Halloween Day

My girlfriend Carolyn and I have attempted to go to a corn maze a few times now. What better day than Halloween? We made it, and it was a little bleak! We thought it would be a little busier, but we literally had the corn maze to ourselves! Kinda scary. There were some pigs that were eating pumpkins and corn and watermelons and who knows what else, they were so cute.

Starting the maze, in a daze...

I anticipated that the fields would all be dead, but they were fairly green. Almost did some "shopping" from the husks on the ground!

After about 20 minutes, we found a tall wooden bridge thing, out in the middle, with stairs leading up to a platform. On top, you could see where we started! It was so far away, and all of the corn blended together so it just looked like we showed up out of nowhere! We used our navigation skills (using the sun) to get back!

Back at her house, she dressed up her dog Alan for their trick-or treaters. What a cute lobster. He wasn't trying to take it off too much!

I had a very relaxing night, and didn't get a single trick-or treater!

Happy Birthday, Lori

We cruised up to P-ville for a birthday bash at the Heuser's. We brought Macaroni Grill for eats. The leaves were all changing on the property, and the rain beetles were out in full force! We toured their motor home, wowo! So nice! Talk about getting big, Michael is doing so well in school, with a slew of A's last quarter.

We always have such a fun time together.

Hope that you had a special day! We missed seeing Uncle Brian, but we will see him soon. Thanks for housing the shin-dig and love you!

Y mucha mas!

Bodega Bay 2008

Disclamer: Lots of pictures to follow. Just as I had made a small vow to "just be" and take a few less pictures, away I went on a clicking adventure! I wouldn't change a thing, though. We headed off to Bodega Bay on Friday the 24th. Chris and I stopped in Petaluma at a wonderful cafe Where he had a BLT (free range B!) and I enjoyed a fig and goat cheese salad, yum! The bathroom was located through the kitchen (all the way through the chef's making homemade pasta, yum!). We made it to the house first. This was a new rental, that was supposed to be wheelchair friendly. It was friendlier than our usual house, but oh well. When you are married to a dietitian, you look foreward to those special occasions when you get treats.
(A few days before the trip) Chelsea: "Chris, do you want anything from the store?" Chris: "OOh, it's a vacation, DORITOS!"


Here is the view from our patio.

The troops began to arrive. We enjoyed lots of tea and goodies as we caught up about our trips over, and thankful that we all made it safely.

Need I say relaxing?

Spectacular sunsets, especially the first night.

Uncle Chris bought the girls some fun ballon toys and bouncey balls to play with. They were a hit. Chris also bought one for himself.

Austin and Bryce sure have grown...

Enjoying the sun after breakfast. You never know what kind of weather you are going to get at the ocean. It was Kim's birthday that day.

Bryce, Chris, and Austin boogie boarded in the freezing water. There were some large waves--I had never seen such large ones. (Maybe they just seemed bigger due to the fact that the boys were barreling through them?)

Kim, Austin, and I walked around the Bay to the jetty, which took over an hour. We were power-walking in the sand, I estimated the distance at >3.5 miles. The sun felt great on our shoulders. Thank you mom for staying at home with Gramps and Elise.

Austin said that the coast guard has a sail boat. Guess they don't use that one fore rescues.

Uncle Brian was flying his kite high.

The boys did really well. I was a little nervous that first time I saw Chris go under a large wave.

Kinda funny at this point, when he is just skimming in a few inches of water. That night, Chris would just be sitting on the couch and water would start to drip out of his nose! I guess he got a free sinus rinse out of the deal!

Wynt and Lily enjoying a lake just Lily's size.

Robert and Dave taking pictures of the sunset.

A mad game of hearts that was only stopped for a hot tub dip. Didja shoot the moon, Dave?

They made it from S.F.

It was very special to have both Grammy and Gramps there. We had chili that was made using Gramp's recipe, and Wynt made Gramp's waffles as well. When asked what Gramps wanted to do at Bodega, he just said "Watch." He also didn't fail to give us a hard time for all talking at the same time and being loud. Some things never change.

Cutie pie Elise in a warm hat.

Bryce was dying to go crabbing- @ 5:30am for some reason?! Uncle Brian took him on the last day, and they kept catching the dungarees ones. They caught the right kind and brought it home.

The girls checked it out, and hopefully didn't guess what we did with him...

That day was a cloudy and more usual Bodega day. Didn't stop us from having some beach fun. The girls were super happy just running down a bank over and over again. Love that age!

My ocean scarf had to make it into the pic!

Elise was a happy kiddo, just lounging on the blanket.

She was keep tabs on the frisbee.

The last photo seems a bit violent, but Dave was acting the whole thing out, and Austin was unscathed, (except a lot of sand in a lot of places!). The weekend was very relaxing. It was nice to have a sunny warmish day and then a blustery one to get that fresh ocean air deep into our systems. We hope to continue the tradition for years to come. And I wont stop taking pictures!

Ok, some more Mathew Pics!

Another day with the cutie pie! He has some cute onesies that say chick magnet, and other silly things like that. That is very very true! On the move again!

He is crawling all over now! Pretty soon, running!

Mathew Update

Well we have some new seasonal neighbors! Lucky for us, they are very near and dear to our hearts! We get the added bonus of watching Mathew grow. Just since they have been here, the last few weeks, Mathew has started to crawl! Shari took these pictures, but I have to brag like a proud auntie!

He is such a mellow guy...Until he starts to bounce and jump! He makes the cutest excited noise when he is flailing his arms around.

Look at that smile. I think I have only heard him actually cry once in the last few weeks. Wowsers!

A very cute costume, indeed! We love you very much and are so excited you are our neighbor!

A Musical Halloween Party

Hosted by the Bowens, this year's party was themed: Dress as your favorite musician/band. (or just one that you think you can pull off!) Uncle Brian pulled off a great Ozzy Osborne.
Here are Austin and Bryce as ZZ Top.
Chris took the hit and shaved his head to create a hairline similar to my favorite artist, James Taylor. I just played myself, a devoted fan!

Ava one the cutest kid, as a cuddly bear! Lily was a beautiful mermaid.
Too cute!
Cher and Sonny were played by Debbie and Ron.
I even got my ticket signed!

Michael was a crazy rocker with some sleeve tattoos.
Austin ditched the beard, hot I suppose.
Pat Benetar also showed up on the red carpet.
Elise was a sweet pea for a little while.
The man in black and June Carter also came.

A high school musical teamed up with Elvis at a Halloween party (minus the Elvis wig in the pic!)
Uncle Brian and Stevie Nicks tallying up the votes.
Baby Elise was a party animal.
Playing some Zepplin.
WHOA! This pic really shows how much Chris shaved off!!! It is cute of him and Elise until you notice his hair!! Geez! He got second place, Stevie Wonder won best male!