for this year: ziplining!!!  I had always wanted to try that, and Dave had remembered when I mentioned it a few months earlier and surprised me with it!  So, early one morning we dropped the boys off with grandma and hopped on a boat to head to Catalina to play on their new zip line course!

On the boat

The view of the zipline course from the boat: you can see one of the platforms from the course.  The course snakes its way down through that whole canyon

While we were waiting for our adventure to begin we went for a walk around Avalon, had some breakfast and found a one-legged pigeon.  

 

And then it was time to get our gear on!

 

We got our instructions and hopped on a bus for a ride to the top of the canyon, and once we got there, guess who was the first off the platform?
 

Unfortunately I only had my big camera, which was too big and bulky to be able to hold while zipping so I had to strap it over my shoulder and I couldn't get a movie as I went down the line.  However, when I got to the next platform I passed my camera off (first to the instructor for a photo of Dave and I together and then to Dave) to get pictures of me on the zipline!

 

We had so much fun on the zipline and Dave and I both would love to do it again!  Of course, I had to toss in one more photo, this time of our instructor doing what he called "The Burt Reynolds" as he zipped down the line... I found it quite hilarious!


The company also took souvenir photos of us coming down the last line... we were supposed to strike a pose for the camera, but I couldn't find the camera and Dave completely forgot!
 

After our tour we decided to rent a golf cart!  Dave had never been to Catalina before, so I acted as tour guide as we took turns driving the golf cart (which neither of us had ever done before).  Dave was very disappointed that we didn't see any buffalo, though we did have a good time.  We even drove the golf cart back up to the start of the zip line so that I could get a picture of the front gate!
 


Isn't Avalon harbor beautiful?  We had a great anniversary :)