October!!!! (You busy liitle month you)

Wow.  So much to blog about and so little time, not to mention I don't want to insult the attention span of whoever still reads this thing.  So I'll dive right in with what's been going on.


Itty Bitty Football

Seth started football this month.  There aren't very many classes and it's not exactly actual football games, but it helps them develop a little bit of skill.  They start up with jumping jacks, sit ups, push ups, and stretches, then they run around the gym twice.  Then they go to little stations where they work on throwing, catching, kicking, weaving through cones and then finally at one of the stations they wear flags and chase each other around with the ball. 
Seth loves it.  Every few minutes he would run up to me and say "I'm having a great time!" Then go back to his group and play. 

Running around the gym

Getting ready to kick the ball

I haven't scanned in his photo yet, so this blurry thing will have to do for now

Here is his team, (The Chargers).  Yes his coach is a woman, at this age all the coaches are women until they start playing real games, but she does a great job.  There are six different teams.  When he got assigned I was relieved that he didn't get put on the cowboys or Scott would have freaked out.  Unfortunately, there was no Eagles team.  Not a lot of East Coast love here in Utah.

His favorite part is stealing other kids flags when they have the ball, and he's actually pretty good at it, though he is still learning to play fair.  When it is his turn to run with the ball and some kid gets a hold of his flag, he lets go of the ball and holds on to his flag with both hands and engages in a tug of war with whomever is challenging him and the teachers have to break it up.  It's a work in progress.

I've only been able to get a little bit of how it's going on video, but for those who want to see the little dude in action, here you go:







Disneyland

We also went to Disneyland/Universal studios this month.  We kept it a surprise for the kids all the way up until it was time to get in the car and go.  As a way of surprising them, we made a scavenger hunt around the house, leading them around to find clues all over the house to find the "treasure."  The treasure at the end happened to be Mickey ears they could wear at the park. From there, we helped them guess why they got Mickey ears.  It was awesome.  I'll spare you the whole scavenger hunt, since it was kind of long, but here is a clip of them figuring it out and getting surprised, which I will let you view on the premise that you'll forgive my messy house, that got destroyed in the process of the scavenger hunt, that and my crawler destroys everything in his path either way.



Here you go:









The other surprise, which we informed them of in the car, is that Dan and Kelsey were coming with us.  So they were twice as happy in spite of the drive.
It was indeed a long drive.  Especially because THIS happened.

We spent the night at my Brother Mike and his wife Jenna's house who live in Vegas, and then it was off to Califorinia, and directly to Huntington Beach!!  If there's one thing my little family is, it's beach bums.

Jake has no fear of water

At night we went out to eat at Claim Jumpers, a delicious restaurant that doesn't exist in our home state. 

The deal we made with Dan and Kelsey was that we would help pay for some of their trip if they would babysit the kids in the hotel room for one night while Scott and I checked out Universal Studio's Halloween Horror nights on our first night in California.  The park itself become PG-13 after 7pm during the Halloween season because the entire park is basically a huge haunted house, full of smaller haunted houses inside of it.  It is extremely awesome, but not for my kids. We HAD to go this year because it was themed after the T.V. show, 'The Walking Dead'...so there were going to be zombies EVERYWHERE.  It did not disappoint.  Scott said it was his absolute highlight of the trip.
When you walk into the park the entire night there are people sneaking up on you and scaring you with axes, chainsaws, etc.  Also there are seven themed haunted houses/mazes inside.  My favorite, meaning the one that made me jump the most, was the one themed after "La llorona," which is an urban legend in Latin American culture.  
Since I am a product of Latin American culture, and grew up hearing their scary stories and urban legends, this one was terrifying. My throat hurt from screaming:

Scott really liked the Alice Cooper themed one, in which you wear 3D glasses going into the haunted house.   This is the least disturbing image I have of  it because the blood and guts were so graphic:

 
Of course since the park was Walking Dead themed this year, we got our fill of Zombies.  The tram ride was themed after the show, and two minutes through the ride the tram "breaks down" making you get out and walk through the woods, where you are chased by zombies the entire time.  Aside from that there was also a separate Walking Dead haunted house as well.

Other mazes featured were, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Silent Hill, and the Universal Monsters Remix.  We were able to go on all of them even though the lines were almost two hours long for some of them, thanks to this little baby:

The front of the line passes cost extra money and were somewhat expensive, but were TOTALLY worth it.  We went DIRECTLY in front of everyone waiting in line like celebrities.  It was because of this thing that it was possible to see every attraction the ride had to offer before the park would close.  There is no way we would ever go back without buying one. The best part?  They were also valid for all the rides.  Yes, there were rides to go on too.  Rides like The Simpsons Ride, Jurrassic Park, Revenge of the Mummy (my former favorite) and the AWESOME brand new, Transformers 3D ride, which is my NEW favorite in the park.  Seriously, the BEST virtual ride I've ever experienced in my life.  It really got the adrenaline pumping, and I laughed so hard it hurt. 

Here is a picture of Scott and I that my brother Mike took of us in ponchos to avoid getting soaking wet on Jurrassic Park

Other things we did in the park was visiting the actual house/set from all the Psycho movies, and took advantage of a photo op with an actor posing as Norman Bates:

Where the Simpsons ride is, the park has a Simpson's theme around it.  Here is Scott going into the Kwik-E-Mart:

Inside the Kwik-E-Mart, we bought the Homer Simpson Doughnut, which is always featured on the show.  Scott said it was one of the best doughnuts he's ever had.  I don't care much for doughnuts, but I enjoyed it too. 

Basically like eating a cake that looks like a doughnut. 

Anyway, Universal Studios was fantastic, especially if you like haunted houses.  Any haunted house in my home state will now look like a bunch of kids and tinker toys now compared to the special effects of Univesal Studios.  We were glad to have Mike and Jenna there to show us where to go, since they go every year, and especially glad for Dan and Kelsey who put our kids to bed and took care of them in the hotel room for us so that we could go on this amazing date. Thanks guys.


We spent the next two days in Disneyland, which of course, was a blast, especially for the kids.  It was amazing to see how well Jake adapted to everything.  He loved the rides and parades, and was actually very well behaved, especially because being in a baby carrier most of the time, he was being held, which was all he really cared about anyway.

Waiting in line

In line for the Pirates of the Caribbean

On the carusel

TRYING to get kids to hold still for a picture and failing miserably

Sleeping kids when the park closed

In line for Toy Story ride

I love taking pictures of the kids happy/amazed faces during the parades.  I usally hate parades, but I LOVE Disney parades, because they are not boring like regular ones. 

Crystal can't believe she's seeing her favorite princesses

Crystal and Seth waving to favorite characters in the Parade

He is looking at Buzz Lightyear

Jake was also having a blast

Mike Koslowski from Monsters Inc.

Characters from Toy Story

Mater from Cars movie

Mickey Jamming on the drums during the night parade.  Music is playing through both parades the whole time through speakers on the light posts.

Crystal dressed up as Snow white in the park, which was great because all the employees would address her as Your Highness, or Princess, or just Snow White, which she absolutely loved.  I love how meticulous the employees and the makers of the themes at the park are when it comes to making sure everything revolves around your kids.  From top quality comfortable nursing/changing rooms, to firework shows, to people ready to help you all over the park if you need help, including cameras and people with ear pieces who will do everything to locate a missing child, which we saw one year when some poor mom couldn't find her boy.  Luckily they found him within a few minutes because of how organized they are.  I was impressed.

Here are some more pics for your enjoyment:

Watching Michael Jackson's Captain EO

Crystal with Eyore and Tigger

We tried having all three kids in the stroller, Jake got sad after a while because he wanted me to put him back in the sling where he could feel like he was being cuddled.

Getting dizzy on the Teacups

Little Mermaid ride

My darling Snow White

Getting high off Tony Roma's ribs

My favorite man in the world being a dad

Haunted Mansion

I was extremely proud of Seth for being willing to face his fears of the Haunted mansion, which he still had memories of as a two year old.  Turns out, it became his favorite ride and he went on it twice.  Good Job Seth on facing your fears!

We took more video than pictures this year, so I don't have many more pics to show off, but all in all, the trip was a success.  As always, there were a few tantrums, and a LONG car ride, but thanks to Scott pimping out the car with headrest TV monitors so that everyone could take turns watching a movie of their choice, it made the ride easier to tolerate. 

Other stuff for October....


Annual Halloween Party
Some people love Halloween, some people don't.   Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of all time. I love scary things, I love scary movies, I love dressing up in ridiculous costumes, I love candy, I love all of it.  I grew up in a home where one of the highlights of the year was to dress up in a scary costume and scare the crap out of trick-or-treaters who came to our door.  My dad would go all out with strobe lights, fog machines and scary music and it was the best thing in the world to see kids drop their candy and run, and parents push their kids down and run away leaving their kids behind.  As a general rule, we rewarded the smaller children brave enough to make it to the door with huge king sized candy bars.  The smaller the child, the better the loot.  In my neighborhood growing up, all the kids couldn't wait for my dad to put up the creepy Halloween decorations and to trick or treat at our house.  So Halloween for me was a big deal growing up.  Celebrating it is important to me, and making sure my kids enjoy it is also important to me. 
     This is the fourth year in a row we have hosted a Halloween Gathering with direct family members in our home.  After the first two years, we made costumes mandatory if you wanted to attend, to make it more fun.The crazy part is that we got home from Disneyland on a Monday, and the party was scheduled for Friday, so we had to prepare like maniacs when we got back.

However, the party was a lot of fun.  Here are costumes followed by a group shot:

Hip hopper

 Green Lantern

 Snow White

Family Pic.  Scott was a homeless pirate man, and I was a Magical Unicorn. (I make a point every year to make sure NO skin is showing in my costumes as my own personal protest towards slutty costumes.)

My brother Jared and his wife Alisa, dressing as Juno and Bleeker, and Issac is a shark

My brother Matt and his Girlfriend Ale, dressed as gross face people

Scott's cousin Johnny and his family, also Johnny's sister in law. 

Scotts cousins.  Paul Ryan, Greek Goddess, and Maverick

Dan and Kelsey, being a kitty and Zoolander

My sister and her boyfriend, being zombie Marilyn and Elvis

Todd and Megan, being Cowgirls and a Venician mask man

My cousin Roger and his girlfriend, being Tron and a pink skeleton

Group picture!!  Some people aren't pictured because they came late.  Including my cousin Roger, and Scott's brother Kyle who was at work and had to come late.

We played Minute to Win it for the game, basically giving each team (couple) one minute to accomplish a task for a point, and if you were first in your group, the winner gets two points.  The games were hilarious and fun.

Shake all the ping pong balls out of the tissue box attached to your rear in under one minute.  HILARIOUS. 

Using your face muscles, move the cookie from your forehead to your mouth without dropping it in under a minute

Knock down all the water bottles with your "elephant nose"

Using suction through a straw, transfer all the M&M's from one side of the room to the other

Load 6 penne noodles onto an angel hair pasta noodle with your mouth 

 There were a few more games, but again, more video than pictures were taken.  At the very least you can see probably the favorites pictured above. At some point there may be video added, much to the dismay of the dignity of our guests. (Haha)

There was also food and mingling involved.  Good times were had by all.

It was a fun night.

Anyway, that in a nutshell was the month of October for us.  I'm sure I forgot stuff, but at least it's all finally blogged and you get the idea. 

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!!