Happy Halloween!

Preschool fun... ...and games"I will get candy." "Score!" Sugar highs.

Fall Farm

Last week my mom took me, my sister-in-law, and our 4 kids to a local farm. We had so much fun. We went for a hay ride (picture below), picked out pumpkins, ran through the maze, fed the animals and fish, raced plastic ducks (Ethan's favorite part) and went down the slide (well, everyone but me). The only good slide picture I got was of my sister-in-law LaDonna, and I'm not sure I could get her permission to put it on here. She looked very cute, of course. You can see Ethan going down the same slide last year here. Last time we went, Colin was 9 days old, so he enjoyed it much more this time.

We had to leave before we were done having fun to get to preschool, which was very sad for the boys. Their cousins stayed and played for hours. There's a train, a moon bounce, and a gazebo filled with corn kernels to play in. It's not as weird as it sounds.

Thanks for a great morning, Grandma!

This morning

We were sitting at the table doing some art work when Ethan suddenly put his hand up to his ear and started "talking" on the phone:

"Hello?"

(pause)

"We're just doing some art for our friends from our field trip." [That's how he refers to our vacation.]

(pause)

"Yeah, we're going to do that a little later."

(pause)

"No, we're not going to do that because I don't have enough dollars."

(pause)

"What?"

(pause)

"What? What?? HELLO??"

(pause)

He puts his hand down on the table, looks at me, and says, "I guess my cell phone's broken, too." [Jason and I have both been having problems with our iPhones and AT&T's service. Ethan's over it.]

Grass at Last!

We finally had our sod laid last week. We are excited to have a yard instead of piles of red clay.

This one is taken from the cul-de-sac across the street. You can see the retention pond across from the house, the townhouses to the right, and our neighbors to the left.

The view approaching the house from the front of the neighborhood. Notice Ethan thwarting Colin’s attempts to crawl into the street. The back of the house from the back left corner of the property.

Looking along the right side of the house toward the front of the property.

Now we just need the temps to warm up a little so we can go out and enjoy it!

Walking!

Colin woke up a week ago and decided it was time to walk. He is all over the place. I spent all day Sunday trying to capture it on video, but he dropped to his knees every time the camera came out. Then Ethan had to give it a try. He captured the video below, and was obviously very excited about it.

Worn Out

Colin doesn't sleep anywhere except his crib. Until now. I think we finally wore him out.

Miles driven: 1901

Homes slept in: 7

1st cousins Ethan played with: 8

States visited: 4 (plus layovers in Illinois and Texas)

Friends/family visited: 88

Items left behind: 7 (that I know about):

bottle (Ashley's), pacifier (Erin's), IPhone headphones (Grandma's, I think), bib (Rachel's), DVD player and headphones (Rhonda's...thanks for sending them back!), and green block (rental car, I think...Leanne, if it turns up in your house, please send it on. Ethan says it's his most favorite block ever.)

Come to think of it, we're all worn out. But happy!

Last Day

Our last day of vacation was Jason's 35th birthday. He (and I) wanted to go to Sea World. This was our third theme park in 3 days, so the kids were a little over it, but Jason and I had fun. The orca show was amazing, of course. Ethan loved the Halloween-themed sea lion/otter show. Colin liked the fish tanks. After Sea World, we took the kids back to Ryan and Leanne's place and left them with their babysitter (thanks again, Erinn!!) and went out by ourselves for Jason's birthday. It was the perfect way to end our vacation.

We spent all Sunday flying home. The flights were pretty uneventful. The kids were so worn out that Colin slept on both flights and Ethan slept on the second one. They seemed really happy to be home. It was a great vacation!

Lots of Legoland

The day after Disneyland we went to Legoland. Ethan loved it. He's told his preschool teachers two things about his trip: that he went to Salt Lake, Las Vegas, and California (they were sure he had his facts wrong) and that we went to Legoland. He can't stop talking about it. Colin is a total water baby. We had to drag him out of the water park area after an hour of playing, and it was a chilly day.

Ethan's favorite part was the lego cities. He spent over an hour staring at all the pieces. I've never seen him concentrate on anything for so long. San Francisco. Ethan studying the streets of Manhattan. Closeup of Manhattan. Colin liked it for a few minutes... ...then decided playing with the buckles on his stroller seat was more fun. (?) We left (when the park closed) and met Nathan, Megan, and the boys at the Oceanside Pier for dinner. It was so fun to see them and visit (briefly). We just barely missed meeting their newest addition. Can't wait for him to arrive!

The "funnest" place on earth

I LOVE Disneyland. I could have spent several more days there. Oh, and the boys liked it, too. We were there for almost 10 hours. We made Ethan go on Pirates of the Caribbean. He did NOT love it. He DID love basically everything else. When we were riding the monorail around the park, Ethan looked down at everything and said in awe, "This is the funnest place I've ever seen." I agree, Ethan!

Colin loved pretending to drive.

On the teacups: 

Ethan: I wish this was at my house.

Chris: This whole place, or just the teacups?

Ethan: Just the teacups.

Both kids loved Dumbo.

We "had" to get the boys their own ears, even though I calculated the markup at about 1000%.

Oh, and we discovered at dinner that Colin really, really, really loves salsa. He ditched the chips and started drinking it. Grammy, hook us up!

Thanks, Disneyland! I miss you!

North, then South

On Wednesday morning we drove up to West Hills to my friend Katherine's house. Katherine and I met when we worked for the same company back in 2000. On paper, we could not be more different, but we think the same way and have been good friends for years. Her son, Kyle, is 6 weeks younger than Ethan, and she has a 2-year-old daughter, Kira. Kyle and Ethan immediately hit it off. Ethan was SOOO sad to leave their house. It was a short but very fun visit. 

We left Katherine's and drove to Orange, to the cul-de-sac where Jason grew up. Ron and Rhonda still live across the street. They are family friends that are basically family. Four of their five kids came for dinner with all their kids. Ethan was in heaven. Colin loved their new pool. Their backyard is amazing! It was so fun to see everyone and their cute kids. Ron and Rhonda spoiled us and acted like our visit was more of a treat than an imposition. Jason and I both talked about how nice it is when people are so welcoming and excited to see you. We felt special. 

A Complicated Relationship

I have a love/hate relationship with LA. It's stressful there. Especially the driving. Everyone seems like they're in a hurry and angry. It takes forever to get anywhere. On the other hand, there is SO much to do and it's all so fun. It drove home how little there is to do in Raleigh, and how slow-paced life is here. I'm okay with that as long as I can escape for fast-paced, exciting vacations. 

On Tuesday morning we picked up Ethan and Henry and headed to the Santa Monica Pier. We walked the pier, played in the arcade, and ate lunch. The boys wanted to play on the beach before we left. Henry and Ethan were not completely sure how they felt about each other. In many ways, they are completely opposite personalities. They would be best friends, then hate each other, then be friends again over the course of just a few minutes. They both love trains, which helped. A common passion for trains can overcome so much. It should be incorporated into more diplomatic efforts, I think.

The sand was "too hot" so the boys found shade to play in. Then we went to the Skirball, a Jewish cultural museum. They have an unbelievable Noah's Ark exhibit that's fun for kids and adults. It was amazing. It's very hands-on and well done. We left the Skirball and headed to the Grove, which is the nicest outdoor shopping area I've ever seen. The kids loved the fountain. Morgan and Kate (and then later Chris) joined us for dinner. On the way home, we had to run to Diddy Reese for ice cream sandwiches, which have gone up in price since I first went there 10 years ago (to $1.50!).