October, a very merry, busy, crazy, fun-filled, walk-til-you-drop month to remember!
(*more pics to come when I get copies from halloween)
The annual Firefighters Carnival put on by our fabulous San Marcos firefighters!
They had so many fun, educational activities for the kids to do...
We waited in line for 15 minutes so Owen could have a turn spraying the fire hose at the pretend building on fire...
He really enjoyed it! (if you can't see, he cried like a sissy when they turned the water on. Was it loud? Kinda looks like the firefighter might've bit his finger! Nah, that's just what our kid does when he gets scared)
Now THIS firefighter here forced Avery to save his dummy friend (jk--he's our friend Frank Reade)! Avery was pretty stoked to be able to "bag" this guy and save his life!
Owen kept running to the front of the line to "stop, drop and roll" through these flames! It was hysterical watching him practically steam-roll the other kids to have his turn again! Somebody teach this boy some manners.
Avery also loved trying to escape the flames in a hurry! Pretty tough to do in a mini-skirt...Between the two, we got a lot of laughs from the firefighters...
The girls were excited to meet Sparky, the fire dog (I'm sure his fur is completely fire-retardant)!...Once again, Owen the scaredy-boy runs for his life!
We learned there's a difference between a fire truck and the smaller fire engines. This is the only fire truck in San Marcos.
Owen was so funny--after having a melt-down and we all got ready to go, he calmly walked over and posed until we took his picture with the fire truck...
Of course he was all about driving the off-limits
little service cart!
We also spent a day at the Wild Animal Park...
Owen was not so cool with the birds landing on everyone and getting so close...I don't blame you, kid...I had several land on my head without permission and I was sure I would have poopy (not to mention sweaty) hair for the day! Next time we'll let Daddy take the girls in the aviary and we'll go eat a frozen lemonade!
Madie stopping to rest in some shade...It was about 90 degrees that day, and there's quite a bit of uphill walking throughout the HUGE park!
The kids had more fun taking a shower in this "spray ground" (more like a raining-cats-and-dogs ground) than they did seeing the wild animals...lesson learned--best to go to the WAP in the COOLER winter months.
We had to drain Owen's shoes and strip him down after this. And of course Avery (who surprised us all and got pretty wet in her clothes) would not even wear her shoes after this. Madie, as always, was a trooper and LOVED giving us soggy hugs!
Owen's little monkey backpack/leash (a MUST-have at venues like these) got a little too heavy for him to carry--probably weighed 10 lbs soaking wet.
Our cute little vagabond baby (after soaking two outfits)
Our funny little monkey Avery giggled as she ran away from the water...
Madie and Daddy sat out for this sprayground...That's Marcus with the park map over his face trying to catch a nap...
Let's go home...
And get ready for our ward Trunk-or-Treat at he church! (sighhhhhhh)
This is Owen after a VERY busy day! He was ready for some R&R and a little foot massage...Pretty much sums up how I felt too! We had A LOT of fun though.
Later in the month, the kids got to go pick out some pumpkins at this really quaint little undiscovered pumpkin patch that we happened upon...in the WalMart parking lot! We'd been so busy that we almost forgot to even get pumpkins this year, so don't mock me for choosing the most generic place on Earth (and my most despised retail location) to create our Halloween memories!
These pics were taken with an iphone at sunset, so they aren't the best, but at least I got some (even if I had to YELL at my kids mid-pumpkin picking to get them to stand still)
Owen was waiting for the little scarecrow to talk back to him. He kept looking at him, saying something in "Owenese", laughing, and then bending down to see if the little man would respond.
Notice the girls are still
dressed in their summer clothes in late October...It's been a little warm here to say the very least.
I love these lil' punkins!
We got to take all the kids to the Happiest Place on Earth! It was so fun to see the kids having the time of their lives here at Disneyland. And we got to go absolutely FREE--thanks to Nancy, a friend from Marcus' work, and her daughter! Even though we live an hour away, we haven't been in like 2 yrs.! So Avery doesn't remember ever going and Owen's never been. We LOVED the Monsters Inc. ride at California Adventure and Owen was thrilled to go Bug's Land. Avery got tricked into riding the white water rapids by her mom who told her "um, you might get a little bit sprinkled on..." (shoulda known how that one was gonna turn out). She started screaming--like MAD--the first time she got wet...then it didn't help that some kid on our boat kept telling her "oh, no, watch out, you're gonna get soaked right here!"...and didn't stop until we got off the ride....she's not too fond of getting wet in her clothes. But she does love big rides so I thought I was safe...lesson learned. While we were looking for another ride to go on, we literally BUMPED into our friends the Hazens! We thought that was fun to see them there too--on a school day!
After a few rides, we headed over to Disneyland, where we met up with our good friends the Toomers. They met us up there after school. The kids were sooooo excited--not only did we get to go Disneyland, but we got to go with FRIENDS! Now as I mentioned before, Avery LOVES big roller coasters--the faster and steeper the better--so does Madison. So Marcus and I had lots of fun taking turns riding with the girls (and thanks to the new parents pass--where the parent who had to wait with the toddler can walk right on when the family comes back with, and take a kid or 2--we didn't have a lot of waiting time). Everyones' favorites: Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, The Matterhorn, Owen loved Peter Pan (he better...that was the longest wait of the day!) and he was pretty PUMPED about the animals on Jungle Cruise, the girls adored the California Adventure parade (Awesome), and of course were thrilled to meet a few of their Disney heroes. I was devastated to learn that they got rid of Bear Country Jamboree! That was a family favorite growing up--we would go inside and watch the cute show when we were hot and tired...but, my kids will never get to experience that. Again, I only have a few pics for now which we took on Marcus' iphone (more to come soon--I have to get them from Nicole).
Marcus, Avery, Madie, Jacey, Nicole, and Logan on Space Mountain
When it was our turn to meet Cinderella and take a picture, Madie got all embarassed and Avery was just star-struck!
