teach me about halloween, mama

About 2 months ago Baby G (I really have to come up with a better name for him on here) and I were laying in my bed early one morning. We were chatting about something when he suddenly said, "Teach me about Halloween, Mama." I have no clue where that came from, but I started telling him about what Halloween was like and what we would do for it etc. I told him that he could dress up like anything he wanted and started listing off some ideas. After I had run through a few different possibilities, I asked him what he wanted to be. With almost no hesitation he declared, "A golfer!" He had just recently received a little set of golf clubs from my practically-professional-golfer grandparents, and had been playing with them constantly. I thought his idea was brilliant, and have been so excited about dressing him all up as a spiffy little golfer (Payne Stewart style) ever since. 

I found some pants at D.I. for $2.00 that I cut off and sewed elastic in to make knickers. I found the argyle vest at Kid-to-Kid for $2.25. The argyle socks were a few dollars, and the rest of the costume (button down shirt, loafers, hat, golf clubs) consisted of items we already had. I was pretty happy about the final look, and honestly, I don't think we could've come up with a cuter or more original costume. Every person who saw him made a comment about how stinking cute it was. But do you want to know what is sad? I didn't get ANY good pictures of him in it. He dressed up in it for different parties/events on 5 separate occasions-- I just kept telling myself I would take some good pictures on Halloween before trick-or-treating. Then Halloween rolled around and I was preoccupied making corn chowder for our ward party later that night, rushing it over to the church early since we were going to the ReAl playoff game and were going to be late, rushing to the game, leaving the game 10 minutes early (and missing the winning goal!) to get back to the church in time for the trunk or treat, rushing to get the trunk decorated, and then passing out candy. By the time I remembered to take some pictures, the light was already gone and I sadly had to use my flash. None of the pictures are very cute. But oh well, this is what we have. Maybe I'll dress him up one more time just to take pictures. But let's be honest, I probably won't.

On Thursday we had our Fall Festival at school. I was so happy that my Lucy costume fit even with my growing belly. Here we are all dressed up at school:

This is when I first remembered to take pictures at the trunk or treat. Baby G was much more interested in golfing on the lawn at the church than he was in getting all the candy. He has a pretty awesome swing.

When we went home to drop some stuff off after the trunk or treat and before we went around the neighborhood to trick or treat at a few houses I took a couple of pictures in the bright kitchen lights. They aren't great, but you can get a pretty good idea of what his little costume looked like.

Leaving our house to go get some candy. We didn't get too creative with the pumpkins we carved this year, but at least we did it at all, right?

This was Baby G's favorite house. It is one of our neighbors, and for the past week about 3 times a day he would request to go over with his frankenstein spatula (last picture in my last post) and look at this frankenstein and compare the two.

I thought maybe I could get a spooky Halloweeny picture of him under the street light, but it just looks like the exposure is off. This was my last attempt, and when it failed I gave up :).
Now that Halloween is over I am starting to feel the excitement of the November/December holidays. When I looked at my phone this morning and the date said Nov. 2 I got all excited just thinking about the upcoming season and everything it brings. And the best part? When it is over and people are feeling the post-holiday blues, I will still have a new baby bundle to look forward to! So excited!

signs of the times

I'm pretty sure that autumn gets me in the baking/creating mood more than any other season. Christmastime may be a close second. The freshness in the air and cool temperatures fill me into a homemaking frenzy every year. Here are a few of the things we've done this season that just ooze fall/Halloween.

I've mentioned before that squash is basically my favorite food ever. I could eat it for every meal. I was so excited to try a recipe for squash soup, and let me tell you, this one did not disappoint. Aside from peeling/gutting/dicing the squash, it was simple to make. And the homemade gruyere croutons? To die for. (Though I did use swiss instead of gruyere-- just couldn't bring myself to spend 21.99/lb. for cheese.) Recipe found here. (Don't have a picture of the finished (blended) product, but this is while it was getting all soft and delicious.)

Oh the joy of fresh apples from trees. Almost nothing is more autumn-y, right? This batch came from a neighbor's tree, and I baked up a new (to me) recipe for apple crisp that turned out really, really yummy. Recipe here. (Again, this is not the finished product. Can you imagine an apple crisp without the crisp? No, of course not. This was just when the apples were getting all juicy with the cinnamon, flour, and sugar.)

My mom gifted me a few old Family Fun magazines that had some ideas for Halloween crafts that I loved. I always get ambitious with plans to create up a storm for holidays, but my follow-through sometimes is lacking. This year I was pleased because I have completed each project on my list. Here are two of them:

For family home evening one night we went out and found a bunch of rocks and then painted them orange. The next day I drew on the faces with permanent marker, glued on some sticks for stems, and voila! A happy little pumpkin family for your mantle (or in my case, bookshelf).

This was my favorite idea initially, but I have to say that the finished product doesn't thrill me quite as much as I thought it would. Perhaps because the fruit peels that are the facial features are continuing to curl as they dry out more (even though I dehydrated them in the oven and left them out overnight at the beginning), and they don't stick to the squash/pumpkins as well as I would like. But they are a pretty cute little trio when their parts are all on, and Baby G LOVES them (which perhaps accounts for some of the features falling off), so I am glad I took the time to make them. The green pumpkin that I used for the witch was the single offering from the enormous pumpkin plant that overtook my front flower bed (ironically enough, this was a random plant that sprouted all by itself (perhaps from a stray jack-o-lantern seed from last year?), and the pumpkin plant that we planted on purpose in the backyard failed to produce anything but pokey leaves).

This wasn't something I created, but it is fallish, so it counts. We love going to Oktoberfest every year and eating all the yummy German food. This year Baby G got his face painted like a pirate and he loved it so much. Please take note of his little bent finger acting as his pirate hook.

I first saw this idea months ago here. I filed it away in my brain to make when Halloween was near, and this past Sunday my mom came over and helped me whip up many dozen of these darling little ghosts.

I wrapped them up, added a fun tag (got the idea from the same blog), tied it with pretty ribbon, and then we went and delivered them to neighbors last night. Baby G really wanted to eat one while we were out and about, but I told them those ones were just for our friends and neighbors. "But I'm a friend and neighbor, Mama," he insisted. We played up the idea of how good it makes you feel to give treats to your friends instead of keeping them for yourself, and after the first two houses Baby G enthusiastically asked, "Can I give a cookie to EVERYONE?"

We were at Williams-Sonoma on Monday. Baby G spotted this frankenstein spatula and fell in love. Since we were with a grandma (my mom), of course it was purchased for him, much to his delight. It has quickly become his favorite thing. He sleeps with it and we have cooked pancakes and eggs for the last two nights just so he can help us "flick" them over. I don't think I would've thought we would've gotten our money's worth out of a spatula for him, but we totally already have.

And lastly, two little stories that you could kind of twist to make Halloween related.

Baby G has a Halloween shirt with a big bat on it that he has been wearing. A few weeks ago he asked to sleep in it. After he was in bed for about an hour he started crying. I went in to see what was wrong and he couldn't stop talking about how scary the bats were. I tried to console him, telling him that bats were nice and wouldn't hurt him, but he protested with tears and, "Bats are NOT friendly, Mama!" I tried to get him to take off his bat shirt so he'd forget about it, but he wouldn't. Anyway, he finally fell asleep and that was the end of it. The next day we were at Costco with my mom. Baby G was standing up in the basket part of the cart and was a little wobbly. My mom said to him, "You are scaring me, G," because of his unsteadiness. He gave her a puzzled look and replied, "I'm not a bat, NeNe!" I cracked up because it was so funny to me to see how his brain was working-- clearly if something is scary is must be a bat.

Last night Baby G woke up in the wee hours crying (this doesn't happen that often, I swear). I went in to hear him sobbing about the bugs that were stinging him. It was evident that he was having a scary dream about bugs, and he was insisting a gray and black spider had come in his crib and was in his shirt. I felt all around in his shirt and promised him the spider was gone. "The spider left?" he asked. "Yes, it's all gone." He sweetly and enthusiastically cheered, "Yaaayyyy!" and then immediately plopped back down in bed. Before I left he requested that I sing "I am a Child of God" to him, which I of course did. I had been back in my room for 20 seconds when I hear him calling out something to me. I go back in his room and he is saying what sounds like, "Up here. Up here." I thought maybe he wanted his blankets up higher on him or something, but he said, "No, Up here! Up here." Then it clicked. He was actually saying, "A prayer! A prayer!" I said, "Oh, you want me to say a prayer?" "Uh huh," he replied. I said a prayer and then went back to my bed smiling. I love LOVE that when he was scared and having a hard night the two things he wanted were "I am a Child of God" and a prayer. Oh to have the faith of a child!

weekly roundup

I take pictures almost every single day, but I only post about 20% of them on this blog. I like to keep my posts somewhat organized and themed, and it is hard for me to just put up a bunch of random pictures that don't have anything to do with each other in one post. But I've started to re-think my ways. I want to document more of our simple days. I already take the pictures-- I just need to write about them. So I am going to try to do a "Weekly Roundup" post here and there. Maybe they will happen often, maybe they will be sparse, but I am going to make more of an effort to chronicle all the little things that are going on around here. Starting now.

When my husband's dad was going through treatment for brain cancer he often wore those beret-type hats. We have many, many pictures of him wearing those hats, and whenever I see that style of hat in Baby G's size my heart flutters and I can't help but want him to wear it and be like his grandpa. Baby G has a couple of them now, and this past Sunday he wore one to church. He looked so handsome and sweet, and the whole day I could see parts of his grandpa in him. I hope the beret isn't the only thing those two will have in common-- Baby G is so blessed to have some of that incredible man's blood running through his veins.

Baby G insists on carrying his "Book of Mormots" to church like Mommy and Daddy.

Not sure where this face came from, but it makes me smile.

Love his hands in pockets and that his pants are getting flood-ish-- tall boy.

Our nightly routine lately consists of Daddy reading the books and Mommy singing the songs. When I came in the room to start my part (after the reading was done) Baby G was laying on J's lap, looking up at him and they were telling a "Sodo Story." I wanted to remember the way they looked, so I took a picture.

We had to run up Milcreek Canyon on Friday to retrieve the diaper bag that we had left there at a wedding a couple of weeks ago. If you know my husband (and son) you will know that of course we stopped to collect bugs and play in the river.

See Baby G over there in the corner fixing his "fishing pole" while J dips his net thing in the water to collect bugs? I love boys.

One morning last week J stayed home from work and took Baby G to a sporting goods store (to buy some shoes) while I went running with my neighbor. When they got home, Baby G was proudly wielding a real, metal, destructive bat. And J hadn't gotten any shoes. 
We went to a pumpkin patch (along with the rest of the valley) for family night. Baby G seemed to only like the pumpkins that were still green or rotting or really ugly, but we let him choose his own anyway. I love the mountains that we have as a backdrop. 

I had to include this one because it shows how Baby G grabs your face ferociously when giving kisses.

And lastly, this is one of those things that I didn't have any clue that would bring me such delight, but holy cow, folding these little boy underwear and piling them up to go back into Baby G's drawer filled me right up on Sunday night. J and I were folding a load of laundry and I couldn't help but go through and find all those little underwear and stack them up and just look at how cute they were. J thought I was a little crazy, and maybe I am, but doesn't this picture make you fill with happiness, too? It is the same feeling I got when I ironed a tiny church shirt on a Sunday morning for the first time-- something about the realization that I am living this life as a mama to this little boy. Little happy moments in underwear, I know, it's a little silly.

i'm having a really, really good day...

...and I think this is mostly why:

When I got home from my morning run/walk I found these two boys out in the front yard in cowboy hats and boots. I was laughing so hard at the basketball shorts (with paint stains) and boots combo that I couldn't even ask why on earth they were dressed in cowboy attire.
My husband was on the phone, pacing the yard like it was totally normal. I ran in to grab the camera and managed to get the boys near each other for a quick picture, and then they both went back to their business of walking in the front yard looking like crazies. I just laughed. I'm sure there was a reason for this get-up, but I never really did find out what it was (something about getting out a fishing hat, which led to Baby G wanting his hat, then the boots, then wanting Daddy to put on his boots, too). But why, really, were they in the front yard? Perhaps just to make the neighbors laugh.
I can't stop grinning about it whenever I think of it. Oh how I love living with these two people!

dear friends,

Since I've kept you all in the dark for so long, let me answer some of your questions. To be honest, it has been easy to keep this pregnancy under wraps for so long because it hasn't seemed real. My husband frequently forgets I'm pregnant, and I kind of do, too. I have not been sick AT ALL. I kept waiting for that familiar nausea to start, kept bracing myself to wake up and feel miserable, but it hasn't happened this time around. People keep telling me that maybe that means it's a girl? (More on that in a minute.) But really, I have felt so, so great-- been able to keep working out daily, and most importantly, been able to chase after my two-year-old without any ickiness. One of my big fears about pregnancy number two was not being able to take proper care of Baby G because I was too sick and tired. I have felt incredibly blessed that that has not been the case at all. 

Secondly, it has been easy to hide (and forget) because I haven't really shown a whole lot. I noticed a thickening around my waist, but at my last doctor's appointment (16 weeks) I was measuring two centimeters small and had gained less than a pound. I didn't really show with Baby G until I was between 19-20 weeks, and I just chalk it up to being tall and having lots of room for the baby to hide. No worries though, in the last week I have popped out and here is the picture to prove it:

Pretty please try to ignore the smudgy finger prints ALL OVER the mirror from the shortest member of our family. I noticed them when I was taking the picture but was too lazy to go find the Windex. Sorry.

 

And then lastly, to ease your curiosity (though it won't, actually), we do not know if the baby is a boy or girl. And we won't. Not for another 5+ months. We have decided to wait and let this little babe come to us as a surprise and I am really excited about it. Before I got pregnant I just kept thinking about how thrilling it would be to wait and find out the gender at the moment of delivery, but I wasn't sure I could handle the suspense. Now that I am pregnant, it seems easy and natural to not know. I have had an ultrasound, have seen the baby and heard the heartbeat, but I feel content not knowing more. I don't feel the same rush and yearning to know it all with this one. It's hard to explain. With Baby G I literally had ultrasounds at least monthly (usually it was more like twice a month) at my dad's office, just to go take a peek. We'd get in the car on Sundays and go to the office to say hi to the baby. As excited as I am for this little one, I don't feel the same frenzied need to read everything and see everything and know everything. I just feel peaceful about letting it all happen as naturally as possible, with as little extra stuff as possible (including at delivery, but that's a story for another time). Anyway, I know most people think we are crazy (my husband is totally on board with this whole deal), but it feels right and good and we are super excited about it. I don't personally know anyone who is still in their childbearing years who has chosen not to find out the gender while pregnant, but my mom and other relatives who didn't have the option to know with some of their babies have expressed how completely thrilling it is to have the baby and then find out who he/she is. And it sounds too good to pass up, so we are going for it.

i love this shirt

I got this shirt a little over two years ago. I was in search of some cute shirts that flattered my just-barely-gave-birth body, and I fell in love with the color, style, and super soft material of this one. Not to mention that it still had the original tags on (I've told you before that I do almost all clothes shopping for myself at second hand stores, right?), so I bought it without even trying it on. I got it home and tried it on. I still loved the color and material, but the style? Holy moly, the last thing to do when you are trying to NOT look pregnant is to buy a shirt with pleats over the waist. I had hoped that when my flat tummy returned the shirt would work, but no, even with my pre-pregnancy stomach this lovely shirt still managed to make me look like I was at least 5 months with child. So into the deep recesses of my closet it went, with the promises of being retrieved when I was ready to start showing off a belly full of baby once more.

Two years later and the shirt has been pulled out. We're pretty happy about it.

*Baby coming in early March

**Yes, that does make me almost 4 1/2 months along. Don't feel bad, we didn't really tell anyone until I was around 14 weeks.

this little light of mine

Have I told you lately how much I adore two-year-old little boys? All the mischief, silliness, chasing of balls, telling of stories, and playing in dirt? I jotted a note down in an Area Stake Conference once (long before I was married or had children) where President Monson said something about how he loved seeing small children in church and counseled parents not to be too stressed if they weren't as reverent as you'd like because of "all of that spirit crammed into such a small body." I remember smiling at that sweet thought, and now I love it even more because I know so well how much spirit these little ones possess.

My not-so-much-of-a-baby Baby G is still gentle and mild, but he has also definitely gotten more attitude. He asserts himself with other children a little more now (thank goodness), and though he still would never be the kid on the playground hitting another one, I don't think he would let all the other kids push him around as much as he used to. Yesterday we were at my cousin's football game and Baby G was running around the stands with a bunch of other little kids. A little girl got hurt and was walking down the stairs crying. Baby G watched her for a second and then started following her down the stairs, leaning his head down to her, and softly saying, "It's okay, it's okay." She turned around, yelled at him and pushed him in the tummy. I saw this all happen so I was quick to let my son know that he was being a good friend and a nice boy because I so badly didn't want her reaction to squelch any of his innate compassion for her. He really has a tender, kind heart.
One of my favorite things that he loves to do right now is tell "Sodo Stories." I don't know where these stories started, but a few months ago he somehow came up with the name "Sodo" for a little boy that he loves to help tell stories about. He will say, "I want a Sodo Story, Mama," and then I proceed to say, "Once upon a time there was a little boy named ________." Baby G fills in the blank with "Sodo!" Then I make up a random story about Sodo, leaving words out for Baby G to fill in. I have been shocked at some of the words he comes up with, and am always amazed at how well he pays attention and makes complete sense with what is going on in the story. I feel like this little game has been so good for his creative thinking and listening abilities, and the stories continue to get more complex and involved as we go. Try this with your little ones. It is so incredible to see their little brains in action.
The other day we were driving somewhere and were near one of the temples by our house. Baby G loves temples (we've been to two temple open houses in the past few months), so we decided to drive right in front of it to get a closer look. I am possibly a bad mother, but I hadn't ever taught Baby G about the Angel Moroni statue on the top. I've probably pointed it out or something, but I've not ever explained who it was or anything. So we are sitting there looking up at the temple and from the backseat we hear, "What that girl is doing way up there on her mission?" I guess it makes sense that he would think Moroni was a girl; he is wearing a robe-like dress. But the mission thing is a mystery. We've never specifically talked about missions with him. I am guessing he may have learned about missions in nursery or something and associated that with the temple somehow. Anyway, it cracked us up.
We walked into my aunts house (we are visiting them in Idaho this weekend) and as we entered the doorway Baby G casually looked around and announced, "Your house looks good, Kim!"

We have never once had Trix cereal in our house. So when we were at the grocery store the other day walking down the cereal aisle I was very surprised to hear him say, "I want Trix, Mom. I want Trix are for kids!" I just gave him a puzzled look and under my breath muttered, "Where does he get this stuff?" He answered my question (that I hadn't actually intended as a question for him) with, "Papa. Papa says that." Then I realized that of course my father had taught him all about Trix and Trix being for kids a couple of months back on a motorhome trip in which much sugary cereal was consumed. I just can't believe he remembered it.
My mom was watching him last week and she overheard him say something was the "bomb dot com." I've heard him say it again at least twice. On Sunday when I was getting him dressed for church he protested, "I don't wanna wear these freaking pants, Mom." I laughed, but I also am aware now that I may want to cut down on my use of the word "freaking."
There are so many fun, quirky, sweet things about this little boy. I wish I was better about writing them all down, but here's a start. I'll likely be posting like this more often to preserve these memories for him.

knickety knack i call my seat back

Remember when I said I went on an impromptu road-trip with my family back in July? Yes well, I did and I am now (finally) ready to post about it. Baby G and I had just left J for The Farm a couple of weeks earlier, so I had decided not to join my family (including, of course, the T-bo fam) on this vacation. I called my mom the morning they were supposed to have left to ask her where they were and she said they hadn't even left yet. My husband had just informed me that his plans for the next five days included nothing but eating and studying for finals, and I was feeling lonely just thinking about it. So imagine my jittery excitement when I learn that my family hadn't left yet! I threw some stuff in a couple of bags for the baby and me and we met up with the motorhome in a parking lot and crammed in. Some people (names not mentioned) weren't pleased to have to share the already cramped quarters with two more people (there were 9 adult sized people and 4 child sized ones), but whatever. I knew they'd be glad to have us in the long run :).

We headed west toward Nevada first. Baby G was most helpful in driving the motorhome.

He was also pretty happy about taking showers and baths whenever he wanted. This picture makes me laugh because he looks like a tiny adult taking a shower and washing himself.

Our first main stop was Lake Tahoe. 

The little kids had so much fun playing in the water, throwing sand and rocks. I can't get over how universally appealing things like that are to kids. Baby G loved the water and demanded that his shorts be removed as soon as he got wet.

Most of the crew rented bikes and went for a ride around the lake. There wasn't a bike carriage for Baby G so a few of us stayed behind. The bikes were fun, I'm sure, but the highlight of our time in Lake Tahoe was definitely when Josh impaled himself (mostly just his shins) on a sharp cinder block wall and my mom got the whole thing on camera. It was so painful to watch-- we actually had to stop watching because our horrified reactions made my tender little boy just sob.

Next stop was Yosemite. We were only there long enough to see some of the main sites (most of us had been fairly recently), but we figured since we were so close we should at least drive through. 

This picture is a good representation of the trip for me. It is so nice to travel with people who take care of your baby like he is theirs. Baby G has SO many people that love him and want him. With the exception of nights, I really didn't even feel like I had a baby-- he was always with someone else having fun and being cared for. I never had to ask, someone just always took him.

Two pretty girls in a pretty place.

The real adults in front of El Capitan.

After a glorious night in a hotel (our only non-camping night of the trip), we drove into San Francisco. We were greeted by some lovely fog and some not so lovely nudity (let's just say that driving in a motorhome provides you with a helicopter view into the privacy of dirty men alone in their cars--my poor little sisters). 

Love the fog.

You know we had to go get a hot fudge sundae.

The whole group except me 'cause I'm always the responsible one who brings her camera.

Jake and my boy with Alcatraz in the background. Jake and Baby G were best friends.

Baby G working the equipment on a U.S. submarine from WWII (I think).

Oh, this picture is funny. Josh bough some "Fart Bombs" in China Town and decided to break one open right as we were getting into an elevator. He threw it outside, but the smell was seriously so, SO bad. This poor Chinese woman entered the elevator on the next floor, and oh my gosh, her reaction was the most hysterical thing ever. We were all laughing so hard we couldn't breathe and she was dying trying not to inhale and covering her face with her hands. Poor thing, we are bad people.

Then we headed north and stopped in some forests to see the giant Redwoods.

Those forests are so incredible because they are thick and lush, and then the size of some of the trunks just blows you away.

Baby G playing in a rotted out tree trunk hole.

A bunch of the kids.

Jake balancing on a fallen trunk. Our family got lots of mileage out of this particular trunk. We played on it for a good thirty minutes.

See?

This is the game we were playing. We were all jumping and the trunk was moving up and down and Ken was pushing on it trying to get us to lose our balance and fall.

Baby G wanted in on the action, too.

See Ken pushing? It was harder to stay on than it looks.

We kept heading further north to the Oregon Coast. We camped at a few cool places near beaches and had fun playing in the sand and water. 

Rach wouldn't have actually gotten this far in on her own, I don't think (the water is COLD!). A wave took her down though, and she was all smiles.

Baby G is so much braver around the ocean now than he was at the beach this past Christmas. He loved getting wet and didn't mind the freezing temperatures.

I love his cute little body in this one, exploring the feel of the wet sand on his feet, hand up in the air for balance.

Let me just say that sleeping in a tent with a two-year old by myself every night (not to mention setting up and taking down the tent daily) was not my favorite part of the trip. We did, however, get to go to so many beautiful places and spend time with people we love so it was worth it. Next time I'll be bringing my husband, though. Here are some pictures from the various campground adventures.

Baby G is quite the marshmallow roaster. Check out how he is totally focused on trying to blow the flame out.

Nothing like a good s'more to end the evening with. I think Baby G ate at least two every night.

Ken doing what he does best-- wielding an ax.

Many hot dogs were roasted and consumed.

And isn't this the quintessential camping picture? S'more in one hand, can of root beer in the other, face covered in combination of dirt and sticky marshmallows, undone hair, and the filthiest hands in the history of earth.

These brave ones slept out under the stars one night. Ken couldn't quite muster the gumption to do it again even though the girls were game.

When I was in high school my family took this same road trip. One of the highlights for us all was going on the Mail Boats up the Rogue River in Oregon, so we made sure to get there again this time. 

Some of the kids on the boat.

We loved it again this time, and even saw a black bear again!

Towards the upper sections of the river you get to go through some rapids and get wet, so life jackets are required. At first Baby G wasn't pleased about his life jacket, but as soon as we started spinning around and getting splashed with water he was in heaven. He loves getting wet.

Our last day before we started the long drive home we went back down to the coast. It was unbelievably windy, but so beautiful.

Baby G kept grabbing my legs and holding on to me for dear life because the wind was so strong. I'm so glad I thought to hold the camera out and get this picture because I love it.

We pretty much had the beach and tide pools to ourselves. Maybe because no one else was dumb enough to be out in the whipping wind.

We found lots of starfish.

Rach and Emma trying to get warm in their towels. 

Baby G wasn't wanting to get wet this day because it was so cold. He would run down to the edge of the water and then run back up as fast as he could when the waves would come in.

Walking back towards the campsite. Baby G was unsuccessful in one of his attempts to avoid the waves and again, demanded his wet shorts be removed.

You know the prayer you say before you leave on a big road-trip about being safe and the car running well? We said that prayer. And it was answered. Right at the end of the trip (the last day, I believe) we pulled into our campsite. We hadn't even been stopped for a minute when we heard a loud bang (sounded like a gunshot, actually), and we went out to discover a back tire had blown out. A man from AAA came to fix it and discovered that both right back tires had blown out. Can you even imagine how dangerous that could have been if we would've been driving when it happened? We feel very grateful that we were blessed with safety. 

Here is the man (who brought his pet wolf along) and my dad fixing the tire.

The drive home wasn't as long or miserable as you might expect. Ice cream and movies always help to pass the time quickly :).

P.S. About the subject... the WHOLE dang trip was filled with an incessant chorus of "knickety knack I call my seat back!" that could be heard at any given time. I don't know which of the kids came up with it, but EVERYONE started saying it to claim their spot back when they would get up (and in a motorhome with 13 people you better bet than when anyone moved someone was looking for a more comfortable seat). We started saying it just to say it, and by the end we were all pretty sick of hearing it. I won't be sad if I never hear/say it again.