Halloween Time

We had a pretty fun Halloween season!

We spent a LOT of time house hunting, getting our hopes up, getting those hopes dashed, excitement, anxiety, relief... We FINALLY found a place and signed a lease. But in the meantime I had to keep some sort of fun and normalcy for the kids so we planned a lot of cool adventures and activities!

This is Ray chilling in her high chair watching Baby Einstein while she eats. 

Round #1 of Trunk or Treats! We attended Cami's and Jon's and our own ward's Trunk or Treat parties! Woo hoo! 

We also had a fun family day at the pumpkin patch one Saturday morning. It was HOT but the kids had a blast and it's always a good time when we are playing with family.

 King of the Pumpkins!

 This was all Parker was talking about for the longest time. He was so excited for the giant slide!

 Nanny and Bebo with a bunch of grandkids.

 Cousin love while waiting for the swings.

That night we went to Jon's Trunk or Treat. It was super fun! It's cool that we have friends in SO many places. I feel like we always run into people we know and it makes life so enjoyable.

 Merida Kim with Dolphin Trainer Parker

 Go Cougars!

I snapped a few candids the other day while my Mom was being so cute with Rayliegh. She was giggling as my mom played "Here Comes the Mousie". xoxo

We'd never been to the Irvine Park Railroad so the kids and I went and checked that out one day. It was really cute and such a beautiful place. I'm looking forward to going back there again and again. We rode the train which was a little boring for all of us (but pretty!) and then we walked around and took pictures. Rayleigh is a little too young for all of this stuff and Parker is a little too old. But the haunted house was cool and we had fun checking out the ducks at the pond!

Of course we spent some time at SeaWorld. This particular day the dolphins were SO interactive!

 Although, Rayliegh could have cared less. She was more interested in the drain than the 4 dolphins wanting to play with her.

 The dolphin trainers are all getting to know Parker and they spend quality time talking with him when we are there. They linked together the bracelets he made for them and the dolphins LOVE playing with it! They all came up to the window and were so exicted to see it!

 Parker was SOOOO bummed when he didn't get to touch a dolphin this day. He's just a little too short. I felt badly for him but whatchagonnado?

 We spent some time playing around at Bay of Play. It's so nice when we have the whole place to ourselves...

 I love the turtles!

 We spent an hour one day in Laguna just walking around and playing at the playground. It was SOOOOO hot so we didn't stay long.

Then it was time for our own ward's trunk or treat! We had a blast talking with friends and eating another yummy pot luck!

One night I gave the kids a "Boo Bath". I played spooky Halloween music and turned off the lights so they could bathe in the light of glow sticks. Then we dumped in creepy crawly bugs to make it extra Halloweenie. It was fun!

On Halloween I had a coupon for 20 free tokens and $5 cheesey bread and if they kids wore their costumes they each got 50 free tickets! Score! We had the place to ourselves and had a great time! Rayleigh LOVED it. And Parker and I got to play a lot of Ski Ball (my fav)

 She must be a ChuckE fan....

 Too itty bitty to get her face in the picture...

That night my Mom went out Trick or Treating with us because, surprise surpirse, Tanner was gone. This time he was loading up our house in Lincoln for our move down south. So he is forgiven. But my Mom's neighborhood never disappoints. Parker got tons of candy and even some toys. He's not SUPER into Trick or Treating and the baby was not a fan of all the stoping and going in the stroller. But we persevered and ended on a high note!

 We HAD to stop at the most Epic house on Hon. This guy goes ALL out every year! This year is was scary clown/circus. Parker was not too thrilled about going to the door to get candy so I went with him. He's more of a Easter/Christmas guy. ;-) But you gotta do what you gotta do for free candy!

The obligatory post Trick or Treating bounty picure. This is his "I'm smiling for the picture but you can only look. No touching, Rayleigh". She wanted deperately to get IN the basket. She's into climbing into things lately.

 Cami and Kari sent cute pictures of their family's on Halloween. Everyone looks so great!

I love Halloween! Hopefully more of my kids will be as into it as I am. I have to tone it down for Parker. But we had a really fun Halloween season with pumpkin patches, trunk or treats, crafts, baking, pumpkin carving, and candy eating! Maybe NEXT year Tanner can join us. ;-)