Halloween Decorating

So Carl got a wild hair on Saturday and decided that he wanted to decorate for Halloween. Any one that knows him, can tell Halloween is one of his favorite holidays. So after a day outside baking in the sun, he created a headless horsman, and some tombstones.







As you can see on the names, we were trying to be as creative and play-on name as possible. Ethan was not having any of it, and decided to name that tombstone "Dead Man Jones". We tried to explain the fact that if he was under ground already that it was implied that he was dead already. But how do you convince a 7 yr old who has made his mind up.

Expect more to come.....

Father and Son outing with Ethan

Yesterday Carl decided to try out something he has been wanting to do with the boys all summer. He took Ethan down to California to go to the beach on Saturday. Since we can fly standby on Jetblue, Carl booked Ethan and himself and headed off to California early Saturday morning. He plans on taking each of his boys, one on one.

So after a quick 1 1/2 hour flight they landed in Long Beach. The airport is small and the rental car place is literally a quick walk across the street.

So as Carl and Ethan rolled up to pick up their little economy car to take down to the beach, while he was getting the keys, the woman at the counter asked if they wanted a convertible, and for just $8 more he got to drive around in a 2011 convertible Ford mustang. He couldnt pass that up.




They decided to cruise down the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) down to Huntington Beach.

Once they got to the beach it was nothing but fun in the sun for the next few hours!!

They had a blast of a time. And Carl can't wait to do this with each of his kids as soon as possible.

More Oregon

Here is some more of our Oregon trip.

Down on the beach. Let's just say the water was cold.

View of our house from the beach.









Went on a tour of this lighthouse. Went all the way to the top.



We went to the Aquarium at Newport. Jacksen loved the jellyfish.


Tidal pools.

The little green anemone would grab onto your fingers (yes we could touch them, they had employees talking to us about them). It startled me the first time they grabbed my hand.


We attempted crabbing, but this is the only crab we saw, someone else's catch.


Whale watching from the back deck.




See that tiny water spout about the middle of the page- whale!!

Awww....



Astoria, more to come. The Bowpicker, the best fish and chips place you'll ever eat!!

Oregon Coast!

So way back in June, we drove (yes drove) to Oregon for a family vacation with all of my family. We drove up a few days early and had a Memorial Day picnic at my grandma's house. This is my grandma's big party. She digs a pit and slow cooks several meats in dutch ovens. It was fun because we had lot of my cousins and their families there. And as always, great food!

Monday morning we loaded up and headed to Oregon. Jacksen, Logan, and I rode with Nicole, Chad, and Makinley, and my brother Mike. Carl was going to join us later in the week. Look at this girly. Beautiful blue eyes and red ruby lips. Love her!

We stopped for dinner at McD's. Jacksen and Noah getting some much needed wiggles out. That night we stayed in Bend, Oregon.

The next day, we stopped at this waterfall, Sahalie Falls.

So we finally made it to the coast. This is above Sea Lion Cave. Underneath is a cave made by a volcano. Inside are tons of sea lions.

See- I told you, tons!

Welcome to Oregon!
It's hard to tell, but my brothers are completely drenched. It was a very rainy day!

So we finally arrived at the beach house. We were going to be here for 3 nights. What an amazing place. It's huge family room had big windows facing the ocean (we were right on the ociean), 7 rooms, and a mysterious hot tub that we never found -wierd.
My mom and dad's suite. It had a mini kitchen and sitting area and patio.

Upstairs hall, straight ahead- mom and dad's room, to the left, a little loft for the kids, left again, stairs going down, left again-bathroom, behind me my room, to the right- 2 other rooms.

Our bedroom. Perfect. We put Jacksen's playpen in the little nook, then there was 2 single beds. Colton slept with me until the last night when Carl came, then Colton slept on the little bed in the nook.
That night we went to Mo's. Really good food and good times!!

Disneyland Day 1

Friday morning we went to pick up our tickets from a little shady unmarked building. We bought them from Ebay. When we got them we found out they were hopper passes. We weren't planning on going to California Adventure, but thought, what the heck! We spent the day going back and forth, for parades and fast pass rides. A little known fact, the two parks are separted by a courtyard, you just walk between the two. Awesome.


We were soooooooo excited!!

At C.A. on the bumper cars.

(whoops double pic, it won't let me get rid of it- so enjoy it twice.)

Watch out, Hopper!!

It's tough to be a bug, 3d show. Awesome. Here are my little buggies.

It just so happened that Ethan's bday was that weekend. What a lucky way to spend it.

I made little autograph books for the boys. They loved them.

Woody!!!
Pluto
Minnie
Chip and Dale




Jungle Cruise
Big Thunder Mountain. Colton was bearly an inch over the mark, so he went on a lot of big kid rides. He was so funny to watch. He never screamed, but had a look of extreme concern.

Rock on!

Cotton candy for Colton before the parade at C.A.

Very fun parade
This girl came up to Colton to give her a high-5, but he just stared her down. Denied!! Maybe the wild hair freaked him out.

These two fell asleep before the fireworks. It was a long day.

What a great day. Now to catch a few zzzz's, and come back tomorrow.