spooky spooky spooky

Oliver’s favorite halloween
book is titled
spooky, spooky, spooky
and he really discovered
what that means this weekend
at a halloween party.
At first,
he was loving the party,
playing with all the balloons
that were scattered on the floor.

But things quickly
turned from fun to
frightening as we headed
outside for all the main festivities.
Outside Oliver ran into
many spooky things.
Most of which moved,
talked, and had scary light up eyes.

But none scared
Oliver more than
the dreaded skeleton pirate.

Honestly the best halloween
decorations, right?
But Oliver was scared to death.
He kept asking to go inside to
be with my sister Brooke who
was nursing a twisted ankle.

To get inside meant he would
have to pass by the pirate
and the skeleton,
who guarded the door
and he was not willing to
do that alone.
See him screaming
as we try to pose by the mummy.

He was so afraid that he would
not let me leave his side.
He then resorted to the only thing
that consoles him…rocking.
So for the group picture instead
of standing with the kids he
would only be with the group
if he could sit in a chair and rock.

Then at the table
he had to be sitting
on the side that faced
away from all the monsters
and kept his head down
and rocked.
This was his face for most
the night.
It actually played really
well into the character
of his costume.

But the party was
otherwise a ton
of fun and so cute.
There was a doughnut contest.

Pumpkin decorating

A game of BINGO
and a bean bag toss
all put together by
the lovely Krista.
(By the way,
you can catch Grace
in that exact same pose
in pictures from my sister’s
wedding, she loves her
bottled rootbeer).

Luckily, I think this
party has not left
Oliver permanently
traumatized because
after the party we stopped
by his cousins and he was
back to his usual dancing,
laughing, and happy self.
Although we won’t be
going to any haunted houses
anytime soon.

fall at the farm

Curtis’ job with the government
has a few perks and one of those
would be the random holidays
that they get off that the rest
of the world doesn’t,
such as columbus day.
With Curtis home we decided
to do something to convince
ourselves that it really is fall
even though we still are
having triple digit heat.
We headed to vertuccio farms
for their fall festival.

Oliver has become
obsessed with pumpkins
and points them out
where ever we go so
he was real excited when
we pulled up to this display.
After running around the pumpkins
we moved onto some of the other
activities they have at the farm,
such as the cow barrel train ride.

He was very timid about
this giant air pillow they
had to bounce on.

But was all giggles
when Curtis helped
him bounce high.

We did some teeter tottering,

and measured how tall we are,

but my favorite was
the bounce horses.

The great thing about
having a kid is being able to
do things that you could never
get away with alone but with
a two year old by your side,
it seems perfectly normal.

Okay, maybe normal isn’t the
right word for it but
as squished as Ollie looks,
he was laughing the whole time
as his head bopped around as
we bounced around the race track.
Last but not least,
Oliver was our fearless
leader as he guided us
through the corn maze.

All in all,
it was a very successful
attempt at trying to make
it feel like fall is upon us.

cool down

The weather around here is a funny thing.
It was well over 100 degrees
all September and then it
suddenly dropped into the 70s
this last weekend.
So we took advantage.
On Saturday morning, we dusted
off our jeans and sweaters
and headed to our favorite place.
The zoo.

And even though
it is cooling off,
Oliver still loves
running through the
splash pad like a
mad man.

Then in the afternoon
we traded in our jeans
for some swimsuits and
headed to the lake.

There was some sort
of sailboat competition
going on so the lake was
covered in sailboats.

Oliver loves spending

time with his cousins

and at home he will

frequently talk about them,

we only understand when

he says their names,

the rest is gibberish.

It was colder sitting on the
boat then being in the water.
I even surprised myself by
getting in the water.
The best thing about the lake
is it wears the kids out and they
sleep great that night…
some don’t even make it off
the boat.

Definitely the best picture
of the day!

short and stout

I took Oliver to the
doctor for his usual
two year check up.
Everything went great
but we were all stunned
by his growth statistics.
He is 30% for height (34 inches)
and 75% for weight (30 pounds).
We just don’t understand how
his weight has gotten
so out of control!

how old are you?

Because he isn't already

growing up too fast...



splish splash birthday bash

We invited some of Oliver’s
little friends over to help
us celebrate his second birthday.
Oliver loves playing in water
so we had a backyard water party.
We blew up the pool,

added a splash pad,

and called it a party!

Oliver loved every
second of it!
When he wasn’t
in the water,
he was at the food table
stealing another
slice of watermelon.

We opened gifts
and ate some cake.

Then it was back to the
pool for Oliver.
He was the first one in
the pool and the last one out.
I know he won’t remember
this birthday party but
I will never forget how
happy he was this day.
He definitely knew this
day was all about him!

are you ready for some football

September 9, 2011

On Friday night,
we were getting ready
to put our usual big weekend
night plans into motion,
watching a rented movie,
when we got a call from
a friend that he had 2 extra
tickets to the ASU football
game that night.
Even though Curtis and I
graduated from  U of A
and ASU is our sworn enemy,
we are smart enough to never
turn down a free deal.
Our only hesitation was what to do
with Oliver, since it was too
late to find a babysitter.
We found out kids under 3 are
free so we took him along.

It was a blackout theme,
so luckily our lack of
ASU apparel wasn’t an issue.

Oliver had more fun
at the game than anyone
else in our whole section.
He would clap after every play
and loved joining in on all
the chants and cheers.
Of course it helped that
he had an endless supply
of popcorn.
The seats we had included
a free dinner and dessert
plus all you can eat of peanuts,
popcorn, and soda.

The game went into
overtime and we decided
to stay till the end which
meant keeping Oliver up
until after 11.
This might make us bad parents
but he never fussed, he sat in
his seat the whole time,
and we all enjoyed sleeping in
the next morning.

costa rica: the end

As we headed to our
final costa rica destination,
we found this amazing
stop on the way.
How can you choose
just one?

We also had another
pleasant surprise while
on the road.
My dad caught up with
us from his trip to
the embassy.
We pulled over and
he rejoined the party mid-route.

We were heading to
Playa Hermosa,
the most beautiful beach
in the whole world.
It is a very private, secluded
beach with black sand
and warm water.
Just what we needed
to end this extreme
adventure vacation.

Needless to say,
we spent a lot
of time in the water.

The waves were not
very big so the ocean
was alive with lots
of fish and we even
spotted several
stingrays.

While staying at our
beach location,
I had my 28th birthday.
We went to a local
restaurant to celebrate.

It was quite the walk
from our hotel to get there
but the food lived up
to its reputations.
It was a great birthday!

My brother brought
his spear gun and
his first catch of the
trip was this unfortunate
puffer fish.

They are poisonous
so we didn’t eat it,
but the boys did go
on a deep sea fishing trip
and manage to catch some really
yummy fish.

Curtis caught
this little black tuna
and Sam caught a Wahu.

Then the boys
were able to spear
a couple of fish
while snorkeling.
While the boys were
out trying to catch
dinner for that night,
the girls had their
own fun.
Our morning started
with massages right
on the beach.

And then we
went shopping
in the little town
Coco Beach.

We all met back up
later that afternoon.
The boys took the fish
they caught to the
hotel restaurant
and the staff prepared it for
our dinner that night.

We had two of these
big platters of fish to
eat and between the
nine of us, we still
had left overs.
It was some of the most
delicious and probably
freshest fish I have
ever eaten.
We finished it off
with another birthday cake.

After a couple
amazing sunsets,

 

it was time
to pack up and
head back to reality.
But first,
one more stop.

This was a trip of a lifetime
and if somebody invited me
to do it all again,
I would be ready to go tomorrow.
I must thank my mom and dad
for making this all happen.
They really are the greatest!

And anyone who has
not had enough of
our vacation to
Costa Rica,
and you have a
spare 35 minutes,
click on the picture
below to watch video.