Halloween/Fall

Trying to catch up on the last month's worth of pictures...

In the Spring, when everything is blooming, we say Spring has sprung. So now that all the colors are changing do we say Fall fell or Fall has fallen? These are the things that keep me up at night.

Speaking of Fall, it sure has been purty around here lately.

This is the entrance to our neighborhood. The colors never come out right, especially with a cheapo cameral ike ours. You'll have to take my word for it. It's even more pretty in person.

We don't know what these bright red bushes are but we sure like 'em.

I took Cameron and Cade to the pumpkin farm one day in October to play for a few hours while Dana slept. We had a great time there but it wasn't the same w/o the whole family. I think Kevin was a birthday party at the local paintball place.

Cameron's getting up there.

And so is Cade. The dude barely turned 5 and he's over 4 feet tall!

The pumpkin patch had a petting zoo and the best part for my boys (and a lot of other kids) were these tiny little kittens. Cameron would have been happy to have just stayed there and played with them all day. They were pretty darn cute.

Photo op before when we got there.

For once, we didn't wait until the last minute to carve our pumpkins so it was actually enjoyable this year. Notice Batman on the left side of the picture. Cade wore his costume every day, all day for what seemed like weeks.

Dana collected the seeds for roasting. She had two recipes to try this year. Sweet and salty.

Kevin working on his masterpiece.

Cameron designed and carved his own pumpkin but was pretty ticked with the way it came out. I really liked it. Kevin used a pattern for his and I used one for mine and Cade's as well.

Cade had a Halloween party in his pre-school class. I just realized that I don't think the poor kid has ever had a new costume of his own. He always uses hand-me-downs from his brothers. Oh well. He doesn't know and doesn't seem to care. He was pretty excited to have a choice of costumes to choose from when we got them out this year.

Why doesn't anyone want to be a vampire anymore?

Cade also got to go to Cameron's school for another party. The kids couldn't wear a mask so a lady that was there to paint the kids' faces took care of Cam.

Halloween 2010

Kevin took off with his friends so I took the boys around our neighborhood. Surprisingly, Cameron only made it to the end of our street before wanting to go home so he could hand out candy. Cade and I covered another couple of streets before it got too late. I enjoyed following Batman down the sidewalk. He looked as cute as a bees knees! (I think that's the proper Suthern term)

Speaking of cute. Now that it's getting colder, Cade's been wearing his dog feet slippers around the house.

Hopefully our next update will be coming from our new house - as in our own house not a rental house. We're supposed to be closing on our NM house next week (after a little over 2 years on the market!!!) and we've made an offer on a house here. Despite looking all over town and around the area, we picked a house that's only a stone's throw from where we live now. Go figure. But we already know, and like, both neighbors and the house just seemed to fit us. So we're obviously very excited to finally get feel settled down and we're looking forward to finally putting some pictures on the walls. Now if I can just hold onto my job... But that's another story.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Disney Part II

Still catching up on pictures. You've probably seen some, or most, of these on Dana's Facebook page. She just can't wait to post all the good shots. Darn her. Oh well, I consider this blog to be a family diary of sorts anyway.

These are mostly in random order.

Day 1. The Reynolds ready to tear it up at Magic Kingdom!

At this point in our vacation, Cade was still freaked out by the characters. That changed later in the week but by then we had trouble finding any of them. Nice face, Cameron!

As much as Cade loves Lightning McQueen and Mater, I thought he'd love to have his picture with them. Nope. Lightning McQueen was loud and his moving eyes creeped Cade out a little. Kevin and Cameron had no such issues.

Waiting for our lunch reservation at a 50's style diner.

There are a couple of good stories here. The waiters weren't afraid to remind people to use their manners. Apparently, Kevin has lousy table manners. When our waiter came to pick up our plates, he asked Kevin why he hadn't eaten his corn. Kevin made some excuse so the waiter picked up a fork, scooped up some corn and "flew" it into Kevin's mouth - complete with airplane noises. He then told Kevin to eat his corn, picked up all the other plates and walked off. Kevin ate his corn! A few minutes later, the waiter told Kevin to get his elbows off the table. He walked into the next room behind Kevin, stuck his head back through the window between the two rooms (and right behind Kevin) and said, "I told you to get your elbows off the table!" If I hadn't been so afraid of being rude I would have laughed pretty hard at the whole thing. Unfortunately, he didn't say anything to the old dude sitting next to us. He was constantly picking his teeth with a credit card, scratching facial parts, etc. Dana and I had to consciously make an effort not to look that direction.

The boys and some beautiful woman.

Kevin, Cade, Dana and Tootie on yet another roller coaster.

Almost every day, the cleaning ladies did something neat in our room. Towels arranged like Mickey Mouse, our stuffed animals propped up on the bed, and this day, neatly arranged in the window with the blinds drawn just enough to see them. Nice little touches.

A great shot of us on the GM test track ride. This ride was a blast! At least Cameron and I thought so. Judging by everyone else's reaction (I'm looking at you, Dana!) it had some scary moments. I think we were about to crash into a wall right here. Mom and Dad were in a car behind us.

This was taken when we traveled back in time to catch a dinosaur. Apparently, riding in the front seat was more scary than in the back because all 3 of them look like scaredy cats. Pa is the only one of us in the back seat showing any signs of life.

We took a brief trip to San Francisco while we were on vacation in Florida.

Cameron spent almost all of his time at Blizzard Beach in this area. He especially enjoyed the zip line. He just let go of the handle in this shot.

We didn't buy any hats like this but we had to get at least one picture of someone with Mickey Mouse ears.

My first ride with Cameron at the wheel. I tried not to show my panic but I don't think I did a very good job of it.

Cade looking cute on the slide.

Waiting for the bus to take us to a park. We did a lot of this. Seems like we always got to the bus stop right after they left.

We got our picture with Sue the famous T-Rex!

And last,but not least, here's the Summit Plummet. Kevin, Dana and I all rode this. Before we got there, Cameron talked about "manning up" and riding it but once he saw it in person he changed his mind. I wish I had. That thing is so darn steep it feels like you're in a free fall for a moment. When I dropped over the edge, it just kept getting steeper and steeper. I'm not too proud to admit it scared me! Dad pointed out that no one screams on that ride. I don't think you can because the fear of impending death causes you to clench every muscle so tight a scream becomes impossible. From start to finish, you drop 120 feet (feels like 720), reach speeds of 55 mph (feels like 255!), do 47 hail marys, say 78 prayers, see your life flash before your eyes twice, drink 14 gallons of water and wonder if your heart will ever get back down below 300 bpm. All in 7 seconds!