Alexander

Alex's preschool teachers call him Alexander (his full name).  He's been able to say Alex, but the other day, he came home and started saying, "Alexander."  It's so cute to hear, and he's very proud of himself for saying such a big word. I had to get it on video because it's been making us all laugh the last several days.

If you pause the music, you can hear the video.

Rapunzel, Neil Armstrong, and Dr. Jones

I never thought I'd say that I would miss Yuma's 100 degree weather for trick-or-treat.  I miss it...after pouring down rain, I really wish it had just been hot.  Our first Halloween in NC was a downpour.  The kids were so excited to go out, but after a few houses, Alex couldn't stop shivering, and Madison and Luke were soaked to the bone.  We had as good of a time as we could in spite of the weather.

 Dr. Jones, at your service.  He was so happy to look like Daddy, and he kept pointing to himself saying, "Daddy wears."

 The crew

 Neil Armstrong

 Rapunzel with the hair

 I'm Rapunzel's witch.  Madison took a pretty good picture!

This is the BEST it looked, and you can't see that it was actually raining pretty hard when I took this.  We were in the garage still, and I changed to the double stroller since it had some rain coverage on it.

Ready to go...we made it down to our cul-du-sac and back. That took an hour, and they were so cold.

After a very hot bath, Alex went right to bed.  Madison and Luke sat by the door to give out candy to the remaining trick-or-treaters.  The last few we had were mainly the high school kids who live on our street and who didn't mind the rain.  The cutest costume we saw was a little girl, about Alex's age, dressed as a bag of groceries.  It was SO cute!

Food

The kids enjoyed our meals out and meals in while in Tennessee.  Our first day, we had lunch at Calhouns, a local Knoxville BBQ place (super yummy too).  It was near the aquarium, and while we haven't eaten there in awhile, we always enjoy it.

Then, we had dinner in.  As at home, Alex loves to lick the mashed potato beaters.  He flies into the kitchen when he hears the mixer.  He did the same thing at Nana and Pop's house.  It was really cute, and he thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the kitchen and licking the beaters.

Gatlinburg Aquarium

Madison had a teacher workday on Friday since it was the end of the first nine weeks.  I decided to take the kids to Tennessee to visit the grandparents.  We had a really good visit, and even the seven hour drive each way went pretty well.  We left as soon as Madison got off the bus on Thursday afternoon.  Friday, we woke up to a cold, very rainy day.  Nana/Jean Ann had taken the day off, so we decided to visit the aquarium.  This is a fantastic aquarium, and we were excited to see the newest part of the aquarium, the penguin area.  Our rainy day turned out really well, and we even hada  delicious lunch at Calhouns (a Knoxville area favorite BBQ restaurant).

 All the kids thought this was so much fun at the aquarium.

 Shark tank (one of them)

 Penguin area-so cool and our favorite part

 It looks clear, but it rained a lot that day!

 More of this...

As we were leaving the building, we came upon these ducks outside the aquarium.  Jean Ann made the comment the ducks must be going to the aquarium and said, "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Mallard."  The kids, especially Madison, thought this comment was hilarious, and we talked about Mr. and Mrs. Mallard the rest of the weekend.

I also have to mention we did a drive-by of the local candy store in Gatlinburg.  Now, Jean Ann had told me that about two weeks ago, a black bear crashed through the glass of the candy store to EAT THE CANDY. It was a great news story; I looked it up.  Workers found the bear eating pecan logs, taffy, and carmel apples.  They eventually got it to leave.  The kids are obsessed with animals and ironically have been on a bear kick. They were so excited to hear this story, and we had to see it.  The store is back in business, and if I hadn't been driving, I would have taken a picture.  It was raining way too much to go and visit the store...another time.  They won't let us forget the bear story.

Roller Skating

Madison's elementary school hosted a familiy skate night last night at the local roller skating rink.  I wasn't sure how it would play out with three kids who couldn't skate and one mom, but it went well.  I stayed on the "sidelines" with Alex while I let the other two get out there with skates. Madison got skates for her birthday, but Luke had never skated.  He rented some and now tells me they are at the top of his Christmas wishlist.

All ready to go

 Luke rented these beginner skates.  Next time, he'll be ready for regular ones.  He's pretty athletic and was doing very well moving around on these.  Oh, and for anyone who thinks the helmets are too much, you didn't see how many times my kids wiped out and "used" their helmets.

I was worried Alex might get mad he wasn't skating, but he loved watching everyone.  It was almost a bad thing that he seemed to take comfort in others falling.  Everytime someone fell, he laughed, and I mean really laughed.  I'm glad it entertained him.

Bringing the Outside Inside

I am so excited for the cooler weather.  I recently purchased a sliding screen/storm door from Lowes, and they installed it last week.  I love having it on the backdoor to get some fresh air inside (and hopefully keep the bugs out!).  We had one on our house in Arizona and had one installed in our last NC house too.  I'm so glad it's getting nice enough to use it, and in the winter, the screen slides up to keep the cold out.

Thanks Lowes installation team.  You were very fast and efficient. 

An Afternoon at the Beach

We spent the weekend in Wilmington visiting my parents.  Saturday afternoon, we took the kids to the beach.  It was a little chilly to go swimming, but they had a lot of fun just playing in the sand.  We did go to Edward's favorite beach, Sunset.

 

The pier survived this year's hurricane okay.