Halloween (plus a little bit of Legoland)

Dan and Ben are very into Star Wars, so this year we had a Darth Vader (Ben) and a Shock Trooper (Dan).  Hannah was a sassy witch, but she didn't like wearing her pointy hat, so she mostly just looked like a saloon girl.  Adorable either way!

The boys wore their costumes to school last Thursday for the costume parade.  The whole school sits in the courtyard and each class parades by and everyone cheers.  There were lots of princesses and superheroes, as expected.  They had parties in school and then had the day off on Friday for teacher inservice.

Since every other school district had school, I knew that Legoland would be fairly empty.  Zach took the day off work and we had a great day there.  It was really awesome--no lines, slightly overcast, empty restaurants and shops.  We rode everything we wanted and just had a really good time.

The fun was not over yet because then we went trick-or-treating after supper.  Zach and Hannah joined us for the first part and then they went home to hand out candy.  Dan and Ben and I stayed out a little longer because the weather was great and we ran into some of their school friends to walk with.  Another successful Halloween!

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Pumpkin Patch x2

The good news is that I survived two trips to Bates Nut Farm (aka the pumpkin patch) last week.  The bad news is that it was about 98 degrees for the preschool field trip and I never want to see another pumpkin again.  I'm partly kidding.  It really was that hot, but we made it.  

The field trip was on Friday morning, but we took a quick trip out on Wednesday afternoon.  Dan's class wasn't doing a field trip there this year and there was no way that I was going to drag Zach there on a weekend (the whining would be never-ending), so the kids and I went and had a great time.  It was late in the day, so not too hot or crowded.  We could just kind of do our own thing and not be rushed around.  Dan and Ben and even Hannah loved climbing on the piles of pumpkins and running around on the hay bales.  They each picked out a pumpkin and we carved them today.

Then on Friday, Hannah and I headed back out with Ben's preschool class.  It was quite hot and much more crowded with other school groups and families.  We listened to a presentation about pumpkins, did the tractor ride, got lost in the straw maze, picked out pumpkins, and ate lunch.  A fun, but tiring, day! 

100th Birthday Party

Zach and I were honored to attend the 100th birthday celebration for his great uncle, Roger Rashman.  Roger is the brother of Zach's paternal grandfather, Gordon.  He lives in the Los Angeles area, so it was really great to be able to drive up for the night and see/meet a lot of family.  My sister watched the kids overnight (with the help of Jesse) and I think they were pretty well-behaved.  She didn't sprint for her car as soon as we got home on Monday, so that's a good sign.

Roger is an amazing man--he did a three-week trip to Asia earlier in the year, he does Pilates a couple of times a week, he's active at his Temple and country club.  I can only hope to be as physically and mentally active when I'm 64 years older.  It was a wonderful evening and I'm so glad that we live close enough to be a part of it.

And here's a picture that Lauren took after the kids were bathed and ready for bed: