Trick or Treat

The kiddos had a great time tonight going out into our neighborhood. Since we just moved here just before school started in August, this was our FIRST Halloween here.

What made it even MORE fun tonight? The kids got to go out with their littlest cousin. Tonight was HER first official time out trick-or-treating. Last year she was just a few months old and she only went to each of her Grandparents houses. So tonight was the first time she got to walk around holding a pumpkin.

And what pray tell is my son doing in this first shot? He just got his costume on when the National Anthem started at the World Series. He (of course) stopped all activity and stood with his hand over his heart. Isn't he the cutest?

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How to celebrate a birthday

We try to get together with family when someone celebrates a birthday.

My youngest nephew recently celebrated a birthday.

His wish? To have a birthday celebration the beach.

Can you imagine a beach celebration in October where you live?

It definitely looked like a bad idea.

We had a week of cloudy skies. Drizzly mornings.

And then on that Sunday of the party?

The SUN broke out!

It ended up being a beautiful day. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L !!!!

Not only was there a bit of just plain talking to each other, we did some other things.

 
The kids took advantage of being at the beach and built a fort in the sand.

I took the opportunity to go stand-up paddle-boarding for the first time and so did my niece. My sister does this ALL the time, so she was way far out across the bay.

Volleyball and soccer were played as well.

Thankfully we all did get out that Sunday. Because the next few days were cloudy once more. Ugh! But we so thoroughly enjoyed probably our last truly comfortably warm day for 2010. It'll just continue to get colder from here on out.

But don't you think it was a fabulous looking day?

School spirit and athletic pride

My oldest nephew is athletic.

He's been in football since he was about 6. He was a running back when he was in pee-wees. Now he mainly kicks. He's one of the few juniors on the varsity team.


He's been in track since he was in middle school. He used to do the long jump, but now focuses on the shot put and discus (for his school), while he does the javelin for track club.


And you know what he just got last week?


He got a letterman jacket!




My sister was the one who got the catalog and she didn't stop at the first few pages. She looked through the ENTIRE catalog and saw all the available options. And it turns out that extra bit of browsing resulted in a very unique design compared to his teammates.

Is he wearing the jacket now?

Nope.

It's at a seamstress right now. For the next 10 days of so.

Why?

Because he's getting all of his stuff sewn onto his jacket. His letter. His club sports patches. His name embroidered onto the back. It's going to look totally awesome.

I'm just SO proud of my nephew!

We've been busy so I've been absent

Being here alone with the kids has kept me very busy.

And the rain that's been going for the last 10 days didn't help a bit.

But this hasn't kept me and the kids from getting out and about.

That's a HUGE statement for me. A self-professed homebody.

We attended a couple more football games. My younger nephew's held on Saturday mornings.

My older nephew's Friday evening games at local high schools. Yes. We attended varsity high school games. It's been super fun. I love cheering! We like to sit together but that's not always possible. At one game we all did happen to find space together. Let me just say that we all cheered. My older nephew told my sister that his friend said "Dude, I was sitting near your family and they are LOUD." Was that embarrassing for my nephew? No. He knows that we're loud when we're at games.


We also attended a birthday party where all the kids enjoyed playing games. And they really enjoyed the cake and ice cream as well. Can you believe that my kids didn't want to have anything to do with the root beer floats? Nope. They don't like root beer.

In October, where else would we visit but a pumpkin patch? Right?

The first place we went to was very small, so we went to another one! Yes. ANOTHER pumpkin patch! The kids got to feed some goats, a pig, and some chickens. There were a TON of pumpkins. Even some HUGE ones!

And then tomorrow we're headed to the beach for another birthday party!

Yes. Weekends have been busy.

But it's a good busy. Spending time with family doing fun activities. What can be any better?

Fun weekend for all

The kids and I were out and about this weekend. As a self professed homebody, spending most of the weekend away from home is quite a big deal.

HUGE!

Friday night, the kids and I went to my oldest nephew's football game. The game happened to be playing at a high school about 15 minutes away from our house, so we HAD to go. Unfortunately, my nephew's team lost but they showed some GREAT sportsmanship. When one of the other team's players was injured, all the kids on my nephew's team took a knee. The other team? Their sidelines remained standing, as did the guys on the field who were standing about 10 feet away from their injured friend. Not one of them took a knee. NOT. ONE. A while later, another of the other team player's went down. All the boys on my nephew's team took a knee. Maybe three boys on the field from the other team took a knee. Seriously! But it was really nice to see that my nephew's teammates all showed respect for the other players.

What's crazy is that bright and early Saturday morning, we headed back to that same high school. Why? Because my youngest nephew had his own football game at 8am. It was a beautiful morning. Even my youngest niece went to the game. Whenever she got restless, they kept her busy walking around the stadium. She had a SOLID nap after that.

We went home to finish up some chores and then headed out again. My sister, my youngest nephew, and my niece went with us to the annual Air Show. Instead of being in the massive throngs of people who attend during the day, we opted to go to the evening show. It was sheer chaos trying to get INTO the base since there were tons of folks headed OUT of the place. They actually tried to EXIT us out of the base. When I stopped and asked one female Marine who was directing traffic, she told me to continue to go straight down the road and then she yelled "Wagon wheel, ma'am!" What the heck? Wagon wheel? What was THAT supposed to tell me? Anyone? Anyone? I finally opened my window as we started to look like we were headed to the bundocks and asked "Excuse me?I'm trying to get IN to see the night show????" The Marine took pity on me and let me turn left onto this curvy road that led us STRAIGHT to the parking area. Woohoo! We got to see the evening parachute team, the Robosaurus, a Harrier take-off, and fireworks. It was loads of fun, even after the parking drama.

I expected to stay home today since we were out so much yesterday but....we finished up our chores for the weekend. And I wanted to get the kids out on such another great day. It was a little overcast, but it was warm. There was a centennial ride going through our community, so we walked over to where our local Farmer's Market is held every week. That's where the last water stop for the ride was located. It was just 9 more miles from the end. But it was a much needed stop. We had water, fruit, and pbj's. We even had a couple port-a-potties and I can't tell you how popular THOSE were.

I had such a great time with the kids this weekend. And I really think the kids enjoyed themselves as well. Yes. They did fight a bit. I couldn't escape that. But the good totally outweighed the bad moments. You know?

So what did you do this weekend?