Halloween

This year for Halloween the boys wanted to be ninjas. They went through a Lego Ninjago phase. It didn't last very long, but they had fun training to be ninjas. Since I was already making 2 ninja costumes Michael was one too! Parker's school had a Book Character Day Parade instead of a Halloween costume parade. Parker had fun dressing up as Calvin and carrying Hobbes around with him. Ethan and Michael and I went to take pictures. We also carved pumpkins, went to the ward trunk-or-treat and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Michael was so funny during trick-or-treating. He didn't want to put any candy in his bag he just wanted to eat it! It was a fun Halloween this year.

Calvin and Hobbes in the school parade.

Our three ninjas (they wouldn't wear their masks).

Parker and some of his candy.

Our pumpkins. Parker wanted a happy pumpkin and Ethan wanted a mad one.

Sonic Boom

Parker played soccer this fall with some friends from church. Their team name was Sonic Boom. Our friends were the coaches so sometimes Dan would fill in when they couldn't be there. Overall, it was a fun season. Parker still avoided the ball about 90% of the time during the games, but he did score a goal! He definitely improved this season.
(The first two pictures were taken by another parent.)

Myrtle Beach 2014

 It seems like we are making Myrtle Beach trips an annual thing while living out East. It is not that we love the beaches better. In fact, in our experience the waves at Wrightsville Beach have been a lot better. However, with small children the resort style living is perfect for a low stress vacation! This time around we stayed at the Dunes Village Resort and I think it has been our favorite so far. We stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment basically. We had a full kitchen and a washer and dryer. The resort had mini-golf, indoor pools, outdoor pools, lazy rivers, hot tubs, water slides (one of our favorite things this year), a playground overlooking the beach, pool, table tennis, etc... If you stock the kitchen with some good food you really don't have to leave your resort, ever! With the little kids it is nice to everything right there. We really enjoy it. We did make the mistake of getting sucked into a timeshare presentation this year. It was our first one and our last. Pushy sales people that will say anything to seal the deal are always fun to deal with. Here are some pictures...

Hanging Rock State Park

We wanted to take the kids on a hike to enjoy the fall colors so last Saturday we headed up to Hanging Rock State Park. We originally wanted to go camping but we didn't really plan far enough in advance so the campsites were all taken. It is a little less than 2 hours away so a day trip would do. We started off with by doing the trail up to hanging rock. It is 1.3 miles each way. Dan wore Michael on his backpack. The other two did great! There was a really pretty view at the top of the big rock outcrop. Walking out on the rocks made me a little nervous with the kids but we all survived.

Quick, funny story: Ethan decided he need to go poop while we were at the top. It is a busy park so going off the trail a little and going unnoticed wasn't going to happen. I grabbed his hand and tried to go back as fast as we could. Of course, when we finally got to the visitor's center there was a line at the women's restroom and apparently no one in line has kids because they were completely unsympathetic. Seeing that there is another restroom Ethan ran right into the Men's restroom without me. I kept looking to see if Dan was anywhere near so that he could go in and help, but he was no where to be seen. Then a man comes out of the restroom sees me standing outside of the door and asked me if I have a little guy in the restroom. He said that he was trying to sit on the urinal and told him to go into the stall. He said that no one else was in the bathroom and offered to stand guard at the door so that I could go in. I was standing outside of the stall with the door open hoping Ethan would hurry up when I man came in from another entrance. I ran in the stall and shut the door hoping he didn't see me. A few moments later I looked out the crack in the door to see a man standing outside waiting for the stall. I was freaking out! Ethan finally finished, we wiped, pulled up his pants, I grabbed his shoes off of the floor, picked Ethan up, shielded my eyes and ran out of the bathroom. Did I mention that there were people everywhere?!? And they also saw me come out of the Men's restroom. I needed to go to the bathroom but I found Dan and hung out at the car. It was so embarrassing! The things we do for our kids!

After all of that we grabbed our lunches and headed out on a short hike to see a waterfall. It was really pretty. Parker loved it. He sat there and watched it for a long time all by himself.

Scrappy Quilt

I have been getting together with a group of ladies and quilting about once a month. It is a lot of fun and great to have an excuse to have a project and actually get some work done on it. I was trying to finish up Ethan's quilt when we first got back to Durham but I didn't want to take the huge thing with me and my heavier machine so I took a bunch of scraps with me and started working on a fun baby quilt. I didn't have any one in mind when I made it so when I invited a lady over that I wanted to get to know better and she announced that she is pregnant she became the owner of a new quilt. I think it turned out pretty well! And I love that I didn't buy anything to make it. I had everything on hand from other projects. 

Preschool for Ethan

Ethan started preschool at the end of August. His teacher is our friend, Annie. She is amazing! It is fun seeing him learn so much. He is definitely more willing to learn these days which we enjoy seeing. He is always proud of the things that he makes in class. They have a folder for poems and a folder for homework. They bring them home on Thursday and then take them back to school on Tuesday so that Annie can put their new stuff in. He is always so sad to leave his folders at school. It has been 2 months and it still makes him a little sad.  :)  Annie says that he is the most mild mannered kid at school. She also said that he is quiet and doesn't sing the words to the songs or do the actions like he doesn't want to embarrass himself (he takes after me). But then he comes home and sings the songs here. Silly boy. We love him!

South Colony Lakes

This is a long delayed post. Prior to leaving for North Carolina Scott, Kristin, Fred and I went backpacking and climbing in the South Colony Lakes in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. It was a quick trip, but it was plenty full of adventure. Throughout the trip we thought about Paul. One year prior Scott, Paul, and I had gone on another memorable backpacking trip together. I feel getting into the mountains is one of the best ways for me to feel close to Paul and honor his memory.

We arrived at the trail a little late on Friday. We made good time but darkness came quickly. We lost the trail in the snow and ended up bushwhacking through steep snow fields and thick forests. Things got a little hairy and we were about to turn around but eventually we found the trail. The story of the night was the wind. It was an odd weather phenomenon where powerful gusts of wind would come rushing down the mountain gully. Our tents survived...I did not get any sleep however.

The next morning I got my first clear site of the impressive South Colony Lakes basin with imposing Crestone Needle. I had not planned on climbing Crestone Needle but Scott can be convincing! It was a really fun climb with steep snow fields, technical scrambling up long exposed gulleys, and the most incredible views from the summit. You really can see forever from the tops of the Sangres! Fred and Kristin climbed Humboldt that day. We also explored the Upper South Colony Lake with incredible views of Crestone Peak. We hiked back to the car that evening. Of course we lost the trail and ended up bushwhacking most of the way!