Happy Halloween!

Finally I am getting around to posting Halloween! Only a week late... oh well! We did have a great Halloween! The Saturday before Halloween we went to our ward trunk-or-treat with our neighbor/friend Brett and his son Ryder. Halle really wanted to be Belle, Donovin was none other than BATMAN! And Ryder was Buzz Lightyear! There were a lot of fun games and treats for the kids. The funniest of them all had to be the donut on a string game. Halle was REALLY good at it and devoured two or three donuts in record time, Donovin had a little more trouble deciding how to get the donut in his mouth without using his hands. As a result, he ended up with powdered sugar all over his Bat mask. He just grabbed it and stuffed it in his mouth after that. It was hillarious to watch though. After an hour of games we went outside to do some trunk-or-treating!


Thursday night we decided to carve some pumpkins. Halle really wanted to make a jack-o-lantern, so we helped her do that. Tyler made a great Batman pumpkin, and Vinny and I painted a lumpy, bumpy witch pumpkin.

Halloween day was exciting as well. Tyler dressed-up for work as Dwight Schrute from The Office (our favorite show!). He won first prize at work for the best costume. He said it was because he didn't break character once during the day. What he won?.... A giant bobble head Stewy doll from Family Guy. Wahoo!!! Halle had school, and they did not celebrate the holiday at all, which I think is a good thing. There is no point in trying to teach kids when they are in costumes and high on sugar. After she got home we went to the local rec center for a super hero Halloween party. Halle won third place in the costume contest! She could not have been more excited! Donovin got to get his picture taken next to Batman, the highlight of his life so far. Halle decided to be Wonder Woman for this party because it was all Super Hero based.

After that, we came home and had a "spooky" dinner of mummy dogs, eyeball crackers, tomato soup and vampire blood (thanks Kim for the recipes on your About.com site!) Halle wasn't so sure about the food. I guess it really grossed her out. We got ready to go trick-or-treating and went with our friend Fraya who was a beautiful little Jasmine. We went around the neighborhood behind us right by Halle's school. We were out till about 8:30, then came back to our place and all the kids watched the original King Kong (1933 version), and a couple of Simpson's Tree House of Horror episodes. They ate candy, popcorn and then went to bed, or tried at least.

Fire safety day!

It was fire safety day at the Fox lot! Tyler really wanted me to bring Donovin to see the big fire truck and meet real live fire fighters and Smokey the Bear. Halle wanted to go, but she was in school :(. Oh well, maybe next year. Vinny had a great time. He was a little awe struck at the size of the fire truck. The firemen were really nice and showed him all of the neat tools on the truck. He of course had to wear his fireman suit, and everyone there (especially the ladies) thought he was the cutest thing in the world (which of course he is)!






He liked the boots for a second, but then he really wanted to get out of them!





The firemen take this ginormous truck out an average of six times a day! And they keep it so clean. Those are real wood ladders and they use them every day. Can you guess the advantage of wood over aluminum?
Two reasons:
1- wood does not conduct heat like aluminum, it does not get hot the whole length of the ladder
2- it is easier to see defects in the wood ladders and repair them before it causes an injury.

Kidspace!

On Tuesday Halle had an "unassigned" day at school meaning they had no school, why? I still don't know, but they have those frequently throughout the year. I think it was a Jewish holiday. Anyway, we went to an awesome kids museum in Pasadena with some friends from the ward and Fraya (Halle's little freind from next door.) We had a blast! It was SOOOOO hot though! It was the first of October and 100 degrees! But the kids stayed nice and cool playing in the water. It is the closest our children will get to playing in a mountain stream being the city dwellers that we are. There is a little rock water fall that the kids love to climb up and down and at the bottom is a big pool that they can play in. At the top is a water fall and pool and water wheel. We spent the majority of the day there, although, as you will see there was a lot to do inside as well. The majority of the indoor exhibits are bugs! Donovin loved going into the dark room and looking at the spiders, beetles, and cockroaches in their cages.... UGH! Bugs are not my thing, but he loved it. They also have a colony of bees that you can observe through glass. Very interesing, but there are a lot of bees around outside as a result and unfortunatly, Eric got stung on the arm by one. A worker got the stinger out with her name badge (do not try to pull a stinger out, use a credit card or something else hard that you can just scrape it off with) and he did not even cry. What a trooper. At least we know he is not allergic.



Fraya, Olivia and Halle having a ball giggling together and being girls!




Eric and Donovin, two of the cutest little guys in the world!




Any time we go anywhere Donovin has to have his "tocts"- crocs, "yite mean a teen"- Lightning McQueen sunglasses, and his hat. He will not leave the house without them. I think he likes wearing the hat especially because he knows that means I am not going to do his hair.



Olivia climbing out of the ant hill. I don't think Halle ever tried this because she said it was too dark and scary.