Halloween

We are bad, bad parents.  We were supposed to get pictures of our children in their Halloween costumes, which I think is parenting rule #107.  I did get a picture of Alison in her costume when she wore it to preschool on the Thursday before Halloween.  I also got a picture of everyone when they did a trick or treat service project on the Saturday before Halloween.  But did I take a picture on Halloween?  No.  Penance may be to eat 5 pounds worth of the Halloween candy that is sitting on my counter, including the tootsie rolls and the smarties. I am about 1/2 way through my punishment.   We did have fun trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and at the Hub (in the afternoon).  Alison lost all of her apparent shyness when it came to asking strangers for candy.  Jacob and Ryan discovered that they did not like strobe lights.

 Here are the pictures we did take. 

Alison as a butterfly

Jacob (hidden behind the green bag) is Charlie Brown, Ryan is a ninja without his hood,
and Alison is a butterfly reaching for the candy she just collected.

endofschoolsummerfunstartofschool part2

Time to finish the rest of this post before it is time for the HalloweenThanksgivingChristmas post.  So here is the rest of our summer and start of school pictures. 

A few cousins gather to say goodbye.  One last shot in Camas before we headed home to California after the reunion. 
We left on the 4th of July which was  not a bad time to travel.  The roads were empty as we returned to the bay area about 9pm.

This picture is to represent Alison's 3rd birthday.  We had a swim meet on the day of her birthday and then Stovall cousins came all the way from England to celebrate the next day.  The next week, we went to Sacramento to celebrate Alison's and Nicole's birthdays.

A picture of cousins together before Luke, Zach, and Elizabeth headed back to England. 
We were glad that we could have so much fun with them while they were in California and wished we had taken more pictures.

Alison and her best-girl cousin Elizabeth. 
They had a good time playing together this summer.

We took a few stay-cation trips this summer.  One was to Land's End in San Francisco and another was to Monterey.  Each was beautiful
albeit a bit cold and foggy. 
We had fun in Pacific Grove and then enjoyed sea food at the wharf in Monterey.

First Day of School:  The weather heated up in time for the first day of school.  Jacob and Ryan started on this day and then Alison started her preschool a few days later.  September and October were very warm months and the weather seems to have changed with the start of November.