halloweekend.

this year, halloween kinda snuck up on us before i was even aware that the month of october was already in full swing.  we didn't get to do the usual things one would do in october-- no visit to a pumpkin farm, no pumpkin carving, no attempts at fall-ish pictures whatsoever.  we just ended up at a grocery store last saturday afternoon to let the kids choose a few mini-pumpkins and pick up a bag of chocolates just in case some trick-or-treaters might stop by.  (which phil warned me beforehand was likely not to happen as we are surrounded by chinese neighbors.  chinese neighbors who do not believe in handing out free candy to strange small children.)  still, i wanted to be prepared just in case.

sort of a let-down in terms of ushering in the fall this year.  but then again, today's temp was 90+ degrees, so it's kinda hard to feel all autumn-y while still wearing shorts and tank tops.

but ready or not, halloween weekend was upon us and it was filled from top to bottom with activities.  so we made it through mikey's halloween parade and party, allie's pumpkin party, a spooky bash, and two fall festivals.  and lived to tell the tale.  aided by a steady stream of halloween chocolates since, as phil predicted, not a single trick-or-treater could be seen in our 'hood.   

alright, so the weekend o' fun started on friday morning with mikey's school party.  kindergarten may be all kinds of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears, but they still sure do know how to throw a party!

lauren and i got there just in time to see the costume parade get started.  who could that masked jengo fett be?

ah, none other than my sweet mikey!  who was very concerned after his dad let him know that jengo fett is actually a bad guy.  (hey!  how was i to know?  besides, it was the last costume left in his size at target when i picked it up the day before!)  so he informed me that he was the "good jengo before he turned bad".  i said that was a perfect idea.  and he was satisfied.

mikey's teacher.  who is way cooler than i ever was.

mikey's big buddy.  who is way cooler than i'll ever be.

lauren just learned how to do this latest trick.  and insisted on wearing these tights because her big sister was wearing tights that morning.

she loved going to see mikey at school.  and insisted on staying near him the whole time.  she's been wanting to go to school too and saw this as her big chance.

alright, so we didn't carve pumpkins this year.  but mikey was just as happy drawing on a pumpkin face with his classmates.  no cleaning of pumpkin guts + a kid who didn't notice = win-win in my book.

lauren and i had to get going and so weren't able to stay for the games and party, but mikey later came home with a bag full of goodies and reported that he had a great day.  and best of all, no homework!!

his very favorite thing from his goody bag.  because max from "max & ruby" wears the same teeth during his favorite episode.

that evening, the kids donned their costumes again to go to both their schools' nighttime parties.

my pink 50s girlie.

she picked out the pink frilly deal to wear in her hair.  and i'm now noticing that it's time to get her hair cut again.

and my pink 50s baby.  hello, my baby.

she just loved her 50s pink glasses.

even if they did keep sliding down her nose, librarian-like.

bowling with a plastic skull.

me and my girls at allie's school.

and then halloween day was upon us and on went the costumes once more.  it was just after naps and allie wasn't quite ready to give up her 'b' (blankie) and her drawing.  lauren wasn't quite ready to give up her medieval hatchet.

cousins j and j (along with their parents) joined us for the evening's fall festival.  one quick group picture before things started going downhill.

mikey and his friend j were inseparable at our church's fall festival.  they had a blast.

allie and her friend a (j's little sister) were also inseparable that night.  and lauren did her best to tag along with the big kids. 

towards the end of the night, uncle johnny and cousin j found the best seats in the house.  right near the bathrooms and the snacks.  soon enough, we all congregated around them.

and came home feeling like this was the best halloween ever.  :)

the end.

san diego.

so the very next weekend after we got back from seattle, we (correction: I) packed up again and we took off for san diego.  phil was attending a conference there and we decided to make a family trip out of it.  but let me tell ya, all that weekend traveling was crazy tiring and i feel like i'm still recovering from it all.  there is definitely something to be said for quiet weekends spent at home, too.  perhaps i'll have something to say about that when we actually have one of them.  : p

but on to the post at hand!

the kids were suuuper excited to be going on vacation and didn't even care that it was only for three nights.  in fact, that seemed to be just about the perfect amount of time for them.

daddy's conference was in downtown san diego.  but they ended each day in the early evening, leaving just enough time to do some sight-seeing.

while window shopping, daddy found a necklace in a toy store for allie. 

since mommy got one the week before.  she wanted to wear it right away.

and was feeling pretty happy about it, i think.

not to worry, the other two kiddos also got presents too.  but allie-girl...  she just holds a special place right in the center of her daddy's heart.

the next day, my brother's family joined us for a day at the zoo!  (thanks to joanna's tip that kids are free on sundays in october.  with three and soon-to-be four kiddos, the savings here are HUGE!)  yep, this is in fact my family, y'all.

it appears that we brought the seattle rain back with us as it was drizzly for much of the day.  thankfully our dollar store ponchos that we just happened to have in our stroller came in handy.  one by one, we slowly succumbed to the poncho and were all wearing one at one point.

we saw plenty of animals that day, but for some reason the best pictures i have were with the animal statues.  i wonder why that is?

behold the power of the poncho.  and i think perhaps my kids have spent too much time in front of the camera.

look what just popped up!

mikey fell in love with this baby polar bear.  (but see what i mean about the statues?)

well, at least these koala bears were being still as statues.

even if my cuddly koala bear wasn't.

happily, the rain cleared up for the kids to enjoy some time at the playground.  the kids wanted to go down the slide all together and this is what i like to see...

a nice, orderly, not-fast progression...

down to a safe landing.  everyone has a good time, no one gets hurt, and mikey even gets to pretend he's a rocket at the end.

but this one?  this is what i very much do not like to see.  there's no order, no safe progression, and impending doom is imminent.

but thankfully daddy is right there to come to the rescue.  thanks, daddy.  (btw, i love how cousin j has enough sense to stay back and preserve himself from the danger).

psa- no kids or daddies were harmed in the making of the above pictures.

once all my monkeys cleared off the slide, baby j and her mommy got a turn.  which she loved!

after a full day at the zoo, we headed back to our hotel to relax and unwind.  witness the mesmerizing effects of the chipmunks movie on tv.  uh, close your mouth, my son.

meanwhile, baby j got a chance to do what she loves best- crawl around everywhere!  lauren came down to check on her.  the kiddos just adore their baby cousin.  :)

and of course the requisite jumping on the beds also took place.

alas, our little trip came to an end much too quickly.  on our last day, we stopped to see the midway ship and have lunch before heading back home.

allie wanted a picture next to the princess in the white dress.  she didn't believe me when i said she'd only be about the size of the princess' shoe.

and whaddaya know?  the kids got a chance to run around and play with autumn leaves, too!

yay for fall!

seattle.

so three weekends ago, phil's friend/co-fellow got married.  up in seattle.  and we were invited.  we initially concluded that we wouldn't be able to make it since buying airline tickets and accomodations for all five of us would be crazy expensive.  until phil threw out the idea of possibly asking the grandparents to watch the kiddos for us while we made a little weekend getaway out of it.  i like the way that guy thinks.  :)

my parents jumped at the chance to spend the weekend with the kids, and i jumped at the chance of a mini-vacation.  to make it easier on the grandparents, i drove the kids and met them halfway so that they could keep the kids at their house (because they still have a business to run, too).  we ironed out the details, i packed for what felt like days (okay, only two days, but they were LONG days), phil made the reservations and the plans, and we were all set to go!

except, i was feeling a bit nervous about leaving our kids behind and hopping on a plane to be two whole states away from them.  hopping on planes has become a much more nerve-wracking experience ever since children entered my world.  before, i used to be only excited at the prospect of visiting someplace new without a thought about all the potential what-ifs and dangers that lurk in any given moment.  but after kids, all those what-ifs and dangers suddenly loom large and make me think twice about doing anything without them constantly in my sight.

so there was a lot of praying on my part, both to ease my fears, and to remind myself that they were (and always have been) in the Lord's hands who has always protected them in every situation, in every moment of their lives- when i was with them and when i was not.  that they were in the safest place possible and were never out of God's sight, even though they were out of mine.

so going away for a whole weekend was not as emotionally easy as i initially thought it would be.  and though i felt a bit anxious the whole time we were away, it ended up being oh so well worth it.

phil reserved a suite for us at the fairmont hotel in downtown seattle.  we decided to skip renting a car to avoid paying for parking in downtown and did all our sightseeing on foot.  it added a new element of adventure and certainly was something we couldn't have done with the kiddos in tow.

the lobby.

our first purchase soon after getting settled in.  though i do understand no real seattle-ite would be caught dead with an umbrella.  but then again, i never claimed to be a native!  it never really rained rain, mostly drizzled the whole weekend, but it was surprising how soggy one gets from being constantly drizzled on.  not til the following day did we discover that there was an umbrella provided in our room for our use.  aw well...

i had no idea that i'd be in the coffee capital of the world, but boy was i a happy girl once i found out!

speaking of coffee, phil navigated us to the very first starbucks store that morning.  of course, there was a starbucks on nearly every corner, and we passed at least three of 'em on the way, but there's only one FIRST one!

and who should we happen to run in to at the very first starbucks?  why, it's phil's friend anu, the groom-to-be!

we did a little strolling around at pike place farmer's market, too.  it was completely mobbed though, so not exactly a leisurely experience.

i spotted this funky little guy as we passed by and totally regretted not getting a picture of him.  it kinda started haunting me, actually.  so phil humored me and we walked back through the crowds just so i could stop being haunted.  thanks, honey!

direct quote from the philsters: "there seems to be a lot of crap sold here."  so no, we didn't end up bringing one of these babies home with us.

you can't be in seattle without gawking at the 30 pound king salmon, right?  we ended up buying a whole fish and had it shipped to my parents as a big thank you.  they loved it.

for us, being out on our own of course means we EAT.  and phil did a fantastic job finding us some really great places to try.  i so wanted to try some oysters but we went for baked ones this time around.  the rockefeller one?  totally rocked.

and this little number with the sour cream ice cream wasn't too shabby, either.

i was hoping we'd get our fall color fix in too, but the whole carless in the rain thing kinda dampened that idea.  but there was beautiful color all around us.  and under us, as it were.

oh!  and i finally got to wear the coat phil gave me three christmases ago!

went to a place called the 'library bistro' for sunday breakfast.  it was like eating in the middle of a library with dark wood and books stacked all around.

of course, i had to have this.  but the orange juice was darn good, too.

turns out, the kids were never far from phil's mind either.  wherever there is paper and something to draw with, allie's usually somewhere near.  so this was phil's shout-out to his girl who would've loved the library bistro's paper table covering and cup o' crayons.

mmm.  the bread.  oh the toasty, buttery, lightly crisp wonderful bread!

we took a monorail to walk around the space needle and surrounding park.  where i DID get my color fix, after all!

and look!  we finally got a peek of blue skies while there, too.  we weren't going to go up the needle since we figured it would be rainy and cloudy and hard to see anything anyway.  but the plan changed once the clouds started breaking up.

and so, up up up we went!  and the whole way up i was inwardly freaked out about the elevator cables snapping and us plummeting all the long way down.  so now add elevator rides to my list of nerve-wracking experiences.

but the view was awesome and the sky cleared up just enough for us to enjoy the experience.  and then it started raining again on the way back.

we spent a lot of time going from store to store trying to find a dress that would fit me and not look like i just threw on a potato sack.  in the midst of all the shopping, phil got a little present for me.  picked it out himself, too.

i love that there are six hearts in it.

quick shot of us just before we headed out for the wedding.

a wonderful weekend getaway topped off by a totally fun wedding.  congrats to anu and jane!  ah, such good times.

but then, i couldn't wait to get back to the kiddos and hug em and squeeze em and kiss their faces again.  guess that's why it's good to get away every now and again, huh?

and last week, we got a very nice letter from my step-mom thanking US for entrusting our kids to them and telling us they loved spending that time with our kids.  we are so incredibly blessed.