Ahhh... sit back for some photos

What the heck happened to me?!?  Just when I thought I was in the swing of things, I get two months behind!  Well, forge ahead... and instead of 3 different posts I decided to just go for the gusto - make it one!

So September brought us Disneyland.  A first for the T's, including first plane rides for Nick & Ian, super fun.  We surprised the kids with a limo pickup at the airport :)

 

Who doesn't love Toy Story mouse ears?!?

Not sure what this was about, but I do remember I was laughing so hard that I yelled "I'm gonna pee!"

Yeah. Um, Tower of Terror and I do not agree.

My requisite pat-down and swiping of my bra at the airport.  I really need to remember to wear a sports bra next time... 

Gosh I love this shot.  

Not as much as this one.

Or these two.  It was the kids' first time in the ocean.

Emma's 14th birthday party, we rented the community clubhouse and friends came for pizza and games.

I could look at him all day.

We had some serious master carvers.

Ian's pumpkin rocked!

He did it all by himself!

Oops, a little out of order :)

Damn water rides... jeans do not work well when wet.

Ahhhh... another weekend getaway to Seabrook.  We ate every meal on this porch.

Love to ride the bike with this man.

Handsome love o' mine :)

Pumpkin slingshots!

Halloween - Sun Drop girls!  Drop it like it's hot...

So fun.

We had some family photos shot at a botanical garden here last week, lucked out and got a rain-free day when they predicted 70% chance - woot woot!  Can't wait to see those photos.  We are off to Boise this weekend for RT's niece's wedding.  It's a quick 36 hour trip, but will be fun nonetheless - always good to see family.  Bigger news is that we are headed to Cabo San Lucas on the Baja peninsula in a week for a quick getaway before RT starts his new job!  It's about 88 there right now... and about 45 here :(  We're staying at an all-exclusive, adults-only resort - can you say

H E A V E N?  I can taste the margaritas now...

Weekend sports

Yesterday after school was Emma's first volleyball game.  While she wasn't a starter, she did get to play in the 3rd set and got two great touches on the ball.  We're very proud of her as she has never played volleyball before, but really wanted to try this year - and made the team of 12 out of 29 people who tried out!  And she looked awfully darn cute in her uniform:)

(that's Emma's BFF Shelby that's smiling with her)

Today followed with Ian's first game with the Rainiers, he is 7 and in the Micro league. They play 3v3 - I forgot how fun that is to watch!  He was awesome out there - and scored 2 goals!  Way to go Ian!

We then made our way to Emma's game, where she had a phenomenal game - winning the ball behind the half-field and driving it all the way to her first goal of the season!  Great job to her as well!

  

A Captain among us

Breaking news:  last night after practice Emma and Brooklyn got in the car excited to tell us that they were chosen as Captains for their soccer team for the year!  Emma wanted it so badly, and she is very motivated. We're proud of you Emma, you deserve it!

Happenings around the house

Just some things I want to remember:

Ian started soccer a few weeks ago, and as he tells me all the time, "it's his most favorite sport".  He has tried baseball and basketball, but he keeps coming back to the soccer ball when given the chance.  One of my favorite pasttimes is watching he and Emma in the backyard passing the ball, and Emma showing him how to do headers.  He is going to be a beast on the field as he gets better and older - can't wait to watch it (first game is this Saturday!)  Jerseys were handed out this week, and ... hmmm ... not sure if there is a correlation, but he ended up with #4 (also Emma's number :)

We are all getting ready to head to Disneyland next Tuesday - super excited about it being the 4 T's first time to the Happiest Place On Earth!  It's also first plane rides for Nick and Ian, and they don't know it yet, but also another fun little surprise when we arrive :)  In preparation for the airport we decided to get all of the kids state issued ID cards (Emma already has one), it's always a good idea to have one to tuck in pockets when out and about away from home.  Should be an interesting trip to the DOL office on Saturday morning :)

We subjected Emma to a viewing of Silence of the Lambs last night.  She talks constantly of wanting to be a spy or FBI agent when she grows up, so initially we thought it could be interesting to watch.  I seem to have forgotten about when I first watched that movie:  and I went to bed with my door locked and dresser pushed up against it!  She was a little freaked, and it didn't help that we brought out the Halloween decorations earlier in the week.  RT has a 6-ft hooded creeper that is motion activated - and when you walk by, his face lights up and he has a truly scary repertoire of phrases and eerie laugh - a lot like Boris Karloff's in "Thriller".  RT's favorite thing is to place him in secret places to find when you least expect it.  You can guess where this is going... as soon as she said good night and started up the stairs to brush her teeth, she encountered him in the dark hallway of the stairs - and she jumped so far and screamed so loud, I almost peed my pants.  We truly did torture her last night :)

RT and I are finding little bits of fun time around the family vacations we have scheduled this month - Saturday night we are heading to the fair WITHOUT THE KIDS, just to actually walk through the exhibit halls and eat fair food!  Now that's a date I'm looking forward to :)  When we return from Disneyland we are heading back to Seabrook for the weekend - a little rejuvenation to look forward to:)
I just booked a week's stay at this all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for March 2013 - counting down the days! We will be celebrating RT's 40th birthday and a belated honeymoon:)

California here I(we) come...

Right back where I started from (remember that song?)  We left at 0-dark-30 hours (officially 3:38 am) on Friday morning and arrived in Sacramento at 2:30 pm - with a few stops along the way.  Not too shabby!  We made it from Seattle to Albany, Oregon by 7:30, which is when all of the children started coming to life.  RT and I were driving along I-5 and he said "I think I'm smelling cinnamon rolls", and I said "maple glazed cinnamon rolls?" and the next thing you knew, we were asking Siri where the closest donut shop was :)  Coincidentally, it was the very next exit!  Score!  Perfect way to get the kids out for a stretch as they were waking up, a fresh donut and first bathroom stop:

We continued onward through my favorite part of the drive in Oregon: though Roseburg down to Medford.  We stopped in Ashland, just the next town down from Medford, where they hold their gigantic annual Shakespeare festival - what a darling little town.  Total tourist trap, but quaint.  RT had contemplated a job there a few years back, so we stopped and looked around whilst dabbling in a dose of Starbucks:

(and some old dude totally walked right through our picture, squeezing past me like waaaay too close - and photo bombed a bunch of our pictures!) see his hand in the lower right?  What is with people?!?

Anyway... I digress.  We had to stop and take a picture of the "Welcome to California" sign and a cool shot of rolling hills:

We went rafting down the American River (basically in my old backyard, just about 10 blocks from my parents' house)

We attracted a whole lot of ducks with our goldfish crackers and pieces of strawberry pop tarts :)  And then the kids had a blast in my mom's pool - still the same slide from when I was probably 8 or 9, love that they had such a great time:

The girls trying to throw Nick in the pool :) 

 And here is my new favorite shot of my man: (damn he's hot)

We detoured through Lake Tahoe on the way home, and as RT calls it, we took the long-cut (not the short-cut) home.  We paid an arm and a leg to ride the Heavenly Ski Resort gondola to the top for this gorgeous view - and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.  Despite the slight anxiety that Trinity and I endured on the ride (with our backs to the lake both directions), it was a very cool sight.  We ended up staying in Klamath Falls that night and headed out at 6:00 am the next day for the rest of the drive home.  We managed to get home for Emma to make volleyball practice in the nick of time, which made her happy - she has to have 10 practices in before the first game, and had she missed it she would've only had 9 :)  It was a great trip all in all, and we are singing the praises of the DVD system and Wii ;)