Veteran's Day Weekend

 The kids had Friday, Monday and Tuesday off of school for Veteran's Day. We took advantage of the long weekend and played at Grandma and Grandpas. We had a few PERFECT beach days. Low 80's, no wind, bright skies.

 

 Sunday was gloomy. We went for a walk in Badlands Park. Very cool. The view would have been amazing without the fog, but it was still fun.

As good as family pictures get right now with our group!

Quality time with Laura Lynny. She and Carson were roomies this weekend. He loved her bedtime stories.

No trip to south Orange County would be complete without a trip to Zoomars.

Luke and Carson both were a bit hesitant with the ginnie pigs. Kendall was not.

They even got pony rides this visit. A real treat!

Panning for Gold, new at Zoomars. I love how Kendall is trying to be so big kid in this picture.

 We spent our mornings at the local park, playing and riding the new kid scooter around. We even got Luke on it this time.

I had to include this one. It is blurry and Carson is making a weird face, but the thing to notice is the size difference. There is a two month period every year that Amelie and Carson are the same age. They are both 5 here! Carson is a kindergartener and Ami is in TK.

Lego Land

Since we got season passes we need to get our money's worth, right?! Luke filled up poo poo chart #2 and earned another trip. The completion of the chart lined up perfectly with the trip we already had planned, imagine that... Steve took the boys without me last time, so I was a first timer. My Mom kept Kendall at home. Amusement parks are so much more fun without babies.

It is not the kind of park you would go to as an adult or teenager, but for kids our kids' ages it is PERFECT! It was obviously created by parents. All the rides are just the right size. There is so much hands-on stuff. There are even kid play areas in the lines so the kids can play in a middle area while the parents wait in line. There are tons of amazing playgrounds all over the park. I can't wait until summer to go to the water park.  It's 40 minutes from my parents' house too. We are going to have a lot of fun with these this year.

 

Movie set stuff:

Panning for gold. The kids loved it. They had to find 5 gold nuggets, then they traded them for a gold mediation to wear. The both ended up shirtless.

Halloween 2014

As far as costume selection goes the kids couldn't have made Halloween any easier this year.Carson wanted to be a vampire again (costume from 2 years ago), Luke wanted to be Spiderman (his costume last year) and Kendall was a lady bug (I found it on clearance last November for next to nothing.)That part was done and easy, but Halloween is getting out of control! Halloween has morphed from a single night to an entire week and it leaves everyone exhausted and grumpy from too much sugar. By the time Halloween finally was here I didn't take a single picture because I had already taken dozens of them. With that said, here are our Halloween extravaganzas this year.

#1 Cordelia Hills Elementary School Trunk or Treat 10/24/14

#2 Cordelia Wards Trunk or Treat 10/25/14

Carson and Carter Hall

The vampires. Carl and Carson both came as the same thing. So funny!

Dane, Carson, Kylie, Luke, Allie, Jillian

#3 Preschool Parade 10/30/14

#4 Kindergarten Parade 10/31/14 9:00am
I swear half of the girls were Elsa.

#5 Trick or Treating at the Mall 10/31/14 3:00pm
     (To add to the ridiculousness of the week-long event that Halloween has become I took the kids to the mall to trick or treat this year. You see, it had been raining on and off all day and I didn't want them to miss out if it got to wet. Luke fell asleep in the stroller, Kendall ended up in my arms the entire time bc she wouldn't stay in the stroller and Carson thought it was the coolest thing ever.)

#6 Actual Trick or Treating 10/31/14 6:00pm
     (That's right, we were all photo'd out. Kendall stayed home with me to hand out candy. Steve took the boys around the block. It was a little rainy and they didn't last long.)

#7 Pumpkintitis at Doctor Gillespie's house 11/1/14
This is always a fun thing to participate in. Every year a friend of ours opens his home and buys hundreds of pumpkins for carving. Dozens and dozens of friends and neighbors participate. The result is an amazing display of hundreds of beautifully carved pumpkins. Since kids we haven't done much carving, but we always love to take the kids the day after Halloween and see all the amazing jack-o-lanterns. The pictures don't give it justice.