all hallows eve and fall fun

we had a great halloween again this year.

....we made our yearly trip up to the punkin patch. we found some lovely punkins, rode the tractor, went thru the corn maze....



....then we carved them....oh and todd's aunt nancy and his cousin lucas were out for a visit from denver, so they helped carve too. really strong punkin work this year. fun to have a little variety with the new carving talent in the house.


....todd and the kids went to a halloween party...isn't he beautiful? the little girls at the party thought he was a princess....


...then the big day came and we got our costumes on.
lucy was rapunzel, and she loved her long hair ('tangled' the movie inspired many a little girls costume this year)


....and riley was a grim reaper, minus the scathe.


....nancy and lucas went trick or treating with us too....

....they all got a good candy haul but more importantly had a lot of fun.

AND this should probably be a separate post but here are a few pictures from nancy and lucas's visit. it was super great to have them out for a visit, and share our world with them.

...lucas is an avid skateboarder and he achieved semi-celebrity status in our house (and actually in our small town) by the time he left.


...he can also jump freakishly high

....todd got him out on some mountain biking trails which he enjoyed...

.....and he got to help with the chickens, plus swing on a tire swing to complete the 'city kid visits the country' experience.

it was a great visit and the kids were especially sad to see lucas go!!!
.....hope you are all enjoying your fall adventures as well!

maui

todd and i were able to get away and spend a week in maui (technically i had a conference but really it was a vacation)..... and thanks to our wonderful mothers who watched our kids for us (they split the week) we were able to go alone and spend some much needed time together. THANK YOU MOMS!!


...and as an additional bonus my college roommate lisa and her husband brian planned their vacation to coincide and met us over there. so we got a little fun adult time too....and she is 7mo pregnant with her first so it was a great last hurrah for them!



.....it was a fantastic week. we were in south maui at wailea beach. we soaked up some beach time. snorkeled a bunch. hung out at the resort that lisa and brian were at and cruised the lazy river with the swim up bar........

.....enjoyed a beautiful island sunset


......we did this fantastic hike up into the rainy jungle. we were soaked by the time we reached the top. it was a far different place than the sunny beach we lazed at the day before.




....went on another great hike through a bamboo forest into a waterfall and swam in a tropical lagoon....very island-fabulous.



...it was so amazingly restful. we certainly missed the kids but so wonderful to have a little time to ourselves!
mahalo!!!

mama's wedding

as usual i am a couple of weeks behind in this post but after 30 some years of single life my mom got hitched!! WAHOO!!!

before they left we had a little ladies night out for her at a little hawaiian place.....she was a good sport!

then they 'eloped' to kauai and tied the knot on 9/10/11 (very cool wedding date if you ask me).

....and then she had a reception when they returned. it was a very nice gathering with chocolate and champagne (the kids loved it).


they did this sweet little ceremony with mom's grandkids and george's grandkids welcoming them to each others family....


.....and what a great picture of the campbell grandkids

we are all super super happy for her and george....congrats!!!

end of summer and new school year

well we wrapped up summer. generally good. seemed really short and really busy. we didn't get camping as much as we'd like. the weather didn't act like summer until july....so maybe that's why it seemed so short. but we did get some good play days in and truthfully by the end of summer we are all ready for a little more consistent routine.

anyway we ended summer with a visit from todd's dad and step-mom. its their new tradition to come out every labor weekend which i whole heartedly support. we had a super visit. did some hiking. took a ride on the sternwheeler on the columbia river. and just hung out all together.

then it was the first day of school for the kiddos. they both wanted chocolate chips pancakes for first day breakfast.

riley is now a second grader!! (look at him sporting my alma mater on the first day....go jumbos!)

lucy is in her last year of preschool. she continues at little feet preschool MWF mornings.

so even though the weather still feels like summer and is finally gifting us those 90 degree days....the calendar says its nearly fall and we are back in the swing of school life!

yes day

well last week we had our first 'yes day'. the premise being that we as parents frequently say no to our children's requests and so on one day of the year the answer is always yes. we got this idea from a book one of the kids brought home from school and they loved the idea of having a yes day. so we did it the last week of summer and i gotta admit it was really really fun.

we did set a few ground rules such as they had to agree on meals and activities.....and no outrageous requests like 'can i have a pony?' and no unkind requests like 'can i hit my sister?'

anyway this is how our day unfolded.....

can we go out to breakfast and have hot chocolate with whipped cream on top?....yes

can we have a mud fight?.....yes

can we have a water fight?....yes

can i skip my nap today (lucy)?....yes

can we go up to the alpine slides?....yes

can we go on the go carts and the pony rides and the bungee and, and, and the everything?....yes

can we have pizza for dinner and watch a movie and have an ice cream sundae for dessert?...yes

can we stay up late?....yes

(and as was the last page in the book) does yes day have to end?.....yes

we had a great day and now have a new end of summer tradition. lucy said it was her favorite day of the year...maybe even better than christmas.

....coming next blog the end of summer and the start of the new school year!