October 2016

 October is one of my absolute favorite months! I love getting out fall decorations, I love the shorter days and the excitement in the air as the kids narrow down their Halloween costumes, all the parties and fun fall festivals...it's just a fun time! And I think I generate the most pictures during October!!

 Be afraid...be very afraid.

 We took a super cool field trip to the San Diego Zoo where we got behind the scenes access to the elephants and the giraffes. It was so fun, and we got to travel around on our own private bus!

 The zookeeper fed the giraffes but would let some kiddos come up closer for photos. The giraffes have super long, black tongues!

 The kids were overjoyed that our friends came on the field trip too! Friends make everything better.

 Later that month, we took a trip to our favorite pumpkin patch, Bates Nut Farm. It's always super hot there, as it's super hot here for the entire month, but we know what to expect and it's still super fun. The kids bust our their Halloween shirts and we get ready to pet animals, eat kettle corn and pick some pumpkins. What could be better in October?!?

 Everyone loved the little pot bellied pigs!

 The kids all got these super elaborate balloon animals and I think they lasted for a while too.

 Ready to dig into the pumpkin patch!

 October even affects what we wear to church!

 We took a fun trip to Disneyland to meet up with our best friends from Tucson. The kids were really excited, even though it was over 100 degrees! So Cal summers begin in October!

 Jonah and his best buddy Owen! They're three years and one week apart!

 Lucy and her sweet friend Amelia.

 Dan took Jonah on Space Mountain, which he was excited for. However, we didn't realize they change it for Halloween into Ghost Galaxy which is basically a scary demon chasing you through the entire ride. Jonah was terrified. So sad and giant parent fail.

 Picture out of order, but this is our entire crew on Halloween night. It's a Halloween tradition to meet at some friends house from church. Then we all trick-or-treat their neighborhood. We had a lot of kids!

 We took another field trip to the Safari Park where the kids got to have a few up close encounters with animals. This was an echidna and the kids were allowed to pet it. Pretty fun!

 Then of course, we had to go pet the animals in the petting zoo and brush them.

 Usually right before Halloween, our sweet little friends who attend a private Christian school have a family fall carnival. So we go to support their school and collect more candy, because we can never have enough candy! It also gives the kids another excuse to wear their costumes. Molly was a Christmas tree!

 Carving pumpkins! This year our new Marine friend came over to carve with us. It was so fun having him join our family, and I think he had fun too! He had never carved a pumpkin before...crazy!

 This was the first year we gave Jonah his own carving knife. He felt empowered and important.

 The finished products!

 What a team!

 Some of our friends from church set up a painting night so we all went to a painting studio and learned how to paint these pictures. It was a fun experience and we all came home with fun pictures to hang up!

 Lucy really wanted to be Anna from Frozen. I think she makes a pretty cute little Anna, especially with her tiny braids!

 Jonah was really excited to be Boba Fett. He even saved up his money to buy the official Boba Fett blaster from Disneyland the last time we were there. He is serious about his costumes.

 Henry was excited to be a ninja. He especially loved all his weapons. Yikes!

 And Ben carried on the tradition of being a scarecrow. I love that Jonah and Henry both wore this costume. Maybe someday one of their kids will wear it. And Ben was a super good sport and left the hat on, even though it was a bit small!