So another full week of adventures...

i guess that is putting it mildly. John came out clean...literally. Seriously put a damper on his life for the past month. But the Doc said he is going to live. But hey maybe the chew will be cut out. Or something else will be!!!
So with a somewhat clean bill of health and a new lease on life we all packed into the Sequoia and headed down to Monterey for a day trip. Yes we do like daytrippin'!!! The weather was GORGEoUs fall weather.


i have not been to the aquarium in years. i think since my culinary school days. Did that just date me??? John had never been either so it was fun to walk around and look at the exhibits. The boys had a great time in the wave room. i think it was Liam's favorite place...he kept running a back there.

i love Darren's expression in the wave room. the kids all screamed every time the wave went over.

One of my favorite rooms was the Jelly fish display. The colors were fantastic!!! It was hard to take photos ...no flash.

We also got to see the sea otters being fed. They are very smart and playful. The trainers did all kinds of tricks with them. The kids loved watching them most likely because they were mischievous...reminded them of each other stealing snacks and toys from each other.

After dinner we let the kids run wild at the Dennis the Menace park. i think Bruce had a good time chasing the kids around and dancing in the cage reliving his Paladium days. Overall another good trip.


The kids went back to school while the mom's packed for our last camping trip of the season. We headed out to Brannen Island. And a funny thing...no pictures. i think the only pictures were from our iphones uploaded on to our FB's. Go figure. Hayden has always wanted to camp there because we pass the campground every time we go to Sacramento or points to the North. We started in site 29 but ended in the nice sunny spot of 30. Yes Diane, Liam and I moved the whole camp to 30 when Bruce was gone on an adventure with the big boys. It was sunnier and warmer. We had a good time watching movies and scrapping at night. Kids were down by 7:30 every night. Got to love that with Daylight saving time.

So now we are weeks away from Thanksgiving and soon Christmas. i can't believe it!!!

Start your engines...

So we got through our first holiday of the season. Don't you think that Halloween is a holiday? My boys do. Liam was so excited to wear his costume all day. Also there were so many princesses for him to look at. He thought they were all beautiful. Hayden's school parade was fun to watch as usual. i have memories of my paraded at school. They were always a highlight of the day. My mother only made it to a few of mine so i make it a priority every year for the boys. Some of the kids had some great homemade ones but a slough of Star War costumes.Luckily John made it home in time to carve pumpkins with us. We always wait to Halloween day to do them. i like to freehand them and John uses a stencil. To eachs own. But his way takes so long that the kids eventually lose interest.
Hayden acrually reached in and cleaned some of the pumpkin inards out. Liam on the other hand had no part of that. He looked in and was like no way!!

In the end the night eventually became dark and the rain held off so the storm troopers could go out. Liam held my hand tight so the monsters would stay away. He did try to go up to Jose's scary porch but only made it 1/2 way. Mommy had to help him make it to the candy. My boys came home with their bags full and smiles on their sweet faces.