Beachy Birthday

 We missed our summertime trip to the beach this year, so we finally made make-up plans by spending an overnighter there. It took so much work just to be ready for one night away (mainly laundry!). We pitched an extra ration to the animals and headed west. 

After a good seafood lunch we walked over to see the sea lions. (The candy shop was on the way, so you know we stopped there too!)

Then we simply HAD to head to the sand. Miri had forgotten to bring extra shoes, so we stopped at a farm store and picked up a pair of inexpensive mud boots (can't have too many of those where we live).

The sun was already setting, but the girls made quick work.

They wished for more shells,  and although the tide was out, there wasn't much along the sand.

They had a great time.

Aleaha had never been in a motel or hotel (Miri had, but not that she remembered), so everything was very novel. We did have a nice beach view, fortunately.  

In later reminiscing about their favorite parts, "watching TV" made the list. (Sheesh!) But they had never seen some of the crap we let them watch that night (Hank Hill.....not soon again!)

They loved it all.

"And even though we didn't have any toys, Mommy, we still had lots of fun!" (making a bridge across the beds)

Playing silly with their dad....

(this is a pretty regular thing at home, although maybe not to this extent) 

Oh, then there was THE POOL. What a treat.

Miri said the water was a little chilly.

Their 10 seconds of water ballet.

And then she said it was more than chilly.

So she opted out.

Back in the room there was more TV watching to be done.

The next morning, before departing for home, we took another romp to the beach.

A lovely "beach fairy godmother" offered to take a family picture. This was so lovely, as we rarely get pics with all 4 of us.

We could see from the restaurant's view that someone had scratched "Happy Bday" into the sand. So we made Daddy get over there for a photo op.

The wind was doing its usual thing, so we didn't last very long out there. 

Back at the ranch, the girls prepared his requested birthday dessert - Mini Cherry Cheesecakes. (Very easy...especially with all the "help")

They took turns with the egg beaters. (Don't you just love that old gizmo?)

Regular Everyweek Stuff

Miri and Mommy went for a walk recently to a new place.

She liked watching the water flow under the bridge (don't all kids?).

And standing on the giant rocks.

We made homemade bucatini pasta, on a whim, one Sunday afternoon.

And enjoyed it with a pork ragu -- oh yeah, baby.

Caught them together again.

Spiffy had a very bad bout of some bacteria, and he was finally pulling through it. (It was a close call - we are very grateful he made it!)

So he spent quite a bit of time in the barn, but soon felt well enough to jump up on the hay. That's how we knew he was probably going to be OK.

Miri and Mommy took a walk to the second pond one day. One old snag had fallen down. This was BEFORE the terrible ice and wind storm - we can't even navigate the upper trails right now due to the downed trees. It was really terrible.

The girls put on a show for us one night, and it somehow required use of Mommy's boots for the wardrobe.

Halloween! (Finally!!!!)

What a day! What a night! It was a yummy, delicious fright! 

The "caterpillars" when over great.

The carrots were left mostly untouched. Gee, wonder why? Maybe there was just too much other stuff! ;)

The "monster bites" were cute, but also probably too healthy to choose, when compared to everything else. 

The Muddy Buddies were a hit with adults and kids.

The fruit salad was yummy.

The Halloween Cake was fun to look at, but a little bright to eat.

Princess Elsa loved her dress. 

They got to go to HP to go trick-or-treating and show off their costumes.

 A big thank you to my co-worker Teresa for making that happen!!

Get a closer look at Aleaha's costume...it's that cute? Daddy made LED lights and screen on the face and an antennae and everything! The robot's name was "16 by 12 by 8", in honor of the shipping box from which it was crafted.

We put up lanterns to light the way to the barn, where more fun could be had.

It was so awesome!

The hanging ghosts were very ghoulish!

Kinda spooky, eh?

Nice little graveyard here. The skeleton hanging in the chicken shack in the background had blinking eyes.

The idea was to have people walk to the barn and then load up into the trailer for a hayride through the Haunted Forest. We were very lucky that the weather cooperated, and we were able to make lots of trips up there! The kids LOVED it, and even the parents had fun and took a turn to see what was up there. This was a total hit!!

We made up a legend about the "old farmer who disappeared", and then we found him on our property! Driving the old yellow pickup on top of the hill!

The LED tealights in his eyes really made it spooky.

These dancing witches were really awesome! (thank you, Pinterest!) This daylight shot doesn't capture the eerieness well enough, but at night, with the addition of the glow of the fire they are encircling, they were truly something to see. We used a generator, hidden in the woods, to make the fire light. And with a well-placed purple strobe light....well, it was truly something to see!

We had too much food, really -- the dining room table had munchies for adults, the kitchen island was totally covered too, and

the kids' table was overloaded.

It would not have happened without help from Holly and Jon. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of both of them, hard at work in the prepping and throwing of the party....but I do have one precious shot of her in her get-up from work that day:

Girl Gone Goth. Love it!

Mommy and Daddy even got dressed up and into the Halloween spirit.

Nicholas gobbled up lots of treats.

Jameson (aka Debbie Harry) seemed to enjoy it too.

Pirate Kaden had a blast (red eye intentionally left, for effect).

Aleaha's friend Wren happened to match Mommy!

Instead of bobbing for apples, we ate donuts off a string. The set-up was a little improvised, but it was easy to do in the barn.

The rule was that they had to keep their hands behind their backs.

Phoebe was a riot to watch!

Miri made it happen too!

We also made "Fairy Lanterns" in the barn - and that was completely awesome. Each child got a jar and a piece of tulle, then we activated glowsticks, cup them open to let their "ghosts juice" flow into the jar on the tulle, and they shook them up. It was so easy and so fun! I don't have pictures of theirs, but they truly looked like these:

How cool is that?? Even some parents got in the action on these!

We had lots of decorations all around, inside and out. There was the "Broom Parking" on the front porch. ("Violators will be toad.") 

Cousin It visited too.

Aleaha's pumpkin turned out wonderful - a grinning cat.

It was a wonderful night, made possible with amazing help from friends like Holly and Jon (for the prep and being there to watch over things) and Teresa (for taking the girls to the HP site that day).